Blogs

Many elements involved in IFAD-funded projects. As long as an element’s precise geographic coordinates are known, satellite imagery can be used to monitor any changes that have taken place.

Hunger is both a cause and result of conflict. In fact, conflict is the main driver of hunger in most of the world’s food crises.

As I scroll through the pages of the new photo book The People Behind Your Plate just published by IFAD, I remember my own visits with rural people in remote villages as I travelled around Lesotho to collect recipes for my cooking books.

According to UN reports, the Asia Pacific region is the most disaster-prone region in the world. Nearly 45 per cent of the world’s natural disasters occur in the region. 

As we approach the first anniversary of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s an important moment to take stock on the impact of the pandemic, and to reflect on what we have learned, and what we can do better going forward.

In 2009, I travelled by road to Timbuktu, Mali on a short field trip. As we made our way down the dusty roads, I remember wondering what could possibly pull this arid, sparsely populated land into relative prosperity.

Poor rural people are among the hardest hit by climate change while contributing little to its causes. They deserve a fair share of climate finance to improve their resilience, and a seat at the table for the global climate talks.

Today is World Soil Day, so let’s dwell a little on this amazing world of earthworms, mites, fungi and microbes.

The adoption of General Assembly resolution 72/279 in May 2018, triggered a consortium of UN organizations to come together and rethink how the United Nations Development System can deliver more coherent, accountable and effective support to help countries achieve the 2030 Agenda. 

In the 25 years since Clayton Christensen coined the term “disruptive innovation,” much has been written about the benefits of shaking up established business practices.

As the world becomes more and more urbanized, many have suggested that cities hold the key to an efficient, sustainable future.

Risk and uncertainty intensify in the agriculture sector – especially throughout Africa.

Agriculture has periodically been shaken up by various technological revolutions. The latest? The advent of digital technologies.

A unique opportunity for China to advance its agricultural and rural transformation agenda.

For rural people, especially low-income rural people, land and livelihood are one and the same.

One billion people – 15 per cent of the world’s population – currently have a disability, and 80 per cent of them live in developing countries. People with disabilities, despite being “the world’s largest minority,” are often overlooked.

All too often, the path to sustainable development is blocked by outdated policies and legislation.

IFAD is always exploring new lending instruments to increase the number of potential financial solutions it can offer. 

Reflecting on the fundamental role that sustainable food production and consumption plays in promoting food security and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems.

I grew up knowing that Sri Lankan tea was truly something special. People all across my native Egypt competed with each other to bring home those packages with the trademark “Ceylon Tea” stamped on the side.

Although the residents of the global South may live worlds apart from each other, they often face a surprisingly similar set of challenges.

The scale of the challenge has become ever more daunting across the region. 

Lack of access to seed is a common problem for small-scale farmers in Nepal and elsewhere.

Knowing the geographic location of people or things helps us to monitor well-being and assess the impact of events.

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating disruption - but sometimes offers opportunities for innovative solutions for rural farmers.

Chef Lance Seeto is an icon of South Pacific cuisine. He’s also been a supporter of IFAD’s Recipes for Change campaign for more than five years now.

“I joined this project because I believe food can really change the world.”

Small-scale farmers face multiple challenges in Cambodia - with limited access to credit and vulnerability to climate change. 

Four years ago, the residents of Chiquicha were just gathering the first fruits of an irrigation project.

Migrants are essential workers; they contribute to the economy of the places they go and, through remittances, to their communities back home.

In April, the World Bank projected a sharp decline of about 20 per cent in global remittances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. 

Rethinking food systems for healthy diets and improved nutrition.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the loss of millions of jobs in the developed and developing world. 

In a world living with Covid-19, it is clear that supply chains and logistics should be simple and easy to manage. And that’s what several Indian states are doing.

Agricultural extension services play a fundamental role in building producers’ capacities to maintain good agricultural practices.

World Environment Day is a day set aside to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage protective action. This year’s theme is “Time for Nature.”

Since the COVID-19 virus outbreak, much information and misinformation has been circulated about wet markets and an international rallying cry has been made for wet markets to be better regulated or even closed down.

Resilience has become the talk of the town in the development community.

To take advantage of the potential of AI, IFAD employed machine learning techniques to extract insights from across IFAD’s entire investment portfolio.

One emerging lesson from the pandemic is that those who are already vulnerable are likely to be the most severely impacted. 

In most of Africa, people are more likely to die from starvation caused by the economic fallout from the pandemic than from COVID-19 itself.

Development encompasses a wide range of actions that enables people, communities and nations to thrive even after projects have ended. 

It has been really inspiring to receive updates from the field over the past two months illustrating how IFAD-supported projects are continuing to deliver. 

Last week, the China Grain Reserve Group announced its intention to purchase 22 million tonnes of imported grain during 2020. Should China worry about food security?

This year’s theme for the International Day for Biological Diversity is “Our Solutions are in Nature.”

How can we enhance local capacity to respond to this emergency in an agile and inclusive manner?

Africa has so far escaped the worst health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the continent looks like it could be the worst hit.

We are in the middle of a shift in how development is financed. Impact investing is on the rise.

With most of the world sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ILO estimates that about 2.7 billion people are currently affected by workplace closures.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 820 million people were living in hunger. Tens of millions more will join them if we do not take the right actions, and quickly. 

Past experience tells us that quick, tailored support is required to ensure that the impacts of our projects are protected from the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

After many years of sustained annual reductions in poverty and hunger across the Asia-Pacific region, the COVID-19 global pandemic is threatening a massive reversal of these gains and driving Asian countries into recession. 

On this day 50 years ago – the first Earth Day had just taken place – and a global movement was born.

With half of the planet’s population locked down, the global economy brought to a halt and the number of cases reaching into the millions, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest crisis of our time.

The tremendous progress in reducing poverty made by India over the past 25 years could now be reversed because of the unprecedented emergency facing all of us – the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cambodia has made remarkable progress and achieved lower-middle-income status - but the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to strain the entire economy.

An IFAD team in Bangladesh provided a proposal to the Government for a certified safe transport and logistics system for movement of inputs and produce in rural areas.

Amidst the suffering and economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 emergency, one silver lining has emerged: an interruption to the greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation stemming from human activity.

The COVID-19 pandemic will reshape all our economic choices. Nations have made a crucial choice in recent weeks, choosing human life over economic growth. 

It is easy to lose sight of the big picture when called upon to act quickly in response to the human tragedy caused by COVID-19. 

By leveraging the tools that internet marketing companies have already honed to reach consumers, governments can deliver quality agronomy advice at scale.

What started as a health crisis could turn into a food crisis unless we take measures now. Preventing a food crisis is key to maintaining the strength to fight back.

As countries prepare for the pandemic the mandate of a rural development organization may seem to some not particularly relevant to the current crisis. 

It has been three weeks since COVID-19 has drastically altered the daily lives of IFAD staff headquartered in Rome and stationed around the world.

Each of the world’s agricultural production systems had millennia to adapt to local climatic conditions, especially in terms of temperature and rainfall. 

It is becoming increasingly clear that the ways in which we produce, market and consume food need to be reconciled with environmental, economic and social sustainability. 

Vulnerability and fragility might not be perfect synonyms, but they share a very similar meaning. Both words refer to something breakable, delicate and frail – something that needs to be handled with care.

Two months have passed since the beginning of the new coronavirus outbreak in Hubei, China. It seems an appropriate time to reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on rural communities in China, and on the importance of investing in rural people in order to build long-term resilience to shocks.

The considerable gains made worldwide in poverty reduction over the last 10 years have been widely recognized. And indeed, in a year when China aspires to complete its 40-year project of lifting some 770 million people across the poverty line, it is clear that a greater proportion of the human population is wealthier today than at any other moment in history.

Agritech – the use of cutting-edge technological innovations in agriculture – is generating a lot of buzz these days. Entrepreneurs and start-ups all over the world are brimming with brilliant ideas for bringing big data, connectivity, and digital platforms into the field, and the results so far have been incredibly promising. 

Although our world continues to urbanise at an alarming rate, there’s no getting away from the fact that agrarian activities will always be necessary.

I have always loved food - how it brings people together, the smells and flavours of new cultures. I guess I associate food most with gathering, communion.

The Henley Forum has recognized IFAD with an award for Advancing Knowledge & Organizational Learning Practice during its 20^th annual conference.

 

Women in Ethiopia and the world over play a huge and growing role in farming and food production. 

Weather index insurance can protect and support smallholder farmers from climate-related disasters, providing them with means to buy food when harvests fail. 

As a chef, I believe that we have a responsibility and we should take concrete actions to tackle climate change. 

What are the global transformations required for our food systems to become sustainable in the face of climate change?

In addition to climate change, the Pacific Island communities are succumbing to modern diseases caused by a change of diet and lifestyle.

IFAD has adapted its development strategies for Viet Nam from focusing on boosting agricultural production to commercialisation and sustainability of smallholders. 

The fisheries sector is crucial for enhancing healthy diets, as fish are a valuable source of nutrients and micronutrients.

Women constitute the majority of remittance recipients globally and remittances have an impact on both women’s actual income as well as on social norms.

Next year China is hoping to announce that they have eradicated extreme poverty - but what are the challenges that China would need to deal with after 2020?

We are just over 10 years out from the deadline to the meet the SDGs, but the goals will require a step change in the quantity and quality of financing made available. 

In recent years, the concerns and worldviews of young adults have been increasingly occupying center stage in global debates. And they should.

Today, on the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, I wanted to step back and reflect on progress.

With increasing population, underemployment and increasing demand for food, youth can pay rich dividend in terms of social and economic growth when given the right opportunities and support.

Last Friday was the global climate strike day. I have found myself wondering how we have arrived to this point.

At first glance it may seem access to energy shouldn’t be high on the development agenda as almost 89 per cent of the world's population has access to electricity. However, the data mask disparities between rural and urban areas.

Climate change ranks among the most important dynamics shaping livelihoods of young people now and in the future.

Following the spikes in global food prices in the years 2006, 2008, and 2011, agricultural risk management has become an important topic in G20 discussions.

Is it possible to link small-scale producers to emerging opportunities in dynamic food systems?

Opportunities for migration and mobility have long influenced people's lives and livelihoods.

Smallholder farmers play a vital role in food security, nutrition and economic growth in Africa, but their livelihoods are already threatened by climate change.

In our recent IFAD Research Series study we looked at the dynamics of employment in agriculture in Tanzania and Malawi. 

How can we measure the impact of project interventions on the people and communities participating?

Nearly 1 billion youth live in developing countries, almost half of them in rural areas. IFAD’s Rural Development Report 2019, finds that this enormous rural youth population can pay a rich dividend.

When economic opportunities are limited, programs and policies to help rural youth will generally be ineffective. 

Gender inequality is a pervasive threat to sustainable development and has negative impacts on our collective ability to meet human rights obligations.

As it turns out the short answer to this question is about 34 and not 60 as is often reported.

The inclusion of land tenure-related indicators in the SDGs has drawn increased attention to the topic.

China is the world's largest greenhouse gases (GHG) emitter, yet it is also the world's leading country in energy production from renewable sources.

In 2017, IFAD took its first plunge into the private sector investment space by launching the Uganda Yield Fund in partnership with the European Union.

Whether paid or unpaid, women undertake a wide range of tasks in rural contexts and this contribution to rural economies is often undervalued.

Adolescence is the transition period between childhood and adulthood – the perfect opportunity to improve nutrition and correct poor nutritional practices. 

This week I had the chance to witness the impressive resilience and creativity of people working to improve agriculture in Cabo Verde. 

Consumers increasingly want to know whether the food and beverage brands they buy from are doing social and environmental good, including doing right by the smallholder farmers in global food supply chains. 

In many parts of the world, women are more likely to be food insecure than men. That’s despite the fact that in many countries, many women work in agriculture and are responsible for preparing food.

Irrigation is a lynchpin of rural development strategies. In particular, small-scale irrigation projects are commonplace due to their relatively low cost and user-led management. 

Today’s most pressing problems will need cross-sector collaboration and innovation at all scales. 

Over the years international support for indigenous peoples has grown, also sanctioned by international declarations. 

"Blue Economy" is the new buzzword in the international sustainable development agenda. But what is it and where does it fit in IFAD's development work?

Approximately 40 per cent of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast, and overall the world’s coastal population is increasing fast.