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In Mozambique, a boost to private sector finance is a boost to rural communities
Financial exclusion is acute in rural Mozambique, and women are disproportionately impacted. Closing the funding gap to catalyse private-sector investment in rural communities can make all the difference.
Twenty years on from the first Farmers’ Forum, four farming leaders weigh in
We asked four farmers’ organization leaders from around the world about current challenges, new developments and their hopes for the future at the eighth global meeting of the Famers’ Forum.
In rural China, greenhouses bring new life to the desert
Growing food is a challenge in the harsh desert landscape of northwestern China. But thanks to new greenhouses built by a local cooperative, this village is bursting with fruits, vegetables and mushrooms.
Why we celebrate international days: your questions answered
There’s an international day for nearly every global issue you can think of. Learn how they come into being, the key observances for rural people – and why they matter.
Why climate finance matters: Your questions answered
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.
From subsistence to self-sufficiency: how women in Sudan are using savings and credit groups to build a better future
Climate change, commercial agribusiness, and societal norms threaten small-scale farmers’ way of life in a small village in Sudan. A women’s savings and credit group is changing this.
Grant-based development interventions are worth it. But how – and when?
Conventional wisdom has long held that giving grants to small-scale farmers produces temporary gains at best. But recently, our research into a grants-based intervention employed by PRICE, an IFAD-funded initiative in Rwanda, found benefits that have lasted for five years and counting.
As COP15 tackles desertification, here are three ways IFAD is helping farmers in sub-Saharan Africa build their resilience to climate change
Sub-Saharan Africa’s drylands – that is, the areas where more water is lost through evaporation than gained through rainfall – are facing widespread degradation. There are many factors causing this, but one of the most prominent is the use of agricultural practices that aren’t adapted to the land, such as overgrazing and intensive agriculture.
These numbers show that restoring drylands and preventing desertification is good for the planet – and good for us
From California to the Sahel, from the steppes of Central Asia to the Andes, drylands are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world. But they’re also some of the most fragile.