Latest

On a four-day visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and Reehana Raza, IFAD’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, met Phet Phomphiphak, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.

With IFAD’s Indigenous Peoples’ Forum coming up in February, we focus on a crucial yet underrepresented group in the fight for climate change: Indigenous Peoples.

As food security for millions of Africans continues to be impacted by rising food and fuel prices further compounded by threats of a debt crisis in some countries, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and IFAD are joining forces to address the structural problems hampering agricultural productivity in Africa through a new programme aimed at feeding Africa sustainably.

An IFAD-FAO study from Lesotho provides valuable insight on how to mitigate against climate change while sustainably producing enough healthy food for everyone.

IFAD helps rural small-scale farmers reduce emissions while adapting to climate change. Find out how rearing insects as human food and livestock feed can achieve these goals.

The new United Nations report Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 finds that 22.5% of the Latin America and the Caribbean population cannot afford a healthy diet. In the Caribbean this figure reaches 52%; in Mesoamerica, 27.8%; and in South America, 18.4%.

Le FIDA et le Conseil national de concertation et de coopération des ruraux (CNCR) du Sénégal, viennent de signer un Accord de don pour améliorer les revenus des femmes et des jeunes entrepreneurs avicoles villageois ayant subi les conséquences des mesures restrictives prises pour faire face à la pandémie de Covid19.

When covid-19 brought the world to a standstill, IFAD helped farmers’ organizations adopt new ways of operating amid a global pandemic.

At Davos today, actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba, both Goodwill Ambassadors for IFAD, received the 2023 Crystal Award for their leadership in championing and advocating on behalf of the millions of poor small-scale farmers across the globe who work each day to produce one-third of the world’s food and more than 70 percent of the food produced in Africa and Asia, and are essential to ensure global and local food security and thus social and political stability.

In Ethiopia, community driven development puts small-scale farmers in charge of identifying what they need to prosper and how development funding should be used.

Ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders in Davos next week, Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, warns of the urgent need to invest at speed and scale in long-term rural development to prevent recurring food crises and end hunger and poverty.

In rural Tunisia women are breaking free of gender norms and building successful businesses to provide for their families.

Lao farmers are working hand in hand with IFAD to change rural fortunes through fish farming.

As we near the end of 2022, IFAD looks back on some of the themes that defined a year of dramatic change.

First up, we’d like to introduce you to IFAD’s new President, Alvaro Lario, who tells us about his plans for the agency.

The importance of the South-South and Triangular Cooperation and three ways it changed the lives of smallholder farmers.

A new country diagnostic report by IFAD, funded by the European Union, identifies the hidden potential of using digital remittances, the money sent home by its migrant workers through digital means, to boost overall socio-economic development in Cape Verde.

In Viet Nam the Dao people treat ailments with local herbs, forest products and generational knowledge.

Rural people are still paying the highest price for the rise in food, fertilizer and fuel costs. The Crisis Response Initiative was set up as part of IFAD's ongoing efforts to build rural people's resilience to these shocks. Here are selected highlights on the crisis from our teams in the field.

Following its recent €30 million contribution in support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) response to the global food and energy crisis, Germany has committed to investing an additional €22 million in financial services and products designed to strengthen the agricultural business sector in poor communities.

In Sierra Leone, IFAD helps persons with disabilities overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic through farming.

In The Gambia, the second phase of IFAD’s Rural Poor Stimulus Facility helps vulnerable communities get back on their feet after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faced with the prospect of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, Samoans turned to an ancient staple to feed their families and communities.

The Nile Delta is the breadbasket of Egypt, but climate change threatens agriculture here. IFAD is working to protect the land and improve the quality of previously infertile land. Sabrina Dhowre Elba, IFAD colleagues, and project coordinators and participants describe how this is changing people’s lives.

In rural Rwanda, solar-powered irrigation gives women farmers a sustainable alternative to time-consuming and expensive manual and diesel-powered systems.

Following a recent visit to Tanzania and Kenya, IFAD AVP, Satu Santala, shares what she learned about sustainable development from the farmers themselves.

To conserve biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples use centuries-old food systems anchored in sustainable practices and unique to their native ecosystems.

With biodiversity declining to alarming levels around the world, IFAD calls upon leaders participating in the biggest global biodiversity conference in a decade starting tomorrow, to reach a robust agreement which preserves, restores and promotes biodiversity.

Germany has granted EUR 30 million to IFAD to support poor rural communities cope with the impacts of the global food, fertilizer and energy crisis.

Healthy soil is key to the world’s food security. IFAD is helping farmers in Ethiopia shift from harmful pesticides to environmentally-friendly pest management treatments, in a bid to heal the earth beneath our feet.

The President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, will travel to Madagascar from 4 to 7 December 2022. It is his first visit to the country since he took office as President of IFAD on 1 October 2022.

18 million persons with disabilities are expected to be displaced by climatic events by 2050, we must urgently include them in climate action—both as participants and decision makers.

In a remote village in wester Nepal, an IFAD-supported project is working to enhance the resilience of the most vulnerable members of the community, including women and people with disabilities.

IFAD, APS International, MFS Africa and QMoney, are working together to slash international remittances transfer costs and improve access to related services in remote areas of The Gambia, creating new socioeconomic opportunities that will boost overall rural economic development.

The initiative aims to support shifts towards sustainable nature-positive production and efficient value chains for crops, commodities, livestock, and aquaculture.

Against a backdrop of record levels of hunger, high food and fertilizers prices, and extreme weather events affecting the lives and livelihoods of poor rural populations and small-scale farmers in developing countries, Cassa Depositi and Prestiti (CDP) and IFAD agreed today to work jointly to expand and amplify the impact of long-term rural development programmes of common interest which will help lift the world’s poorest rural populations out of hunger and poverty and adapt to a changing climate.

IFAD partnered with Italy’s Serie B football league and international footballer Gianluca Lapadula to promote our work and raise awareness of the vital role small-scale farmers play in feeding the world.

This month we kick off with the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity, or COP 15, followed by three IFAD projects that put biodiversity and conservation at the forefront of their missions.

Violence against women is one of the greatest barriers to sustainable development. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, let's reaffirm commitments to eliminate and prevent gender-based violence.  

As today’s young people grow into tomorrow’s adults, the impacts of climate change are simultaneously growing and worsening. Rural youth are valuable contributors to climate action. At COP27, we showcased the lives and ambitions of young innovators and activists. Find out what they had to say.

As crippling spikes in food and energy prices continue to hit East and Southern Africa, the devastating impact of climate change on the productive capacity of small-scale farmers has become an urgent issue. Therefore, IFAD and farmer organizations from the region are jointly convening the Regional Farmers’ Forum, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 24 – 25 November, to galvanize greater efforts to build farmers’ resilience through partnership.

As the countdown clock to 2050 ticks ever louder, IFAD was at COP27 to share what we know about responding to climate change. Here are five solutions to help the world get back on track towards a more sustainable future.

Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, visited Japan this week to meet with Tetsuro Nomura, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, government officials and others, to build on strategic partnerships and to thank Japan for its support as one of the founding members of the organisation and fifth largest donor country.

IFAD and the U.S. State Department announced a new partnership to support small-scale farmers in developing countries to better adapt to climate change and further reduce highly polluting methane emissions.

In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a group of indigenous women are fighting climate change through reforestation and ancestral farming techniques.  

To support the essential contribution that rural people make to preserve ecosystems, IFAD will remunerate rural communities and small-scale producers for their environmental work through a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) projects. Today at COP27 Germany pledged to contribute to the project by providing an additional EUR 15 million to IFAD's Enhanced Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP+).

Meteorologist Clare Nasir travels to Nepal where she shares a homecooked meal with a local family and discovers how rural farming communities are adapting to the threat of climate change.

IFAD President Alvaro Lario met Indonesia’s Minister for Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo today to deepen the successful partnership between the Republic of Indonesia and IFAD in securing decent lives and livelihoods for small-scale farmers.

On 16 November 2022, IFAD will convene policy-makers, development practitioners, rural producers and farmers organizations at its second Farmers Forum in Grand-Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire to explore opportunities to strengthen partnerships between them. Together, they can work jointly for sustainable transformation of food systems and food security.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and IFAD have signed their first financial agreement today. The EIB will lend IFAD EUR 500 million in support of IFAD’s programme of targeted loans that aim to improve food security and reduce poverty in rural areas. The new EIB financing will strengthen IFAD’s urgent response to assist small-scale farmers to adapt to climate change and cope with the current global food, fertiliser, and fuel crisis.

To respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening around us every day, we urgently need to invest in climate adaptation. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report identifies the gap between where we are and where we need to be. Jo Puri shares her impressions on what this year’s report reveals.

As climate negotiations enter a second week of crucial discussions at COP27 in Egypt, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, IFAD Goodwill Ambassador, shines a spotlight on the food security crisis in the Horn of Africa and advocates for increased investments to help small-scale farmers adapt to climate change.

Climate finance is complicated, and we get a lot of questions about everything it entails. We’ve put together some answers to the ones we receive most often.

New research shows that investments in small-scale farmers and poor rural populations in developing countries over 20 years by IFAD sequestered more carbon and reduced more greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions than they emitted, proving to be effective in limiting climate change.

The Government of Egypt has selected IFAD to lead a multi-billion dollar food and agriculture pillar. NWFE is part of Egypt’s bold move to launch its first National Climate Change Strategy 2050.

As world leaders gather this week in Paris to leverage their collective power against crises threatening global stability, the president of IFAD will call for long-term support for the small-scale farmers who are essential for food security but get short-changed in the response to climate change, conflict and spiralling prices.

Climate finance is essential to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening and to protect the most vulnerable people from a climate breakdown.

When it comes to climate change, small-scale farmers are among the world’s most vulnerable communities. This is why IFAD focuses on climate resilient agriculture and climate finance through programmes like ASAP+.

As part of a commitment to triple its support to climate adaptation by 2026, Norway has pledged an additional NOK 100 million (approximately US$9.5 million) contribution of urgently needed climate finance to IFAD today.

Climate change and environmental degradation are posing an unprecedented threat to the world. Find out how small-scale fishers are weathering the storm – and becoming part of the solution.  

To ensure small-scale farmers and rural populations from developing countries receive the attention and funding they urgently need, IFAD is organising, and will be active in, over twenty events at COP27 to highlight the challenges and solutions that small-scale farmers need to feed a growing population while adapting to the escalating impacts of climate change.

Ahead of this year’s COP, President Lario shares three big wins for the planet that can mitigate climate change and help the world’s poorest rural people adapt to its inevitable impacts.

The social and economic impacts of the COVID19 pandemic and the Ukraine war are creating significant challenges for the most vulnerable people, increasing the risk to livelihoods and food security in developing countries. IFAD is therefore stepping up its commitment to promote rural financial inclusion and to safeguard rural communities’ livelihoods with a new US$ 2 million loan to Futuro Mcb.

With the negative impacts of climate change becoming more frequent and severe, IFAD is calling for urgent and increased financing to support hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers adapt to climate change.

One year on from the biggest global commitment to financing climate adaptation at COP26, we are yet to see the actions needed to follow through on this promise.

Discover how IFAD uses Geographic Information Systems to better understand where and how climate change is affecting smallholder farming, and what is needed to mitigate its effects.

COP27 is upon us – join us for an African perspective on what to expect from this year’s UN climate change conference in Egypt.

Malian diaspora is keen to invest in the development of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), especially to develop the agriculture sector, if they can access the right training, information and financial products, according to a new report funded by the European Union, commissioned by IFAD and developed by Red Mangrove Development Advisors, and Adept, the Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform.

Small-scale farmers hold the key to feeding the world, its important for them to trust and invest in different types of irrigation systems.

Amid global threats including climate change, increasing food and input costs and rising poverty, IFAD and the Government of Uzbekistan have extended their successful cooperation to continue to support the country in meeting its rural development goals.

In Tajikistan two neighbouring towns face different fates as one suffers the aftermath of drought and displacement and the other is saved by irrigation.

IFAD, Inpay, a cross-border payments company, and its subsidiary company Eurogiro, a global postal cross-border payments network, have joined forces to make the cost of sending money through mobile channels from Europe to Uganda four times cheaper.

The President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, will attend the Finance in Common Summit co-organized by the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank on 19 and 20 October 2022.

Even when a world without poverty seems out of reach, here’s how IFAD continues to work in developing countries, amplifying the voices of rural people and integrating them into value chains, so they can earn and save, while feeding the world and conserving the natural environment.

There is no solution to climate change without rural women. It’s time to invest in them. It’s time to let them lead the way.