Assets for life: Small, but innovative, investments in water infrastructures, transform livelihoods in Mozambique
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.
Women and youth lead change in Lima's highlands and high rainforest
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.
Small credits foster rural entrepreneurship in Guinea
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.
Protecting villages from flash floods and improving livelihoods in the Haor basin wetlands
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.
Making local crops work for nutrition-sensitive agriculture
A new framework will guide practitioners to use a broad portfolio of crop species to bring nutrition back to the table.
Restoring mangroves is saving rural communities in Gambia
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.
Recipes for Change: Te Mai Ae Tanna Kiribati
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.
I’m a potato grower! Strengthening innovation to empower potato growers in the Andes
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.
Innovations in law to tackle food insecurity
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.
Recipes for Change: Ema datshi and millet momos
Try the Recipe at home: Ema datshi and millet momos - Bhutan
Young smallholder farmers overcoming climate challenges in Viet Nam
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.
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.