Études et dossiers

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) emerged from the food crisis of the early 1970s and the World Food Conference of 1974. With financial support from Korea and other development partners, IFAD was created as both a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financial institution. IFAD supports measures that help people in rural areas to overcome poverty and build better lives. Since its creation, FAD has helped about 464 million people to grow more food, better manage their land and other natural resources, learn new skills, start businesses, build strong organizations, and gain a voice in decisions that affect their lives.

Despite much progress – extreme poverty has been halved since the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 1990 – there are still 767 million extremely poor people in the world, and more than 75 per cent of them live in the rural areas of developing countries. Population increases and rising incomes are creating a growing demand for food, which creates both opportunities and challenges for people working in rural areas, including in smallholder agriculture and in the non-farm economy. Rising agricultural productivity, more jobs off the farm and migration are reshaping rural lives, but so too are climate change, environmental degradation, conflict and forced displacement.

IFAD’s experience in developing countries over the past 40 years clearly shows that investing in rural people leads to poverty reduction and economic growth that go beyond agriculture and rural areas. IFAD’s 2016 Rural Development Report presented evidence that inclusive and sustainable rural transformation is fundamental to economic and social growth, and to poverty reduction at the national level.

It is well recognized that with higher incomes and urbanization, patterns of demand for food change and expand – potentially creating new opportunities for food producers in many of today’s developing countries. It is not always equally well recognized that much of the urban expansion involves the growth of (often previously rural) towns, with these settlements retaining many of their rural characteristics. 

The continued prevalence of small-scale farming in local livelihoods – albeit increasingly buttressed by increasingly dynamic non-farm sectors – remains a feature of many of these so-called “urban” settlements. Notably, small towns and cities of less than 500,000 inhabitants now represent the largest share of the global urban population, with the majority of the projected urban growth in the decades ahead to be absorbed by these centres.

It is well recognized that with higher incomes and urbanization, patterns of demand for food change and expand – potentially creating new opportunities for food producers in many of today’s developing countries. It is not always equally well recognized that much of the urban expansion involves the growth of (often previously rural) towns, with these settlements retaining many of their rural characteristics.

Famine, conflits, migrations forcées, pauvreté, faim, inégalités, sécheresse, changements climatiques.

Pour résoudre les problèmes majeurs que connaît l’humanité, il nous faut aller au fond des choses, autrement dit, nous attaquer aux causes les plus profondes de ces problèmes et oeuvrer avec les populations les plus défavorisées, qui sont aussi les plus vulnérables et les plus difficiles à atteindre.

Trop souvent oubliés dans les chaînes de valeur modernes, les petits exploitants familiaux, les commerçants, les ouvriers agricoles, les pêcheurs et les chasseurs-cueilleurs souffrent de la faim alors même qu’ils produisent de la nourriture.

Depuis quatre décennies, le FIDA est le seul organisme qui cible spécifiquement ces populations. Organisme des Nations Unies et institution financière internationale, il est la seule entité de ce type qui consacre toute son action aux zones rurales. Donnant la priorité à l’être humain, le Fonds lutte contre la pauvreté et la faim, en étroite collaboration avec les familles et les communautés. Le FIDA ne se contente pas de donner des conseils ou de faire des recommandations; il apporte avec lui des partenaires, des investissements et des projets à long terme pour assurer la durabilité.
 

En 2015, les États membres de l’Organisation des Nations Unies ont lancé un appel à l’action pour éradiquer la pauvreté mondiale, réduire les inégalités économiques et placer le monde sur une voie plus durable: le Programme de développement durable à l’horizon 2030.

Il existe aujourd’hui près de 250 millions de migrants internationaux dans le monde, qui vivent dans un autre pays que celui qu’ils considèrent comme «chez eux». De tout temps, les individus se sont déplacés, à la recherche de meilleures opportunités pour eux et pour leurs familles; mais l’ampleur des migrations des zones rurales vers les zones urbaines et des mouvements transfrontaliers au XXIe siècle est sans précédent. Le phénomène a été qualifié à raison de «face humaine de la mondialisation».

To grow and lead productive lives we need good nutrition, and good nutrition starts from what we eat. Food systems have great potential to make diverse and nutritious food available and affordable to all. To do that, however, there is a need to strengthen the focus not only on how food is produced, but also how it is processed, distributed, marketed and delivered to consumers, the series of activities that together comprise a value chain (VC).

Investing in inclusive and sustainable rural transformation is strategically important for the 2030 Agenda. This has been broadly recognized in debates about the SDGs, particularly the roles of sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition in relation to SDG2, the eradication of hunger. It is important to recognize that the eradication of hunger is inseparable from the eradication of poverty in all its forms (SDG1). While poverty is often the main driver of food insecurity and malnutrition, hunger and malnutrition also result in the inability to escape poverty. Investments targeted at rural people are needed not only to ensure no one is left behind, but also to unlock the catalytic role that inclusive rural transformation has been shown to play in reducing and eradicating poverty and hunger, as well as promoting wider prosperity.

Le présent rapport fournit des données et une analyse des envois de fonds et de l’évolution des migrations dans les pays en développement au cours de la dernière décennie et examine également la contribution potentielle des familles qui reçoivent des fonds à la réalisation des ODD d’ici 2030.

The Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development (GFRID) is part of a series of ground-breaking and inclusive international forums hosted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financing institution (IFI), in collaboration with key development organizations and other IFIs. Over the last decade, these Forums have brought together stakeholders across all sectors and from around the world involved in the field of remittances, migration  and development.

Les 15 et 16 juin 2017, à l’occasion de la Journée internationale des transferts d’argent familiaux, plus de 350 acteurs des secteurs public et privé se sont réunis au Siège des Nations Unies, à New York, pour participer à la cinquième édition du Forum mondial sur les transferts d’argent, l’investissement et le développement (GFRID 2017). Les participants ont eu l’occasion de débattre des défis et opportunités liés au marché des transferts d’argent, de présenter des approches innovantes et plusieurs modèles d’affaires éprouvés, en centrant leurs discussions sur le rôle des transferts d’argent et des investissements réalisés par les migrants dans la réalisation des Objectifs de développement durable (ODD) à l’horizon 2030.

The Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) has a mandate to increase economic and physical access to food for low-income Africans by providing technical assistance to the portfolio companies of the African Agriculture Fund (AAF). 

The AAF is a private equity fund created in response to the food security challenge across the continent, financed by African, European and US development finance institutions, and private investors. It is comprised of two funds; the AAF and a subsidiary Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Fund. As TAF enters its fifth year, this report reflects on the progress of 42 projects implemented to date through technical assistance to ten AAF portfolio companies. 

The participation of rural stakeholders is central to promoting inclusive, mutually beneficial and sustainable urbanization. Globally, most of the world’s poor and food-insecure people are still located in rural areas. Undernourishment continues to be concentrated among populations based in rural areas, although a growing number of poor people living in urban areas are affected. It is thus critical that rural people and their organizations participate in designing and implementing development policies and programmes that have an impact on rural-urban linkages − for example in food
security, territorial development, urban food planning, natural resource management or infrastructure.

Approaches and experiences in five countries from East and Southern Africa.