From farm to market: improving the food value chain through women empowerment in Guinea
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.
Opportunities, challenges and limitations of climate-smart agriculture - The case of Egypt
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.
Sending money home: ten reasons why remittances matter
The International Day of Family Remittances is observed every year on 16 June in recognition of the fundamental contribution of migrant workers to their families and communities back home and to the sustainable development of their countries of origin.
CARD: Assessing data for climate-friendly action in rural contexts
Datasets on crop production increasingly need to take climate change into consideration, given its potentially profound repercussions for agriculture.
Forging tools to catalyse food production in Senegal
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.
World Bee Day - High-altitude honey
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.
The capital difference: Expanding horticulture in Rwanda
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.
Recommended books on Indigenous Peoples
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.
Community gardens in the Gambia: one solution, many benefits
Anyone who stops by Berefet notices how local people cherish the community garden in this small village in the western Gambia.
A tool to make rural investments more resilient
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?
Transforming innovative ideas into sustainable agriculture in West and Central Africa
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.
How increased access to water shortens the path towards sustainable development in the Sahel
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 new development paradigm - BAPA+40
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.
Highlights from IFAD's Governing Council
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.
EAT-Lancet Commission Brief for Farmers
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.
Change starts at home – Addressing gender imbalances and climate issues through household methodologies
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.
Ten books to read this winter
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.
IFAD welcomes the European Union’s commitment to a new impact fund targeting small agribusinesses across emerging markets
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.
Building bridges between smallholders and financial markets
One of the major challenges facing smallholders is getting adequate and cost-efficient protection against price volatility and climate-related impacts on production.
From Africa to Brazil and back: empowering youth through South-South learning exchange
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.
Major international discussions draw to a close in Poland
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.
Acting now: enforcing global action to limit further warming of the planet
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.
Angela Merkel sends message of support that includes IFAD at Global Citizens’ Mandela 100 Festival
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.
Women lead a revived honey industry in the Solomon Islands
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Solomon Islands honey was well positioned to begin exporting, as the industry was starting to thrive with an expanding membership and local investment.