Recursos

Una grave crisis alimentaria amenaza actualmente el Sudán meridional. En África oriental, donde millones de personas ya dependen de la ayuda alimentaria, se avecina un fuerte incremento de los precios de los productos agrícolas básicos. Estos no son más que los últimos motivos de preocupación en este período turbulento que se inició hace dos años, cuando muchos países de África y Asia se vieron afectados por situaciones de escasez de alimentos causadas por el alza de los precios a nivel mundial. El aumento de los precios de los alimentos sumió aún más en la pobreza a personas que ya tenían dificultades para satisfacer las necesidades básicas para la supervivencia humana. Inmediatamente después llegó la crisis financiera mundial, cuyos efectos también fueron más graves para los pobres. En la mayoría de países en desarrollo la agricultura es el sector que emplea más personas y el que genera más puestos de trabajo y el mayor nivel de exportaciones. El sector agrícola es el que siempre ha impulsado la economía de muchos países, generando un crecimiento que ha demostrado ser por lo menos dos veces más eficaz para reducir la pobreza que el de otros sectores. Así pues, las inversiones en el desarrollo agrícola y rural son vitales para la seguridad alimentaria y el desarrollo económico sostenible.

IFAD’s goal is that rural women and men in developing countries are empowered to achieve higher incomes and improved food security at the household level. In this way it will contribute to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal #1: “The eradication of extreme poverty”. (IFAD, Strategic Framework 2007-2010)

Desde su creación en 1978 el FIDA, en el ámbito de su mandato de reducir la pobreza, ha prestado apoyo a numerosos programas de desarrollo rural en los que los pueblos indígenas han sido partes interesadas importantes.

Sin embargo, la experiencia del FIDA durante sus primeros decenios de actividad indicó que, en muchos casos, el impacto en los pueblos indígenas se vio limitado porque en el diseño y la ejecución de proyectos no se tuvo en cuenta la dimensión sociocultural de las estrategias de supervivencia de los pueblos indígenas, que se encuentran en la categoría más amplia e indiferenciada de la población pobre de las zonas rurales.

Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in public and private-sector investment in agriculture. Concerns about longer-term food and energy security and expectations of increasing returns from agriculture underpin much recent agricultural investment. Some have welcomed this trend as a bearer of new livelihood opportunities in lower- and middle-income countries. Others have raised concerns about the possible social impacts, including loss of local rights to land, water and other natural resources; threats to local food security; and, more generally, the risk that large-scale investments may marginalise family farmers. The recent debates about “land grabbing” – the media characterisation of large-scale farmland acquisitions in lower- and middle-income countries – illustrate these trends and positions. 

The objective of IFAD Decision Tools for Rural Finance is to provide decision-making support for the IFAD country programme managers (CPMs), consultants, project staff and technical advisers who develop and implement rural finance projects. Built on the IFAD Rural Finance Policy (RFP) (IFAD 2009), as well as other good practice guides, this knowledge management tool is designed to help identify and answer the questions that arise in each rural finance project, provide background on key issues, define common terms, highlight risks and opportunities, and provide references for further investigation. 

El riesgo es inherente a la agricultura. Los agricultores enfrentan una variedad de riesgos de producción y de mercado que hace que sus ingresos sean inestables e impredecibles de un año a otro. 

 En el mundo hay 1 400 millones de personas en situación de pobreza
extrema, que subsisten con menos de 1,25 dólares estadounidenses al
día. Alrededor de 1 000 millones de esos hombres, mujeres y niños
viven en las zonas rurales de los países en desarrollo.
Cerca de 2 000 millones de habitantes de las zonas rurales sobreviven
con menos de 2 dólares al día. Se trata, en su gran mayoría, de pequeños
agricultores y sus familiares, que dependen de la agricultura como medio
de vida.
En la actualidad, esas personas tienen que afrontar cambios rápidos y sin
precedentes: el cambio climático, el crecimiento demográfico mundial y la
volatilidad de los precios de los alimentos y la energía están sumiendo
cada vez a más personas en la pobreza extrema y el hambre.

This Thematic Paper is part of a Toolkit for Project Design (Livestock Thematic Papers: Tools for Project Design) which reflects IFAD’s commitment to developing a sustainable livestock sector in which poor farmers and herders might have higher incomes, and better access to assets, services, technologies and markets.

The paper indents to be a practical tool for development practitioners, project designers and policymakers to define appropriate livestock development interventions. It also provides recommendations on critical issues for rural development and also possible responses and actions to encourage the socio-economic empowerment of poor livestock keepers.

This paper presents the outcomes of the Special Session of the 2010 Farmers’ Forum, Promoting Women’s Leadership in Farmers’ Organizations and Rural Producers’ Organizations,  that was convened on 12 and 13 February in conjunction with the Thirty-third Session of IFAD’s Governing Council. The session was co-organized by IFAD and the non-governmental organization Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources (WOCAN).
In plenary session and working groups, over 60 participants – including 35 women farmer representatives, members of the Farmers’ Forum Steering Committee, observers from NGOs and FAO, and many IFAD staff – had a rich discussion that generated important recommendations. 

IFAD will follow up on those recommendations not only as a matter of equity, given women’s enormous contribution to agriculture, but also because a stronger women’s voice and leadership in agriculture are essential to making smallholder agriculture more productive and sustainable.

Desertification is the process of land degradation that affects dryland areas and is caused by poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change. Drylands lose their productive capacity in a spiral of destruction that twins increased land degradation with increased poverty and food insecurity. Drought and desertification threaten the livelihoods of more than 1.2 billion people in 110 countries. 

The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia Desertification is the process of land degradation that affects dryland areas and is caused by poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change. Drylands lose their productive capacity in a spiral of destruction that twins increased land degradation with increased poverty and food insecurity. Drought and desertification threaten the livelihoods of more than 1.2 billion people in 110 countries. The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.  

In addition to caring for their families, women across the developing world spend considerable proportions of their time and energy using and preserving land for the production of food and fuel and to generate income for their families and communities.

These activities include crop production, growing fruits and vegetables, raising small livestock, tending trees, processing products for food and markets, and managing and collecting water and fuel. Women are usually responsible for the plots in which food crops are grown, while men are responsible for the plots on which cash crops are grown. The latter account for a major part of the threat of soil nutrient depletion and desertification.

The Investigation Section of the Office of Audit and Oversight (OA/IS) has a mandate to investigate alleged irregular practices, namely (i) fraud and corruption, in relation to entities, contractors and non-staff individuals applying for or participating in an IFAD-financed project or headquartersrelated contract; and (ii) staff misconduct, pursuant to the adoption by the Executive Board in December 2005 of the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Activities and Operations (EB 2005/85/R.5/Rev.1). Implementation of this policy, along with the establishment of a Sanctions Committee, has aligned IFAD with best practices in this area of other United Nations agencies and the main multilateral financial institutions.

Twenty-seven new allegations were received in 2009, compared with 30 in 2008. Fifty-nine per cent were external, mostly involving bidding irregularities and procurement-related fraud. Emphasis has been placed on promoting awareness of the anticorruption policy at every stage of the project cycle, thus putting the anticorruption message in the foreground. 

 Since 1982, IFAD has supported seven projects in Syria with loans totalling US$126.2 million for projects with a total value of US$474 million. The organization has also provided a number of grants, including technical assistance grants to support women’s empowerment.

IFAD works in partnership with the government, other donors, NGOs, local institutions and civil society organizations. It finances initiatives which enable poor rural people in Syria’s agricultural settlement areas to improve their incomes and living conditions.

IFAD is working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and its interventions endeavour to reduce poverty and promote gender equality and environmental sustainability.

Este informe se basa en los resultados de un estudio encomendado por el FIDA y realizado por Manuel Orozco, de Diálogo Interamericano.

Factsheet illustrating how IFAD is exploring more innovative ways of working with remittances.

The project will reverse the decline in productivity of Eritrea’s soil resources;
restore vegetative cover and habitat diversity in areas of degraded rangelands,
forests and woodlands; and increase biodiversity within crop, livestock and
forest production landscapes.

The GEF-funded Agricultural and Rural Rehabilitation and Development
Initiative, which will complement the ongoing IFAD-financed Agricultural and
Rural Rehabilitation and Development Initiative Project (ARRDI), will similarly
focus on southern Niger’s Maradi region – home to 20 per cent of the nation’s
population – targeting poor and extremely poor communities vulnerable to
environmental risk, with special emphasis on women and youth.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an annual per capita income of only US$174. Nearly half of the population lives under the poverty line, and more than 12 million people are
chronically or periodically food insecure. Agriculture generates approximately 50 per cent of the GDP and 90 per cent of export earnings. Despite its importance, agricultural performance has improved little over the past 50 years and food security has deteriorated. Low agricultural productivity and chronic food insecurity are direct results of the ongoing degradation of natural resources in the
Ethiopian highlands.

This Decision Tools document is  the final outcome of five years of studies, debates and workshop discussions. These Tools will prove useful to Governments, development practitioners and field technical staff that are financing, designing or implementing CDD projects for rural poverty reduction.

La reciente volatilidad de los precios en los mercados internacionales está ejerciendo presión sobre la seguridad alimentaria mundial. Para los 2 000 millones de personas que viven y trabajan en pequeñas explotaciones agrícolas en los países en desarrollo, la vida se ha vuelto más precaria. Pero si
se cuenta con las inversiones, las políticas y los programas de desarrollo adecuados, los pequeños agricultores tienen un gran potencial para aumentar la producción de alimentos y, de ese modo, mejorar sus vidas y contribuir a una mayor seguridad alimentaria para todos.

Conozca mejor la labor del FIDA destinada a promover la transformación rural leyendo el Informe anual de 2008. Descubra cómo nuestras inversiones están empoderando a las mujeres y los hombres de las zonas rurales y examine los datos y las cifras que el FIDA comunica a sus Estados Miembros y asociados. También puede obtener más información sobre la labor de promoción que el FIDA lleva a cabo en nombre de las comunidades rurales de todo el mundo.

Mobile signal coverage is expanding fast. More and more people own and use mobile phones and some are finding innovative ways to use them to enhance their earning potential. In the Republic of Tanzania, Internet connectivity is evolving rapidly, but few people in rural areas have access to the technology. The use of mobile phones and text messages, or SMS, is still far more widespread than e-mail. Yet the speed of change is dramatic. Communication technologies that allow wireless access within a 30-km radius are being extended throughout Tanzania and tests are verifying the feasibility of using GPRS modems in remote districts.

“It was important that we adapt quickly, looking for ways to ensure that everybody benefits
from these changes,” says Clive Lightfoot, technical advisor of the First Mile Project. “We want
to make certain that groups of people are not left behind and that the revolution is also
directed towards reducing rural poverty.”

The Arab countries account for more than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but less than 1 per cent of global water resources. And as a consequence of the phenomena associated with climate change, the region is facing an even greater water shortage.

For 30 years now, IFAD and its partners in the region have worked to develop effective, replicable solutions to help poor rural communities manage their scarce water resources. More than half of IFAD’s programmes and projects in the region include a focus on water. 

El FIDA ha aprobado seis préstamos para la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, por un monto aproximado de USD 80 millones. También ha aprobado dos donaciones de asistencia técnica, en 1991 y 1998 respectivamente, para el Programa Regional de
Capacitación en Desarrollo Rural, cuya ejecución estuvo a cargo de la Fundación para la Capacitación e Investigación Aplicada a la Reforma Agraria (CIARA), adscrita al Ministerio del Poder Polar para la Agricultura y Tierras.

El mandato del FIDA de reducir la pobreza mejorando las condiciones de vida y aumentando los ingresos de la población rural pobre afronta importantes desafíos y oportunidades. El FIDA trabaja en asociación con el Gobierno y otros donantes para financiar programas y proyectos destinados a la población más pobre, en particular los pequeños agricultores, los campesinos sin tierra, los pueblos indígenas y las minorías étnicas, así como a las mujeres del medio rural en general. Uno de los principales asociados del FIDA en los proyectos de desarrollo rural más recientes, la Fundación CIARA, cumple una función importante como administrador de programas de desarrollo en nombre del Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Agricultura y Tierras de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela.

Over the past 12 months, large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia have made headlines in a flurry of
media reports across the world. Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors to the tune of
hundreds of thousands of hectares. And while a failed attempt to lease 1.3 million ha in Madagascar has attracted much media attention, deals
reported in the international press constitute the tip of the iceberg. This is rightly a hot issue because land is so central to identity, livelihoods and food security.

IFAD is currently engaged in over 230 loan operations in 85 countries. About two thirds of that portfolio is related to community-based natural resource management.

Poor rural people and their institutions are at the core of this approach. Water is critical to these men and women pastoralists, fishers, farmers, young and old, part- or full-time, urban or rural, indigenous, tribal or otherwise often marginalized people. It is the key entry point for improving their livelihoods.

Climate change represents an additional challenge to rural people in SSA – and a further reason for investment in water control. Smallholder farmers, pastoralists and artisanal fishers are among the most vulnerable to this threat. 

While projections of changes in annual rainfall vary across Africa, these groups will experience the negative effects of increased temperature and
extreme events. For them, enhanced control of water will become critical in building resilience to increased climate variability.

Guidance notes for institutional analysis in rural development programmes provides a synthesis of the training materials developed as part of the Institutional Analysis (IA) methodology. They propose that we rethink how we conceptualize and promote institutional change, particularly for pro-poor service delivery. 

They provide a framework and the analytical tools for designing programmes and projects that feature implementation modalities based on some of the core principles of good governance, focusing on “pro-poor governance” and systemic sustainability at the micro and meso levels.

Women constitute two-thirds of the 1.2 billion poor people in the world. The great majority live in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, regions that are also home to most of the world’s ‘water poor’ – those with limited access to reliable, safe supplies of water for productive and domestic uses. The role women play in reducing food insecurity and poverty – through their knowledge of multiple uses of water, crop production, local biodiversity, soils and local water resources – is recognized internationally. However, despite this, they are often still excluded from decision-making processes in new water management approaches and other natural resource allocation projects and initiatives. Globalization, changing market dynamics and climate change are altering the rural context for most poor rural people, resulting in increased vulnerability to natural hazards and economic uncertainties, above all for women. 

Poverty poses a constant threat to economic growth, trade reform, private sector development, knowledge, governance and gender equality.
Poverty among the 22 members of the League of Arab States (LAS) is primarily a rural phenomenon. A quarter of the region’s population, or about 80 million people, live below national poverty lines. Between 60 and 70 percent of these poor people live in rural areas.

One of the most pressing challenges in the region is the high rate of unemployment, particularly among young people. Official unemployment rates average 13 per cent, and in some countries the jobless rate among young people is twice as high.