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Serving Smallholder Farmers: Recent Developments in Digital Finance

June 2014
This Focus Note introduces some recent developments in this rapidly changing space. The featured case studies (i) identify traditional pain points in serving smallholder farmers (such as the cost and risk of making payments to farmers and delivering subsidized credit), (ii) discuss how DFS are being used to overcome these pain points, and (iii) highlight some initial obstacles and successes.

Collaboration for strengthening resilience - Country case study - Kenya

June 2014
In 2014, Kenya was newly classified as a lower-middle-income country, with financial services and infrastructure expected to drive growth of 5 to 6 percent annually over the next five years. At the same time, the country is still in protracted crisis, with recurrent natural disasters, conflict, severe drought and hunger affecting livelihoods. Overall, about 10 million Kenyans suffer from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition. Recurring drought means that a larger number of people in a growing population are unable to meet their food needs. Good seasons between droughts are increasingly rare, making it difficult for households to recover from crisis to crisis. Severe land degradation, primarily caused by deforestation, unsuitable agricultural practices and flooding, has had a negative impact on agricultural production.

Transforming rural areas in Asia and the Pacific

June 2014
Among the world’s developing regions, Asia and the Pacific region has witnessed the deepest and fastest structural transformation. The Green Revolution that began in the 1960s spurred the rapid spread of improved varieties of cereal crops, accompanied by public investments in and policy support to the agricultural sector. As a result, productivity of wheat and rice increased dramatically, stimulating economic growth and reducing rural poverty. In the following decades, and especially since 2000, the structural transformation further accelerated, leading to a declined share of the sector in both output and GDP and, to a lesser extent, in the total employment. Facilitated by a conducive institutional and policy environment, the process brought about a more diversified, market-oriented and high-value agricultural production; the expansion of food processing, agribusiness, food retailing and exports; and increased domestic and international competitiveness of agriculture – albeit with country and subregional differences. Nevertheless, poverty, deprivation and hunger remain widespread. Two thirds of the world’s poor and hungry people live in the region, mostly in rural environments. Income inequality has been rising fast in a number of countries, especially between urban and rural areas, with adverse effects on poverty reduction and increased risk of social conflict and political instability. Moreover, the countries and subregions are at different stages of the structural transformation process. In most developing economies, labour productivity in agriculture is still low and the shift of the agricultural workforce to other sectors is yet to take place. Therefore, agriculture remains a critical livelihood option and the largest employer sector for most rural people. 

Reforming IFAD, transforming lives

June 2014
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has undergone a transformation in recent years, adapting itself to an environment more complex and challenging than at any other point in its history: persistent hunger and food insecurity; rising and more volatile food prices; floods, droughts and the ever-more apparent effects of climate change; increasing competition for land; global financial crisis; and a growing human population that has surpassed 7 billion.

The IFAD-GEF Advantage: Partnering for a sustainable world

May 2014

In 2001, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council approved the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as an executing agency under its policy of expanded opportunities for executing agencies. 

The Gender Advantage: Women on the front line of climate change

March 2014

This publication illustrates IFAD’s experience in closing the gender gap and mobilizing the ‘gender advantage’ in climate change adaptation through ten case studies from across the world. 

IFAD post-2015 overview document: A rural transformation agenda

March 2014

This overview document represents a synthesis of 4 policy briefs produced by IFAD, complemented by joint work with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in the area of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture in the post-2015 agenda. 

IFAD’s work in the post-2015 debate is inspired by its unique mandate to invest in poor rural people to enable them to overcome poverty and to transform their lives.

FLEXI BIOGAS: Making Biogas Portable and Affordable

February 2014

Article in F@rmletter - The E-magazine of the World’s Farmers (pg 12-13). It describes the Flexi Biogas system as an innovative portable biogas model. 

This was the result of small grant to pilot the technology as part of the Innovation Mainstreaming Initiative funded by the UK Department for International Development.

Report of the side event: “Moving Forward: Breaking The Glass Ceiling”

February 2014
REPORT OF THE SIDE EVENT
“MOVING FORWARD: BREAKING THE GLAS CEILING” Strengthening women’s participation and influence in farmers’ organizations
Special event on the occasion of the Fifth global meeting of the Farmers' Forum Rome, 17 February 2014

Partnership in progress: 2012-2013 – Volume 2 Annexes

January 2014
Annexes (Volume 2) of the Partnership in Progress: 2012-2013.

Family Poultry Development - issues, opportunities and constraints. Working Paper

January 2014

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) are funding a number of projects developed to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to improving food security, income generation and women’s empowerment, while respecting traditional knowledge and socio-cultural values. 

Family poultry production plays an essential role in some of these projects.

Partnership in progress: 2012-2013 – Overview & Conclusions

January 2014

This report is the most comprehensive attempt in IFAD for  taking stock of the different experiences in collaborating with FOs and identifying the emergence of regional trends.

This provides the starting point for scaling-up and broadening successful approaches in other countries and contexts.

The report analyses the modalities of the ongoing partnership over the biennium 2012-2013, highlighting successful stories and achievements within IFAD country programmes and grant portfolio. 

Partnership in progress: 2012-2013 – Volume I: Main Report

January 2014

This report is the most comprehensive attempt in IFAD for taking stock of the different experiences in collaborating with FOs and identifying the emergence of regional trends.

This provides the starting point for scaling-up and broadening successful approaches in other countries and contexts. The report analyses the modalities of the ongoing partnership over the biennium 2012-2013, highlighting successful stories and achievements within IFAD country programmes and grant portfolio.

The report is based on the results of a survey completed by IFAD country programme managers, interviews with relevant IFAD staff and an indepth desk review of documents concerning ongoing and new projects, as well as selected regional grants and country programmes. 

IFAD and public-private partnerships - selected project experiences

December 2013
These case studies present IFAD’s experiences in building PPPs in country projects and programmes around the world, from which we draw conclusions, lessons learned and the way forward.

Gender and rural development brief - Near East and North Africa

November 2013
Gender and rural development brief with specific focus on the Near East and North Africa.

Mainstreaming policy dialogue: from vision to action - workshop summary report

October 2013
Summary report on the workshop "Mainstreaming policy dialogue: from vision to action" organized by LAC and PTA on 17 October 2013.

Gender and rural development brief - Pacific Islands

October 2013
Gender and rural development brief with specific focus on the Pacific Islands.

Towards a Plan for Country-Level Policy Dialogue. Discussion Paper

September 2013

This paper seeks to draw on both the positive aspects of current practice and the critiques that have been made, to propose an action plan for strengthening IFAD’s engagement in country level policy dialogue.

It outlines a set of broad principles underpinning IFAD’s approach, the first of which is the reaffirmation that policy engagement must be shaped and led by the CPM.

It also makes specific proposals for more effectively integrating country-level policy dialogue in IFAD country programmes; for improving IFAD’s monitoring, reporting and knowledge management on the subject; and for strengthening in-house capacity for country-level policy dialogue.  

Country-level policy engagement-opportunity and necessity

September 2013

Describes what IFAD and the Policy and Technical Advisory division are supporting country-level policy engagement.

It also summarizes past experience and explains how Country Programme Managers can access funds to engage in country-level policy dialogue.

Down to earth:Sustainable rural transformation

August 2013
Today’s world is full of paradoxes, some of them grotesque – none more so than the fact that while 870 million people go hungry every day, a third of all food is lost or wasted. We marvel at the growth rates of middle-income countries, yet some of those countries are home to tens of millions of very poor people. About 75 per cent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and mainly derive their livelihoods from agriculture, while producing over 80 per cent of the food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Yet many are themselves net buyers of food.

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