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More than a decade ago, cocoa producers in Sao Tome and Principe were suffering because of falling global prices for cocoa. Many of them abandoned their cocoa plantations, while others cut down the trees to clear land for maize or other crops. Thanks to IFAD and its partners, nearly 2,200 farmers are now growing cocoa certified as organic or fair-trade for the international chocolate industry.

Cassava is one of the world’s most important food crops. Throughout the tropics, its roots and leaves provide essential calories – and income. Some 600 million people in Africa, Asia and Latin America depend on cassava – also known as yuca and manioc – for their survival. A number of IFAD-supported projects in Western and Central Africa have helped farmers improve yields. However, simply boosting production can lead to a glut of cassava on the market. This can depress prices and discourage farmers from investing in and cultivating this fundamental crop. IFAD is focusing on a region-wide effort to address processing and marketing challenger in its cassava-related projects.

Living conditions are precarious in the northern regions of Mali, where social instability and rebellion are a threat to peace. In a difficult environment, the IFAD-funded Zone Lacustre Development Project improved the living conditions of poor people in the northern regions, including many nomadic households, and helped restore peace in the area.

Madagascar -- The southern region is one of the driest in the otherwise relatively fertile island of Madagascar. Until very recently it was one of the country’s poorest regions, and people there suffered from recurring famine. Rice cultivation was practiced there in the past but farmers could no longer ensure an adequate supply for food, and the economy of the entire region was in disarray.

Thanks to an IFAD-supported programme in north-east Ghana, women’s groups are still building their small-scale ruminant-breeding businesses, feeding their families and sending their children to school 13 years on. Their success inspired other women in the region to follow suit. The programme also had a number of spin-off successes, including the development of three improved varieties of cassava, the nation’s staple crop, which led to a nationwide programme for roots and tubers.

Cattle of the Sudanese Hamerenya breed have some special qualities, including docility and a high milk yield. Through an IFAD-supported programme, farmers in the Adi Quala subdistrict in Eritrea were able to take out small loans to invest in the purchase of Hamerenya cattle. The programme also helps the farmers manage the livestock effectively, safeguarding their investment.

Sometimes, numbers speak louder than words. Six years ago, the Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) was losing around US$290,000 a year. By 2006, it was posting annual profits of US$1.87 million and changing the lives of more than 100,000 poor women. By any standard, this is a remarkable turnaround. But behind the numbers lies an even more remarkable story.

Fighting rural poverty is a multifaceted challenge. It is about increasing the incomes of poor rural people, and providing them with access to safe water, health and education. It is about transferring knowledge and know-how. And equally important, it is about implementing policies that empower people to overcome poverty themselves. An IFAD-funded project is making headway on all these fronts in Mozambique.

Poor villagers in the Aguie area of Niger are discovering the many, unexpected benefits of keeping detailed records of their households and assets. As part of a new databank system introduced by IFAD in 2005, local people are developing a detailed census drawn from 27,000 individuals in 22 villages.

Have you ever wondered where the cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes and green beans sitting on supermarket shelves come from? In Mozambique if you shop at Shoprite, Africa's largest food retailer, which has operations in 16 countries, you'll be buying vegetables produced locally by small-scale farmers.

Planting indigenous fruit and medicinal trees has changed the lives of tens of thousands of poor people in rural Africa.  Women are feeding their families, sending their children to school and improving their status at home thanks to a successful IFAD-supported programme.

Poor farmers in Tanzania are using modern information and communication technologies like mobile phones and even the Internet to get access to market information, and to learn how to build better and more collaborative market chains from producer to consumer. Market “spies”, known locally as shu shu shus, investigate prices and other aspects of local markets, then use their mobile phones to report the information back to their villages. Soon they might be using SMS to access Internet-based databases of locally-relevant market information.

The IFAD-funded Rural Diversification Programme has a strong focus on community-driven development, in which communities take on increasing responsibility for managing their own development. This includes responsibility for the design and implementation of projects. The success of community-driven development requires that the communities build their capacity to take on responsibility. It also requires a culture of public administration that views communities as development partners in their own right rather than simply as recipients of benefits through public expenditure.

Overfishing in the lagoons of Mauritius and Rodrigues has a destructive effect on the coral reef and the marine life it harbours. To increase the incomes of small-scale fishers and relieve pressure on depleted marine resources, the IFAD-funded Rural Diversification Programme has encouraged fishers to give up lagoon fishing.

Located in the Mascarene Islands, the Republic of Mauritius includes the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues. The islands are known for their natural beauty: white beaches, crystal-clear turquoise-colored water and spectacular lagoons with magnificent coral reefs. These natural attractions have made the islands a tourist destination and the hub of a thriving tourist industry. Since Mauritius gained independence in 1968, it has adopted sound economic policies and has risen from the rank of a low-income country to occupy a place among the middle-income countries. The government has a policy of medium-term expenditure budgeting and is implementing a programme-based budget.

The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) estimates that approximately 1.5 billion people depend in some way or another on bamboo and rattan. Bamboo not only is deemed to be the fastest growing plant on the planet, it also is a viable replacement for wood, an essential structural material in earthquake architecture and a renewable source for agroforesty production. These characteristics make bamboo unique in terms of its potential contribution to sustainable development. What is less well known is the fact that bamboo has helped protect young Tanzanian girls and women from HIV/AIDS by saving them from the trap of prostitution. This is thanks to a Tanzanian woman by the name of Pauline Samata.

Burundi’s devastating civil war left rural communities to face the loss of many family members and of almost all of their livestock as well. The country’s depleted soils barely secure adequate yields and, without fertilizers, farmers struggle to meet basic subsistence requirements. Working through community-based organizations, the IFAD-supported Rural Recovery and Development Programme (PRDMR) introduced an innovative revolving livestock scheme that helps increase incomes by using livestock manure to fertilize the land and boost crop productivity.

Rising food prices are having a devastating effect on the poorest people, particularly smallholder farmers in developing countries. A short video being screened during the Second Consultation Session on the Eighth Replenishment illustrates what can happen when smallholder farmers get access to both credit and storage facilities for their grains and what impact that can have on rural incomes and food security. The video features the IFAD-supported Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme (AMSDP) in Tanzania and a warehouse receipt component that enables smallholder farmers to store their harvest and then sell it when prices improve. While waiting to sell their grain, farmers can also use it as collateral to borrow cash from a credit cooperative.
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In drought-prone Eritrea, livestock is a farmer’s most valuable asset. Animal husbandry is not only one of the main sources of livelihood for farmers, but it is also a form of insurance that enables poor rural people to cope with drought and other disasters. IFAD-funded projects invest in rebuilding livestock and the agriculture sector, and help Eritrean farmers meet the challenges of climate change and its effects on their lives and their livelihoods. 
 

Bee-keeping is an alternative source of income for rural families, especially in times of drought, when food security is at risk. Luul, an Eritrean farmer, has learned how to keep bees and avoid their sting, and now he is content with his livelihood of producing honey, or liquid gold. IFAD funded operations in Eritrea encourage farmers to diversify their income-generating activities — producing honey, dairy products or livestock to sell — and provide the financing, training and support they need.

Biogas provides poor rural women and men in developing countries with clean and renewable energy all year round. Electricity generated by biogas lights the lamps that allow children to study in the evening. It frees women from the time-consuming chore of collecting firewood and enables them to undertake value-added activities. And thanks to biogas fuel, rural kitchens are now free of smoke and ash, for a healthier household environment. As fertilizer,  the organic residue that is an end-product of the biogas process boosts the productivity of agricultural plots. In Eritrea, IFAD helps farmers build biogas units and reap the benefits of green technology.

Water is precious in Eritrea, where farmers have to cope with droughts and crop failures. With support from the government and an IFAD-funded project, farmers and herders are expanding spate irrigation, an ancient form of water management. By harnessing floodwaters and collecting run-off, farmers can provide enough water for the crop season. Now some farmers can obtain yields that are six times what they used to be.
 

Women have always had an important role in Eritrean society. During the struggle for independence they helped transform Eritrean society, and today rural women contribute substantially to the agriculture sector and provide income for their households.
Like women around the world and especially those in developing countries, the women in Eritrea’s Gash Barka region start the day’s activities bright and early. They not only do the household chores, but are also fully engaged in agricultural activities.

Communities in many African countries traditionally use natural remedies made from indigenous seeds and plants to cure ailments, and they have handed down their knowledge from generation to generation. Harvesting nuts and seeds is a traditional activity across the continent, and an important supplement to incomes in areas of low productivity, especially for women. But until now ancestral remedies have been available only in local markets.

The fish stock in the spectacular lagoon of the island of Rodrigues is becoming depleted. As a result, octopus fishers like Lima Casmir need to find alternative sources of income.

The consequences of soaring food prices -- starvation, malnourishment, riots and unrest -- are hitting millions of people around the world. The causes of the current crisis are complex, but the effects on people are clear, as is the need for solutions. The United Nations is among those taking the lead in responding to this challenge.

Listen to the stories from Irrigation, Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Development Project and Rural Livelihoods Support Programme

Nowhere is the link between the environment and poverty more pronounced than in highly fragile ecosystems, where inhabitants are often compelled to degrade natural resources as they struggle to survive on inhospitable land. IFAD’s drive to break this vicious cycle has led to the development of a number of replicable models for sustainable land use. A striking example is the Livestock and Pasture Development Project in the Eastern Region of Morocco, which introduced an innovative approach to collective land management with impressive results.

When farmers have secure access to credit and reliable storage facilities for their grain, it gives them the option to sell when they can get the best price. This means that in a situation of rising food prices small farmers stand to benefit, not to lose. The warehouse receipt system, introduced through the IFAD-supported Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme in Tanzania, is now being mainstreamed by the government throughout the country.

A report on Deutsche Welle TV broadcast Christmas day featured IFAD’s Programme for the Promotion of Rural Revenue (PPRR).
Every November the East Coast of Madagascar sees the harvest of lychees, most of which are bound for export to Europe and America for the Festive Season. As stated in the DW-TV report, the programme has helped poor rural farmers to double their incomes by building a commodity chain based around the fruit. Other developed commodity chains include capiscum, honey, rice, maize, fish and rice. After a 2008 evaluation the programme is due to expand to neighbouring regions.
Deutsche Welle reaches 240 million households around the world.
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Diramo is 70. She lives in the village of Siminto in Ethiopia where she was born. She grew up as a herder, moving with her family’s animals to find water and food, feeding her children with the milk and meat. But now the abundant grasslands that the cattle fed on are gone and the people are no longer able to migrate in search of pasture. They grow what crops they can but droughts are frequent.

In the decades since Mauritius gained independence in 1968, it has joined the ranks of the middle-income countries. Severe poverty is rare in comparison to other parts of Africa, but there are pockets of poverty in the northern and eastern parts of the island of Mauritius and on Rodrigues Island, which is substantially poorer. An IFAD-funded programme, started in April 2000, is helping more than 15,000 poor smallholder farmers, artisanal fishers and microentrepreneurs diversify their incomes and improve their way of life.

Maryline Legoff is a rural entrepreneur. She is 35 years old and a single mother with a 5-year-old son. Maryline lives on the island of Rodrigues, 640 kilometers off the island of Mauritius. For Maryline and the 38,000 people who live on Rodrigues, fishing is a way of life. But their livelihoods are threatened by declining fish stocks.

Smallholder farmers living in the buffer zone around the Mount Kenya National Park and Forest Reserve have struggled for years with the elephants that regularly invade their land and destroy their crops. An IFAD-supported project will help strengthen efforts already being made by the Kenya Wildlife Services to find ways of protecting wildlife and farming communities, and the natural resources that both depend upon.

Recharging Mount Kenya, the country’s largest water tower Mount Kenya is a vital source of water for the area’s agriculture, fisheries and livestock production and is strategic to the country’s economic development. But environmental degradation and changes in climate are threatening the mountain that is the country’s ‘largest water tower’. Protecting the environment has become a priority for the government and for local communities. An IFAD-funded project is supporting their efforts to restore vegetation cover, conserve water catchments and sources, and improve farming practices.

After 10 years of civil war, Burundians are ready for lasting peace. This IFAD documentary, co-produced with the Television Trust for the Environment (TVE) for broadcast on BBC World, follows the stories of three people who are attempting to rebuild their lives. Through their stories, the film explores the larger challenges that face the country and the role that international development can play in preventing conflict from re-igniting.

A innovative government program supported by IFAD attempts to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit in one of the world's poorest countries.

Lucy Mansa is a cocoa farmer who makes her living by growing and selling cocoa beans. She lives in a small village in Ghana called Fenaso Domeabra.

Most of the cocoa beans grown in Ghana are sent to the UK and other countries in Europe where they are made into chocolate. The price farmers receive for their cocoa beans is often very low and few of them can afford to buy chocolate.

Exhausted, sore, sun-scorched, dehydrated, satisfied and proud, ultrarunners Charlie Engle of the USA, Ray Zahab of Canada, and Kevin Lin of Taiwan completed their remarkable journey across the Sahara Desert on Wednesday at the Egyptian Red Sea coast, 20 miles from Cairo, finishing a grueling 7300 km (4580 mile) campaign to raise awareness of the world water crisis and broader poverty.

This quality film illustrates the OPEC Fund's achievements during the past 25 years by showing the impact of its work in needy communities around the globe. Some 22 projects are featured in Albania, Bangladesh, Ghana, Guatamala, Honduras, Mauritania, Senegal, the Sudan, Vietnam and Yemen. The film also visits the Fund's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, where senior officials talk about the origins, philosophy and aims of the Institution.

The film deals with problems and solutions in areas such as education, health care, water supply, agriculture, road construction, energy, environment, HIV/AIDS and emergency aid. But, while highlighting success stories in the fight against poverty, Sowing the Seeds of Hope shows that much remains to be done "to turn the dreams of today into the reality of tomorrow".

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As one of 15 wives of a Masai Chief, Monica Mhadi's life has always been better off than other women in her village in rural Tanzania. Even so, she lost four of her seven children because of poor sanitary conditions. Luckily,such tragedies are no longer an inevitable part of Monica's world.

The vast majority of Angolan children today have not had the opportunity of regular schooling. Ínes has been fortunate and is rare among the poor: she has been attending the same school for four years.

A innovative government program supported by IFAD attempts to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit in one of the world's poorest countries.

7 October 2002, MASERU - You don't need to visit Lesotho's unplowed fields to see the real impact of the drought. This national disaster is all too evident in the faces and tragic stories of ordinary people.

Aïcha is an 11-year-old girl living in Morocco who has done something no other girl or woman in her family has accomplished. She is the first female member in her family to attend school. She is in the fourth grade.

Inspired by the World Congress of Youth 2003, UNICEF and the ASSBI Association have sponsored a project that offers young conference participants the opportunity to participate in a concrete way in the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. The project focuses on the quality of the educational experiece at a school in Zoumi, a town in Northern Morocco, whose inhabitants have come together to change children’s lives.

MSANGANI VILLAGE – The Omari family's store in Msangani Village in the district of Kibaha in east central Tanzania is a hub of village activity. Not only is it the place where villagers buy their staples, but the shady tree in front is the site of meetings of the village elders and the place where Msangani's children and women gather once every three months for Child Health Days.

Shupikai, a shy 11-year-old in Zimbabwe's impoverished Binga district, had no choice but to drop out of school when her mother fell sick with tuberculosis and persistent diarrhoea.

Modeste Ouédraogo’s career path has had many twists and obstacles along the way; however he is now clearly forging ahead in his career as a dairy farmer.

When it started in 1997, the Nsawkaw Cashew Nut Processing Company was a small enterprise that bought cashews from farmers in the central Brong Ahafo region of Ghana and sold them to larger markets. Now with a loan from the Government of Ghana, the company is adding a warehouse to its operations and teaming up with other small-scale cashew firms in the area, allowing it to operate with a workforce of 40 women and bringing more local farmers into cashew growing.

Those closest to the ground know their communities the best. This is the philosophy underpinning the successful partnership between the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Government of Ghana to support local poverty reduction efforts.

In Southern Africa, inorganic fertilizers are often too costly for the rural poor.

Without access to fertilizers, farmers struggle to grow food for a growing population. At the same time, a host of related issues such as deforestation, land degradation, soil erosion, local climate change, and loss of biodiversity all hasten the decline of soil fertility.