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Find out what happens behind the scenes of an IFAD project as we answer our followers’ top questions.

Con la visión compartida de superar la pobreza rural y lograr un campo próspero, competitivo, sostenible e inclusivo, el Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG) del Ecuador y el FIDA presentaron hoy en Guayaquil el nuevo Proyecto de Desarrollo Sostenible y Apropiado en Territorios Rurales (DESATAR).

After 40 years working with rural people, here are some of the things we have learned to make our work under IFAD13 a success.

Today, IFAD and the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock (MINEAGRIE) signed a US$3 million grant to help mitigate the ongoing impacts of the Ukraine crisis.

Donal Brown and Associate Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, Alberto Cogliati will make a three-day visit to the country, from 28 to 31 March.

Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, signed two agreements today for a total of €70.7 million.

IFAD and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania have signed a loan agreement for 5 million euros to finance the "Joint Sahel Programme in response to the Challenges of COVID-19, Conflicts and Climate Change (SD3C G5 Sahel + Senegal).

Our catchword of the month is innovation.

Meet the women using digital tools to build successful businesses and stronger communities.

Ahead of the UN 2023 Water Conference, IFAD calls for accelerated investments to help small-scale farmers in developing countries access and manage increasingly scarce water resources in the face of a changing climate and more extreme weather events.

The IPCC’s latest Synthesis Report is a reminder that the power is in our hands to prevent the very worst outcomes of climate change—if we take decisive and ambitious action now.

Climate change and a growing population are exacerbating water scarcity. As the water cycle is disrupted, farmers are coming up with inventive ways to harvest, store and use water. IFAD is helping them with simple but effective and climate-smart water infrastructure.

Con el objetivo de revalorizar la ruralidad desde el protagonismo juvenil, el FIDA presentó hoy en La Paz la segunda edición de la iniciativa “YouTubers y Tiktokers Rurales”, un ciclo de talleres de capacitación y un concurso de talentos para promover la creación de empleo juvenil y la mejora de los niveles de nutrición de casi 5 000 jóvenes de entre 16 y 35 años de zonas rurales y periurbanas de Bolivia, Colombia y Honduras.

Young people in rural areas of West Africa are leaving unemployment behind and setting up successful agri-businesses.

In his first official visit to Madrid, the Spanish president of IFAD, Álvaro Lario, highlighted Spain's potential to "become a world leader in the fight against hunger and poverty at this crucial time," when high food prices are “putting millions of people on the ropes” and threatening global stability.

For over a month, Cyclone Freddy has been battering south-east Africa. This may be the longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded—and vulnerable rural communities are in the eye of the storm. We explain what this means for IFAD’s project participants in the region.

IFAD has become a voting member of the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) principles.

Young people the world over know that conserving our biodiversity is key to eradicating hunger and achieving a healthy and sustainable food system. Here’s how they’re fixing our broken planet.

Addressing a press briefing from Rome, Ambassador McCain said, “My appeal to the international community today is, do not give up on Niger. One thing is sure – when we come together as one world, we can save lives.”

IFAD is advocating for more investments in small-scale farming communities in the Pacific.

Inclusive access to digital technologies and education is crucial to reducing gender inequalities and empowering rural women and girls – that was the message from three United Nations’ food and agriculture agencies as they marked International Women’s Day 2023.

As the world welcomes the historic UN agreement to legally protect high seas, we must also ensure that small-scale fishers continue to be protected.

Many rural women are excluded from digital services. What is causing the digital divide and what can we do to end it?

In Pakistan and Bangladesh women are harnessing technology to connect to the world and build a business, one click at a time.

Meet IFAD’s new Disability Inclusion Champion as she works towards amplifying the voice and potential of persons with disabilities.

As India takes over the G20 presidency, an IFAD delegation to India met key officials.

During his first visit to Germany since taking office five months ago, IFAD President Alvaro Lario, commended Germany’s leadership throughout the recent global food, energy and climate crises.

As we begin our 13th replenishment, our Report on IFAD’s Development Effectiveness ensures we continue to efficiently invest in rural people, protect the planet and leave no one behind.

In today’s multi-crisis context, one disaster quickly follows another. With crisis fatigue setting in, the time is now to invest in solutions with lasting impact, including food systems and small-scale farmers.

In the run-up to International Women’s Day, we explore the impact of the digital gender gap.

Amina Sana had very little income and not enough to eat. But her life has been transformed after receiving livestock and training from the IFAD-supported FORMAPROD project

Le FIDA et le gouvernement malien ont procédé, hier, à la signature d’un accord de prêt d’un montant de 38 665 000 Euro qui financera la création de richesses et la réduction de la pauvreté pour les jeunes ruraux du Mali.

IFAD and the Kingdom of Cambodia signed a US $194 million financing agreement to promote inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth in rural Cambodia through the Agriculture Services Programme for an Inclusive Rural Economy and Agricultural Trade (ASPIRE-AT) project this week. ASPIRE-AT will create an enabling environment to address the barriers faced by small-scale farmers in increasing their productivity and incomes, particularly through priority export and domestic value chains.

IFAD, represented by its President Alvaro Lario, and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), together with the DRC’s Permanent Representative to IFAD, Ambassador Paul Emile Tshinga Ahuka, today signed a loan agreement to reduce poverty and ensure food sovereignty in rural areas.

In Peru, IFAD-funded project helps small-scale farmers connect to new markets and access technical assistance online.

IFAD and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam last week signed a loan agreement to promote inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth in the Mekong Delta. The Climate-smart Agricultural Value Chain Development (CSAT) project will generate sustainable income opportunities and improved rural livelihoods for 60,000 families engaged in small-scale farming.

IFAD and the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic today signed an agreement for a nutrition-sensitive agriculture project to address food insecurity and malnutrition among the rural poor. The project will especially focus on vulnerable groups such as women, young people and people with disabilities.

Ukraine was endorsed today as the 178th member state to join IFAD. Ukraine’s membership was endorsed by IFAD’s Governing Council – its highest decision-making authority. IFAD began discussing membership with Ukraine in 2016, and the Governing Council’s endorsement was among the last of the essential steps in the process.

Gracias a su excelente gestión ganadera, adaptada al cambio climático, y la protección efectiva sus medios de vida y los ecosistemas, los Pueblos Indígenas de tres departamentos de Bolivia se hicieron merecedores del Premio de los Pueblos Indígenas, siendo así reconocidos como el proyecto con mejores resultados entre aquellos financiados por el FIDA.

It is time for global leaders to accelerate action for food security by stepping up investments in rural communities and the small-scale farmers who produce one-third of the world’s food, said the President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, in an urgent plea at IFAD’s 46th Governing Council meeting in Rome today.

As Somalia continues to experience a historic drought, pushing millions of Somalians into acute food insecurity, Alvaro Lario, President IFAD announced today during IFAD’s 46th session of the Governing Council that it will substantially strengthen its support to Somalia and resume its direct investments after loan arrears resulted in a three-decade long suspension.

As the climate crisis takes hold and water scarcity sparks conflict, rural people in Sudan are finding ways toward peace and equitable resource management.

Through the Indigenous Peoples Awards, IFAD celebrates inspirational development projects that partnered with and made a real difference to indigenous communities in 2022

40 indigenous leaders, who were in Rome to attend the 6th Global Meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum hosted by IFAD, met with with His Holiness, Pope Francis, today, and raised their concerns about the toll that extractive and exploitive industries fuelling the global economy were having on growing inequality, preventing access to basic human rights and hindering environmental sustainability.

IFAD’s updated Policy on Engagement with Indigenous Peoples enshrines the value of their traditions and supports the crucial role they play in the world. We spoke with three experts to get an insight into the policy.

Heads of state, ministers, development, youth and indigenous leaders, climate activists will discuss and agree upon ways to accelerate action to tackle growing hunger and an unprecedented food crisis at the annual IFAD's Governing Council.

An IFAD delegation to the Kingdom of Cambodia led by Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department, and Reehana Raza, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, met key officials, including Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, to discuss investments that will promote inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth in rural Cambodia, particularly through priority export and domestic value chains.

As the world faces the largest food crisis in modern history, global leaders including Heads of state, government ministers, and representatives of youth and indigenous peoples, will gather in Rome to participate in the annual Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

IFAD has developed two new public-private partnerships to enhance access to cheaper, faster and safer remittances, the hard-earned money sent home by migrant workers. New partnerships aim to increase access to digital and financial services and products across rural areas of Senegal.

Pastoral communities in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan work hand in hand with IFAD to make land use more equitable, productive and sustainable.

On a four-day visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and Reehana Raza, IFAD’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, met Phet Phomphiphak, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.

With IFAD’s Indigenous Peoples’ Forum coming up in February, we focus on a crucial yet underrepresented group in the fight for climate change: Indigenous Peoples.

As food security for millions of Africans continues to be impacted by rising food and fuel prices further compounded by threats of a debt crisis in some countries, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and IFAD are joining forces to address the structural problems hampering agricultural productivity in Africa through a new programme aimed at feeding Africa sustainably.

An IFAD-FAO study from Lesotho provides valuable insight on how to mitigate against climate change while sustainably producing enough healthy food for everyone.

IFAD helps rural small-scale farmers reduce emissions while adapting to climate change. Find out how rearing insects as human food and livestock feed can achieve these goals.

The new United Nations report Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 finds that 22.5% of the Latin America and the Caribbean population cannot afford a healthy diet. In the Caribbean this figure reaches 52%; in Mesoamerica, 27.8%; and in South America, 18.4%.

Le FIDA et le Conseil national de concertation et de coopération des ruraux (CNCR) du Sénégal, viennent de signer un Accord de don pour améliorer les revenus des femmes et des jeunes entrepreneurs avicoles villageois ayant subi les conséquences des mesures restrictives prises pour faire face à la pandémie de Covid19.

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

At Davos today, actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba, both Goodwill Ambassadors for IFAD, received the 2023 Crystal Award for their leadership in championing and advocating on behalf of the millions of poor small-scale farmers across the globe who work each day to produce one-third of the world’s food and more than 70 percent of the food produced in Africa and Asia, and are essential to ensure global and local food security and thus social and political stability.

In Ethiopia, community driven development puts small-scale farmers in charge of identifying what they need to prosper and how development funding should be used.

Ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders in Davos next week, Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, warns of the urgent need to invest at speed and scale in long-term rural development to prevent recurring food crises and end hunger and poverty.

In rural Tunisia women are breaking free of gender norms and building successful businesses to provide for their families.

Lao farmers are working hand in hand with IFAD to change rural fortunes through fish farming.

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

First up, we’d like to introduce you to IFAD’s new President, Alvaro Lario, who tells us about his plans for the agency.

The importance of the South-South and Triangular Cooperation and three ways it changed the lives of smallholder farmers.

A new country diagnostic report by IFAD, funded by the European Union, identifies the hidden potential of using digital remittances, the money sent home by its migrant workers through digital means, to boost overall socio-economic development in Cape Verde.

In Viet Nam the Dao people treat ailments with local herbs, forest products and generational knowledge.

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.

Following its recent €30 million contribution in support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) response to the global food and energy crisis, Germany has committed to investing an additional €22 million in financial services and products designed to strengthen the agricultural business sector in poor communities.

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.

The Nile Delta is the breadbasket of Egypt, but climate change threatens agriculture here. IFAD is working to protect the land and improve the quality of previously infertile land. Sabrina Dhowre Elba, IFAD colleagues, and project coordinators and participants describe how this is changing people’s lives.

In rural Rwanda, solar-powered irrigation gives women farmers a sustainable alternative to time-consuming and expensive manual and diesel-powered systems.

Following a recent visit to Tanzania and Kenya, IFAD AVP, Satu Santala, shares what she learned about sustainable development from the farmers themselves.

To conserve biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples use centuries-old food systems anchored in sustainable practices and unique to their native ecosystems.

With biodiversity declining to alarming levels around the world, IFAD calls upon leaders participating in the biggest global biodiversity conference in a decade starting tomorrow, to reach a robust agreement which preserves, restores and promotes biodiversity.

Germany has granted EUR 30 million to IFAD to support poor rural communities cope with the impacts of the global food, fertilizer and energy crisis.

Healthy soil is key to the world’s food security. IFAD is helping farmers in Ethiopia shift from harmful pesticides to environmentally-friendly pest management treatments, in a bid to heal the earth beneath our feet.

The President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, will travel to Madagascar from 4 to 7 December 2022. It is his first visit to the country since he took office as President of IFAD on 1 October 2022.

18 million persons with disabilities are expected to be displaced by climatic events by 2050, we must urgently include them in climate action—both as participants and decision makers.

In a remote village in wester Nepal, an IFAD-supported project is working to enhance the resilience of the most vulnerable members of the community, including women and people with disabilities.

IFAD, APS International, MFS Africa and QMoney, are working together to slash international remittances transfer costs and improve access to related services in remote areas of The Gambia, creating new socioeconomic opportunities that will boost overall rural economic development.

The initiative aims to support shifts towards sustainable nature-positive production and efficient value chains for crops, commodities, livestock, and aquaculture.

Against a backdrop of record levels of hunger, high food and fertilizers prices, and extreme weather events affecting the lives and livelihoods of poor rural populations and small-scale farmers in developing countries, Cassa Depositi and Prestiti (CDP) and IFAD agreed today to work jointly to expand and amplify the impact of long-term rural development programmes of common interest which will help lift the world’s poorest rural populations out of hunger and poverty and adapt to a changing climate.

IFAD partnered with Italy’s Serie B football league and international footballer Gianluca Lapadula to promote our work and raise awareness of the vital role small-scale farmers play in feeding the world.

This month we kick off with the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity, or COP 15, followed by three IFAD projects that put biodiversity and conservation at the forefront of their missions.

Violence against women is one of the greatest barriers to sustainable development. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, let's reaffirm commitments to eliminate and prevent gender-based violence.  

As today’s young people grow into tomorrow’s adults, the impacts of climate change are simultaneously growing and worsening. Rural youth are valuable contributors to climate action. At COP27, we showcased the lives and ambitions of young innovators and activists. Find out what they had to say.

As crippling spikes in food and energy prices continue to hit East and Southern Africa, the devastating impact of climate change on the productive capacity of small-scale farmers has become an urgent issue. Therefore, IFAD and farmer organizations from the region are jointly convening the Regional Farmers’ Forum, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 24 – 25 November, to galvanize greater efforts to build farmers’ resilience through partnership.

As the countdown clock to 2050 ticks ever louder, IFAD was at COP27 to share what we know about responding to climate change. Here are five solutions to help the world get back on track towards a more sustainable future.

Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, visited Japan this week to meet with Tetsuro Nomura, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, government officials and others, to build on strategic partnerships and to thank Japan for its support as one of the founding members of the organisation and fifth largest donor country.

IFAD and the U.S. State Department announced a new partnership to support small-scale farmers in developing countries to better adapt to climate change and further reduce highly polluting methane emissions.

In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a group of indigenous women are fighting climate change through reforestation and ancestral farming techniques.  

To support the essential contribution that rural people make to preserve ecosystems, IFAD will remunerate rural communities and small-scale producers for their environmental work through a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) projects. Today at COP27 Germany pledged to contribute to the project by providing an additional EUR 15 million to IFAD's Enhanced Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP+).

Meteorologist Clare Nasir travels to Nepal where she shares a homecooked meal with a local family and discovers how rural farming communities are adapting to the threat of climate change.

IFAD President Alvaro Lario met Indonesia’s Minister for Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo today to deepen the successful partnership between the Republic of Indonesia and IFAD in securing decent lives and livelihoods for small-scale farmers.

On 16 November 2022, IFAD will convene policy-makers, development practitioners, rural producers and farmers organizations at its second Farmers Forum in Grand-Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire to explore opportunities to strengthen partnerships between them. Together, they can work jointly for sustainable transformation of food systems and food security.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and IFAD have signed their first financial agreement today. The EIB will lend IFAD EUR 500 million in support of IFAD’s programme of targeted loans that aim to improve food security and reduce poverty in rural areas. The new EIB financing will strengthen IFAD’s urgent response to assist small-scale farmers to adapt to climate change and cope with the current global food, fertiliser, and fuel crisis.

To respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening around us every day, we urgently need to invest in climate adaptation. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report identifies the gap between where we are and where we need to be. Jo Puri shares her impressions on what this year’s report reveals.

As climate negotiations enter a second week of crucial discussions at COP27 in Egypt, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, IFAD Goodwill Ambassador, shines a spotlight on the food security crisis in the Horn of Africa and advocates for increased investments to help small-scale farmers adapt to climate change.

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.

New research shows that investments in small-scale farmers and poor rural populations in developing countries over 20 years by IFAD sequestered more carbon and reduced more greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions than they emitted, proving to be effective in limiting climate change.

The Government of Egypt has selected IFAD to lead a multi-billion dollar food and agriculture pillar. NWFE is part of Egypt’s bold move to launch its first National Climate Change Strategy 2050.

As world leaders gather this week in Paris to leverage their collective power against crises threatening global stability, the president of IFAD will call for long-term support for the small-scale farmers who are essential for food security but get short-changed in the response to climate change, conflict and spiralling prices.

Climate finance is essential to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening and to protect the most vulnerable people from a climate breakdown.

When it comes to climate change, small-scale farmers are among the world’s most vulnerable communities. This is why IFAD focuses on climate resilient agriculture and climate finance through programmes like ASAP+.

As part of a commitment to triple its support to climate adaptation by 2026, Norway has pledged an additional NOK 100 million (approximately US$9.5 million) contribution of urgently needed climate finance to IFAD today.

Climate change and environmental degradation are posing an unprecedented threat to the world. Find out how small-scale fishers are weathering the storm – and becoming part of the solution.  

To ensure small-scale farmers and rural populations from developing countries receive the attention and funding they urgently need, IFAD is organising, and will be active in, over twenty events at COP27 to highlight the challenges and solutions that small-scale farmers need to feed a growing population while adapting to the escalating impacts of climate change.

Ahead of this year’s COP, President Lario shares three big wins for the planet that can mitigate climate change and help the world’s poorest rural people adapt to its inevitable impacts.

The social and economic impacts of the COVID19 pandemic and the Ukraine war are creating significant challenges for the most vulnerable people, increasing the risk to livelihoods and food security in developing countries. IFAD is therefore stepping up its commitment to promote rural financial inclusion and to safeguard rural communities’ livelihoods with a new US$ 2 million loan to Futuro Mcb.

With the negative impacts of climate change becoming more frequent and severe, IFAD is calling for urgent and increased financing to support hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers adapt to climate change.

One year on from the biggest global commitment to financing climate adaptation at COP26, we are yet to see the actions needed to follow through on this promise.

Discover how IFAD uses Geographic Information Systems to better understand where and how climate change is affecting smallholder farming, and what is needed to mitigate its effects.

COP27 is upon us – join us for an African perspective on what to expect from this year’s UN climate change conference in Egypt.

Malian diaspora is keen to invest in the development of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), especially to develop the agriculture sector, if they can access the right training, information and financial products, according to a new report funded by the European Union, commissioned by IFAD and developed by Red Mangrove Development Advisors, and Adept, the Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform.

Small-scale farmers hold the key to feeding the world, its important for them to trust and invest in different types of irrigation systems.

Amid global threats including climate change, increasing food and input costs and rising poverty, IFAD and the Government of Uzbekistan have extended their successful cooperation to continue to support the country in meeting its rural development goals.

In Tajikistan two neighbouring towns face different fates as one suffers the aftermath of drought and displacement and the other is saved by irrigation.

IFAD, Inpay, a cross-border payments company, and its subsidiary company Eurogiro, a global postal cross-border payments network, have joined forces to make the cost of sending money through mobile channels from Europe to Uganda four times cheaper.

The President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, will attend the Finance in Common Summit co-organized by the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank on 19 and 20 October 2022.

Even when a world without poverty seems out of reach, here’s how IFAD continues to work in developing countries, amplifying the voices of rural people and integrating them into value chains, so they can earn and save, while feeding the world and conserving the natural environment.

There is no solution to climate change without rural women. It’s time to invest in them. It’s time to let them lead the way.