Stories

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

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

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.

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.

When the Solomon Islands began seeing its first cases of COVID-19 in early 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock activated emergency food relief efforts. But after years of neglecting data collection, how do you find and feed people without addresses, street names or house numbers?

The pandemic pushed up to 80 million people in Asia into extreme poverty. Governments across the region had to respond quickly as incomes fell and food security was threatened. IFAD worked with them to ensure vulnerable rural people got the support they needed.

When a massive tsunami devastated low-lying coastal areas in Tonga, local people had to rebuild their lives from scratch. For many, home gardens provided much needed fresh produce, as well as renewed hope for the future.

COVID-19 presented new challenges for poor rural farmers in Pakistan. An IFAD-supported project shared personalized advice to farmers via their mobile phones to help overcome the challenges of the pandemic.

Back in early 2020, when the first waves of COVID-19 were spreading around the world, IFAD launched the RPSF as a multi-donor initiative to sustain rural people around the world during the pandemic. With the RPSF’s help, many were able to start small businesses – and today, those businesses are sustaining local economies and building resilience.

Two years ago, COVID-19 closures forced us all apart – but the creative use of technology helped keep us together. Today, with tech giants promising to take all of us into the metaverse, IFAD is exploring how cutting-edge technology can help us see the world through each other’s eyes.

Brazil’s São Francisco river is a place of convergences. The river delta, and the stunning tropical forest surrounding it, is home to many different ethnic groups who settled there in search of a fresh start. Plans for a new ecotourism route that would allow visitors to experience the area’s rich culture and traditions were well under way – and then the pandemic struck. Nevertheless, one IFAD-funded project managed to support the region’s artisans and fishers.

IFAD’s Annual Report provides a concise, compelling and interactive discussion of how we addressed the challenges of the last year.

The Kenya National Farmers’ Federation is implementing a mobile information platform to serve its members and other Kenyan farmers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on smallholder farmers in low-income countries who have struggled to access to markets, labourers, technology, and key resources amid physical distancing mandates, shifting government funding priorities, and plunging income levels.

As the world grapples with the current pandemic, other threats, not least our climate emergency, have not gone away. The science is clear that without urgent global action, the climate and broader environmental crisis could be worse.

2020 has been a tumultuous year. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone across the world – and meanwhile, the other challenges faced by rural people across the globe haven’t gone away. 

For Idris Elba, returning to Sierra Leone late last year was about two things: reconnecting with his roots and learning about the challenges facing the country where his father was born, so that he could become a better advocate for its people

Simon Chottu works hard and plays hard. An events manager by trade, he’s spent the last few years hosting hip-hop parties and organizing music events and competitions across the South Pacific.