Stories

It has long been recognized that the money remitted by migrants is used to supplement the receiving family’s income and is therefore largely spent on consumption. Only a small amount of remittances is invested in productive assets, much less saved.

Water and sanitation are at the very core of sustainable development, critical to the survival of people and the planet. SDG6 not only addresses the issues relating to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, but also the quality and sustainability of water resources worldwide.

Wool and mohair form the bedrock of Lesotho’s rural economy. Producers range from smallholder farmers with small flocks, to breeders of large flocks of superior gene-quality animals. With over 1.2 million sheep and 845,000 goats there is a lot of potential to develop the industry. 

Most of the population of Bhutan depend on farming to make a living. However, as the climate crisis bites, this Himalayan nation is being hit by erratic rain, hailstorms and flash floods. This in turn is effecting farmers’ production.

Sri Lanka is a small island nation in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean off India’s southeastern coast. Given that a large proportion of the population is concentrated in coastal areas, the country is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Mapai is one of the driest districts of Mozambique, with an arid and semi-arid tropical climate where water for consumption, cattle and agriculture is the major challenge for the people living there.

The resilience of smallholder farmers, coupled with the support of development projects is allowing Peru’s rural people to progress towards better living standards. Women and youth are very often on the frontline of that effort.

Mohamed enjoys welcoming visitors to his vegetables garden in Fria town, in Guinea, and is proud to show every crop he has been growing. This 32-year-old rural entrepreneur recalls how his business succeeded thanks to an unexpected opportunity while he was pursuing a civil servant career.

The Haor region is a wetland ecosystem in north-eastern Bangladesh, which is located in a tectonic depression. During the monsoon period, the Haor gets between 3,000 and 4,000 mm of rainfall, together with the flow of monsoon river from the Meghalaya and Barak basins.

A new framework will guide practitioners to use a broad portfolio of crop species to bring nutrition back to the table.

Mangroves are one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and play an essential role to ecological balance and community livelihoods. But in many areas across West Africa, these wildlife-rich wetlands are under threat.

Breadfruit is one of the main staple foods of Kiribati. Breadfruit trees require a tropical climate to thrive and are therefore plentiful in the Pacific region. Breadfruit is a good source of vitamin C, thiamine and potassium for the local population.

The world is faced with a rising demand for food due to population growth, changes in dietary habits and the availability of agricultural resources. As a result farmers need to be more efficient and productive. 

The latest SOFI report confirms that the number of hungry people in the world continues to increase, highlighting the challenge of reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger by 2030.

Try the Recipe at home: Ema datshi and millet momos - Bhutan

Climate change is one of the major dynamics of change affecting rural youth livelihoods. It is having significant effects on the countries in which the rural youth population is concentrated and on the sectors in which they will be looking for employment opportunities. 

Saran Condé is a 30-year-old smallholder farmer in Guinea's Faranah region. She has improved her farming skills and increased her productivity since joining an IFAD supported community garden.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to facilitate the evolution of agricultural systems in the face of a rapidly changing climate. IFAD's approach to promoting CSA for smallholders focuses on three core objectives.

Datasets on crop production increasingly need to take climate change into consideration, given its potentially profound repercussions for agriculture.

In 1992, Khadim Thiam established a tiny workshop in Tambacounda, Senegal, to produce agricultural equipment, such as hoes, seed drills, ploughs and animal-traction carts.

In the Sierra Norte mountain range in Mexico lives a special breed of bee. Known locally as pisilnekmej, the Scaptotrigona Mexicana is a member of the family native to the American continent whose distinctive trait is that they have no sting.

Including smallholder farmers in Rwanda in the production and export of cash crops is vital to increasing their incomes and ultimately to reducing rural poverty. 

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) will be held on 22 April to 3 May in New York. Here is our shortlist of books on the diverse issues affecting Indigenous Peoples around the world that will be discussed at the Forum.

Anyone who stops by Berefet notices how local people cherish the community garden in this small village in the western Gambia.

Climate change has made crop production more unpredictable – if rainfall helped this harvest, an unexpected drought could destroy the next. So how can one decide to invest in millet in Chad's Kanem region or if it's too risky put money in wheat in Lesotho's Thaba-Tseka?

Ideas are the lifeblood of innovation. To accelerate rural transformation while tackling rural poverty, food insecurity, nutrition, job creation and climate change, innovative ideas are needed. 

Every day Dienaba Sow travels 3.5 kilometres from her home in Hodio village towards Toung, in Senegal's Louga region, to collect water for her family's daily needs.

A conference taking place this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina reminds us that developing countries today look as much to each other for help along their path to development as they do to the developed world.

Pope Francis set the tone for the 42nd session of IFAD’s annual Governing Council meeting (14 - 15 February) by saying that hunger can be made a part of the world’s past, but only if all institutions and people work together, and only if these efforts are owned locally and driven by those who are suffering most, as architects of their own development.

The EAT-Lancet Commission presents a global planetary health diet that is healthy for both people and planet. Discover the report’s key takeaways and the specific actions that farmers can take to contribute to the Great Food Transformation.

IFAD is piloting the use of household methodologies (HHMs) for gender equality and climate change adaptation as a way to accelerate progress towards the economic empowerment of rural women in Rwanda.

We asked colleagues for their recommended reading on issues relevant to global development from gender to development to finance. If you are looking to read something a little more serious this holiday season, check out our list below.

The European Union has committed €45 million to the establishment of a new impact fund that will boost investments in small rural agribusinesses across emerging markets.

One of the major challenges facing smallholders is getting adequate and cost-efficient protection against price volatility and climate-related impacts on production.

Seven women and men from Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ivory Coast take part in a one-week learning exchange programme in Brazil focused on climate resilient post-harvest management of cassava.

An international conference in Poland will try to finalise a deal on how to tackle climate change, but delegates from almost 200 countries are yet to agree on how to implement the Paris climate accord reached three years ago.

Delegates from some 200 countries are meeting for two weeks of talks on tackling climate change in Katowice, Poland at an event hosted by the United Nations.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on the international community to increase food production and help create jobs in rural areas to help defeat poverty and hunger.