Dairy farmers in Kenya struggle with low milk yields that fluctuate wildly from wet season to dry. An IFAD-funded programme in the south-west of the country is rehabilitating the dairy subsector by boosting milk yields, strengthening farmers’ organizations and bringing producers, transporters, processors and traders together to the benefit of all.
Improving access to water and community services is a good starting point for supporting the empowerment of rural women. Thanks to an IFAD-supported project, women in five districts of Kenya’s Central Province are enjoying new opportunities to improve their living conditions and the well-being of their families and to acquire income-generating skills. Project initiatives are helping shift traditional gender imbalances, as women slowly gain the ability to share more equally in available resources and development opportunities, and even begin taking on leadership roles within their communities.
Remote Pacific Island communities face increasing socio-economic and environmental uncertainty. The breakdown of traditional community structures has removed an important social safety net. But islanders are reasserting control of their economic and social well-being and achieving spectacular results with the help of an IFAD-supported programme.
In the Pacific Islands, farmers have traditionally used organic farming methods, but because their produce was not officially certified, they were unable to enter the US$18 billion global market. Now, with the help of new regional organic standards, a growing number of island farmers are getting a good price for their produce in international markets, improving life for themselves and their families.
A new agricultural research centre is helping Pacific islanders fight the effects of climate change and feed their people. Its work in crop production and improving soil fertility under island conditions offers benefits not just for the Pacific region, but for island groups throughout the world.
Two remarkable young women born in one of the driest, poorest countries in the world are showing their families and their communities the way out of poverty. Ibtsam and Sabah live in the Dhamar Governorate of Yemen, where up to 70 per cent of the population in highland villages lives on less than two dollars a day.
“I had the wall here initially and that was destroyed by the very high tides in 2005. I built this quite some time back. Over the years that was destroyed so I rebuilt it,” explains Anote Tong, the president of Kiribati, a tiny coral island nation of 33 atolls stretching across the Pacific Ocean, with a total land area of 811 square kilometres.
In 2008, global food price spikes and four successive hurricanes battered the Caribbean island of Haiti, causing an estimated US$220 million in damage to food crops. Tens of thousands of farmers were left without a means of earning an income and the country without enough food to eat. This short video looks at a special IFAD-funded programme designed to kick-start the country’s food production quickly and the support needed to make Haiti food secure.
What can the poorest people do to aid economic development in their own communities? A great deal, when given easy access to financial services and remittance flows, says the Director of Fonkoze, Haiti’s alternative bank for the poor. This short video tells the story of two Fonkoze clients.
International Women's daycelebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women . In most developing countries, women produce the bulk of the world’s food crops. Yet women face greater constraints than men, and lack the means, the services and the opportunities to increase their yields and their earnings. This year, the UN theme for the day is “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.” After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, time and again we witnessed how the women of Haiti took things in hand and provided the necessary for their families, friends and their community.
Poor rural people manage vast areas of land and forest. They have the potential to be important players in protecting natural resources and providing important environmental services. An IFAD-supported project has helped build momentum and public interest in rewards for environmental services and has developed ways to offer incentives to poor farmers who protect ecosystems at the national level in China, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, the Philippines and Viet Nam.
Increasing the knowledge and assets of poor families is an effective way to fight poverty. An innovative IFAD-supported project in the southern highlands of Peru provides grants directly to small producers and to farmers’ organizations so they can develop new income opportunities. Project activities are helping participants better manage natural resources and gain access to Internet services, financial services and insurance.
Environmental degradation, diminishing food productivity and high population growth are common problems in rural areas of northern and central Mindanao in the Philippines. An IFAD-funded project is demonstrating that an integrated, holistic approach to development, driven by the communities themselves, can generate substantial and lasting change.
A local microfinance institution provides small loans for poor rural people, with particular attention to women. The success rate of the small businesses that have sprung up because of these loans has been astonishing.
Fishing communities in Cortes, Surigao del Sur, watched with alarm as fish in their waters grew smaller and scarcer. Coastal degradation was threatening their livelihoods. Through capacity-building and other support, the IFAD-funded Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives and Resource Management Project has helped the municipal government and local organizations first halt and then reverse this trend.
Poverty, illiteracy and unemployment levels are high among the 18 indigenous groups that live in Mindanao. The IFAD-funded Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives Resource Management Project has helped empower tribes to take the lead in the education of their children and in their own self-governance – two important routes to a better future.
The Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives and Resource Management Project helped develop the abilities of poor rural communities to play an active role in their own economic and social development. One way the project achieved this was by setting up a poverty alleviation fund in selected municipalities. The fund provided a combination of seed money and much-needed credit to organized groups of poor producers, fishers, indigenous peoples and women who had, with project assistance, developed viable plans for sustainable livelihoods.
A small IFAD-funded grant project in Western Mindanao took up the challenge of helping former combatants return to civilian life not long after decades of conflict had formally ended. The project provided life skills and technical support to participants, helping them win acceptance in their villages as productive and peaceful farmers and fishers.
One of the objectives of IFAD-funded operations is to strengthen communities so that they can determine their own needs and mobilize resources to meet them. Small enterprise development and credit are central to this endeavour. Working with farmers, women and indigenous groups, IFAD and its partners have helped change the attitudes and economies of villages and municipalities in southern Philippines, even in areas affected by conflict.
Teaching poor farmers better ways to produce poultry and vegetables helps them increase their incomes and improve their families’ living conditions. Through farmers’ field schools, small-scale producers learn new methods and share useful experiences, joining in groups to make the most of their agricultural potential. Two IFAD-funded programmes support more than 200 farmers’ field schools in Zanzibar, working to empower small-scale farmers to overcome poverty.
Consumer demand for organic, fair trade chocolate is helping to revive an entire sector of the economy in Sao Tome. Thanks to an initiative first proposed by IFAD, 1400 farmers on this island 230 kilometres of the west coast of Africa have switched to organic cocoa production and are earning more money as a result.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It is quite a challenge to develop a major domestic industry that brings public and private investors together and also nurtures the interests of small-scale producers. An IFAD-funded project in Uganda is rising to that challenge by helping to forge a highly innovative partnership between small-scale producers of palm oil and a private sector operator. With the project’s support Uganda has progressed in a decade from almost total dependence on vegetable oil imports to development of a thriving domestic production sector that has a promising potential for foreign trade. And the country has seen a significant improvement in people’s nutrition as well.
In the rugged terrain of Lesotho’s uplands, farmers raise sheep and goats for their wool, supplying an important national industry and providing a major export. But without information, better organization and basic infrastructure, small-scale sheep and goat farmers are unable to lift themselves out of a subsistence existence and obtain better prices for their wool. In addition to building woolsheds in remote areas, an IFAD-funded programme is training farmers in improved animal health as well as care and management of the grasslands their herds feed on. Thanks to these inputs, farmers should soon be getting substantially better prices for their wool in the marketplace.
In a country where almost half of the population barely survives on less than a dollar a day, microcredit offers poor people a unique opportunity to engage in small businesses or improve their agricultural production. With the support of IFAD, microfinance institutions such as the Amhara Credit and Saving Institution (ACSI) extend small loans to poor people in rural areas to help them improve their incomes and overcome poverty.
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.
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 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 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.
Widespread environmental degradation in the north-eastern region of India is aggravating poverty and food security, and forcing rural people to exploit dwindling resources to meet subsistence requirements. An IFAD-supported project has introduced a new model for sustainable management of the resource base. Now communities care for the environment, and have learned to make use of natural resources to improve livelihoods and ensure that the land will continue to provide for future generations.
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.
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.
Sharing, discussing and learning from successful and less successful experiences is the ultimate goal of all learning organizations. Since 2001, with the support of IFAD, a Latin American training organization specialized in rural development has promoted an innovative learning approach known as ‘learning routes’. Participants of a learning route on market access in poor rural territories visited the business enterprises of five associations in Ecuador and Peru and took valuable lessons back to their own activities and communities.
For generations, poor people around the world have left their homes to seek better wages abroad. Today, the money they send home totals an estimated US$200 billion a year. In Latin America, remittances are worth more than direct foreign investment, official development assistance and foreign aid combined. They have a huge potential to reduce rural poverty. With this in mind, IFAD is exploring ways to lower the transaction costs of sending money home and is working with governments to make sure the money is used productively.
Northern Bangladesh is home to some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable rural people. The area, like the rest of the country, is frequently hit by floods and cyclones. Its smallholder farmers are trapped in poverty, largely excluded from borrowing and knowledge of farming practices that could help improve their lives and protect them from potential risks. An IFAD-supported project in the north-west and north-central regions of the country has introduced financial services customized to the specific needs of poor farming communities. As a result, incomes are improving and rural people are beginning to lift themselves out of poverty.
Argentina, a middle-income country, is the third largest producer and second largest exporter of agricultural products in Latin America. But for people living in the country’s remote rural areas there are few opportunities to reap the benefits of this thriving sector. Two IFAD-supported projects in the northeast and northwest regions have worked to help small producers form strong cooperatives to obtain better access to credit and technical assistance and find new markets for their products. With more options at home, fewer young people are migrating to cities in search of work.
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.
Jordan is a chronically water-scarce country, and less than five per cent of the land is arable. For farmers, little or no rainfall means severely reduced cultivation and production – and increased hunger and poverty. Those who find other ways to supplement their incomes generally earn very little. To address these challenges, an IFAD-supported project provided farmers with technical and financial assistance to promote soil and water conservation and boost agricultural production. It also helped more than 800 women develop small-scale business enterprises to increase family incomes.
The People’s Republic of China is the third-largest country in the world and home to more than 1.2 billion people. It is a vast collage of sea-coast, fertile plains and valleys, rugged mountains and arid wind-swept deserts. Indeed, China’s vastness and diversity are in many ways an embodiment of the problems and challenges facing small farmers and pastoralists throughout the developing world.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Animal manure is a source of methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas when released to the atmosphere. But methane can also be captured and used as a source of clean, renewable and affordable energy. An IFAD-supported project in China provided about 30,000 poor households with nearly 23,000 ‘biodigester’ tanks for biogas production. As a result, methane emissions dropped, incomes rose and household sanitation and health improved.
The people of Burundi are heading to the polls to elect their first parliament and president since a civil war began in 1993. This report explores how IFAD-initiated Community Development Committees contribute to democratic processes and peace building by putting economic decision-making power in the hands of poor villagers.
Development assistance can offer people an alternative to conflict in countries disabled by war. This report explores the impact that economic development had in several provinces in Burundi during the country's 10-year civil war and the need for continued international support since the war has ended. Watch video:
Lack of access to reliable and up-to-date market price information is a serious problem for smallholder farmers across Africa. Without this information, they are vulnerable to unscrupulous traders giving them prices at below-market rates. Furthermore, they are reluctant to diversify into different cash crops for fear of not finding a profitable market for their output
The Arabian Sea is one of the world’s richest fisheries, yet until recently fishermen living along its coast in Yemen remained desperately poor. This short video looks at how an IFAD-supported project helped transform poor fishermen into successful fish exporters, who now sell their catch to buyers from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Europe.
Watch video: Coming up on CNN World Report, 1 April 2007 Quicktime: 56k | 100K | 300K RealPlayer: 56K | 100K | 300K Windows Media Player: 56K | 100K | 300K
Two years ago, in 2005, Giang Thi Hoa, 41, and her husband, Li Mi Na, 54, decided to leave their home in the mountains of Meo Vac district, Viet Nam, in search of a better life for themselves and their four children. In the mountains, the family lived in extreme poverty
In 2000, Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami received an invitation from IFAD to document the plight of nearly two million Ugandan orphans whose families had been devastated by HIV/AIDs. Kiarostami’s acclaimed documentary ABC Africa was the result. Inside ABC Africa, to be featured on an upcoming DVD release of ABC Africa, is the story behind the making of Kiarostami’s film.
A decade of political and civil strife in Uganda left the economy in shambles and the rural population even deeper in poverty. Rural family health, water supply and sanitation in the late 1980s became alarming; the status of health services was for the most part inoperational, and the road network was in ruins. Of special concern were the districts of Hoima and Kibaale.
The Ugandan Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO) is an NGO created in 1986, with the aim of assisting approximately 1.03 million people under the age of 17 who became orphans during the mid-1970s civil war. Since then, many more children have become orphans mainly losing parents to AIDS. Approved by IFAD/BSF in 1994, the UWESO Development Project (UDP) was designed to help the NGO assist these young people and their foster parents/guardians
To the market vendors who sell him vegetables and rice, Stanley Mchome is just another customer, albeit one who asks a great many questions. But in reality, Stanley’s inquisitiveness is far more than friendly banter. When he’s not tending to his rice fields in Northern Tanzania, Stanley is a “Mkulima Shushushu” – Kiswahili for “market spy.”
The First Mile is a pilot project that encourages small farmers, traders, processors and others in the market chain to work and think collaboratively, not competitively, to improve their access to markets and customers. Mobile phones, radio, e-mail and the Internet are just some of the communications tools being used to connect those in isolated communities. And while technology is important, trust and relationship-building are the primary goals.
The rural population of the central dry areas of the United Republic of Tanzania faces severe constraints due to the lack of safe water supply and health services. Agricultural production increases alone are not sufficient to bring about all-round development. The Water Supply and Health Project in the Marginal Areas is complementing the production-oriented IFAD Smallholder Development Project for Marginal Areas
Dodoma (Tanzania, United Republic of) became a name before it became a town. There are different stories about how it happened. One story is that some Wagogo stole a herd of cattle from their southern neighbours the Wahehe; the Wagogo killed and ate the animals, preserving only the tails, and when the Wahehe came looking for the lost herd all they found were the tails sticking out of a patch of swampy ground. "Look", said the Wagogo, "Your cattle have sunk in the mud, Idodomya". Dodoma in chigogo means "it has sunk". There is yet another story which is most commonly accepted on the name Dodoma. An elephant came to drink at the nearby Kikuyu stream (so named after the Mikuyu fig trees growing on its banks) and got stuck in the mud. Some local people who saw it exclaimed "Idodomya" and from that time on the place became known as Idodomya, the place where it sank
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 phenomenon of extension theatre – using drama to explore agricultural extension themes – has deep roots in the history of ancient theatre. Greek “saga” and Italian “Commedia dell’ Arte” have something in common with extension theatre, as do religious and traditional rhythmical performances still seen in Asia and the Middle East.
Syria is a middle-income country characterised by high unemployment and inflation running at about 20-30 percent in 1999. Agriculture constitutes an important sector in the Syrian economy, employing 25 percent of the labour force in 1999; at the same time, only 30 percent of Syria’s total area is cultivated. A major concern of the government’s agricultural policy is the presence of rocks derived from volcanic lava flows that limit cultivation, particularly in the south of the country.
Large, well-constructed ‘agro-wells’ are making farming profitable for farmers living in dry areas of Sri Lanka. Farmers in the dry areas of the district of Matale benefited from the Regional Economic Advancement Project (REAP) from 1999 to 2007. REAP was mostly funded by a loan of US$11.7 million from IFAD to the Government of Sri Lanka. The project had a total budget of US$14.5 million, and benefited some 30,000 households. A major activity of REAP’s subcomponent on soil conservation and water management was assistance to the poorest farmers to enable them to construct agro-wells for irrigation purposes. This activity was started in 2001.
From the outside, it looks like a little house by the side of the road, like so many others, except for the sign painted over the entrance that reads Umubano Restaurant. A restaurant it is not, however, much less a house like any other. A little notice board indicates its real function: Bistrot Chez Bizarete, selling banana wine and passion fruit juice.
From April to the end of June, the Sakara coffee washing station in Rwanda’s province of Kibungo, bustles with activity. Coffee-growers in the nine surrounding areas come to weigh their crops. For the 845 members of Iakab, the association that manages the washing station, it is the beginning of a fruitful season.
An IFAD-funded project in the Dir district has pioneered a new approach to rural financing that conforms to Islamic regulations. In its initial phase it has helped women set up micro-enterprises. In just nine years it has demonstrated how economic and social empowerment can transform women’s status and self-esteem.
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.
In the Middle Hills district of Nepal, an IFAD-funded project has helped reverse environmental degradation and bring people out of poverty. As a result of the project’s impressive impact, the government adopted a leasehold forest policy in 2002 and integrated the approach in its poverty strategy. Now a new project is building on the success of the first, introducing livestock and microfinance components.
Nepal is the tenth poorest country in the world. The project targeted 16,000 rural women living below the poverty line and facing strong social barriers such as gender bias, caste and ethnic divisions. Women also lacked access to the means by which they could improve their living standard. In the project design, the importance of rural women’s contribution to production and family income was recognized.
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.
A collection of interviews from rural poor people in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Laos, Morocco and Peru who describe the greatest obstacles they face in getting their goods to market.
Nowhere is the linkage between the environment and poverty more pronounced than in the fragile ecosystems where inhabitants are often compelled to degrade their natural resources and struggle for survival. IFAD’s drive to break this vicious cycle has often led to the development of innovative, replicable models.
Fifty-six-year-old Kouidar El Ghazouani is a small pastoralist and a member of the Beni-Mathar tribe. Before the 103-member Essaada cooperative was set up, he basically stayed in one place with his flock. Today, he grazes his 80 head of sheep all across the rangelands and, during periods of drought, he feeds them subsidized barley purchased from the cooperative.
Women in Madagascar, as in other parts of the developing world, are slowly gaining more economic power through step-by-step involvement in new projects. They have proved to be highly responsible managers, sometimes more so than their male counterparts. Yet despite apparent progress they are still under-represented in the local economy and more often than not they are unaware of their possibilities.
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.
North-east Madagascar is known for its production of vanilla and spices, a specialization that eventually led farmers to abandon food crops. From 1997 to 2006, an IFAD-supported project fostered a global approach linking production and marketing. It included activities to develop commercial vanilla production while promoting traditional rice farming. It also implemented a network of credit unions to provide access to financial services for poor farmers who were excluded from the banking system and relied on high-interest loans from other sources.
As exceptionally hot weather sweeps across Jordan this week, many farmers say they are expecting the worst, according to recent articles in the Jordan Times. Jordan, already among the world’s top 10 water-poor countries, is the only country in the Middle East to ration water year round.
In Jordan the challenge is to stop the entire Kingdom from turning to desert – a growing problem due to persistent drought and a population swollen by refugees from Middle East conflicts. Competition for water is so severe that even the legendary Dead Sea could disappear. TV presenter Rula Amin travels the length of Jordan and discovers that an IFAD-supported project working on the front lines of the crisis in the country’s driest southern governates provides innovative solutions as well as lessons for other countries.
In Indonesia of the mid-1980s, nearly 37 million people lived in absolute poverty with incomes below the equivalent of 320 kg of rice per year. Millions of smallholders, farmers, farm workers and fishermen were materially and financially unable to tap into the opportunities offered by 20 years of economic growth in the country and, with no collateral, there was no hope of obtaining a bank loan
“India Shining”, the slogan that lost the governing BJP party the election two and a half years ago, still has the ring of truth. The slogan may have backfired, igniting a backlash among India’s legions of poor who turned out at the polls in high numbers and put Congress back into power, but the fact is the Indian economy IS shining, or as the Hindustan Times puts it on a billboard, “India rocks”. There can be little doubt that with its 8.5% growth rate the country is on its way up.
With the progress made in the past two decades, India’s acute and severe food shortages have become a thing of the past and the Government can turn its efforts towards long-term structural problems, such as the low social status of women. Despite their virtual lack of access to means of improving their incomes, women make an essential contribution to their families survival, especially among the poorer strata. In fact, rural women are estimated to be the sole family providers in 20-25% of homes, clearly a work force with economic potential.
Emilio Rodríguez has three children, ranging in age from 13 to 21. Proderco has taught Emilio’s 15-year-old son carpentry skills. He and his wife, Elsa Madariaga, share the daily work.
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Almost 75 percent of its rural population live in poverty, and nine out of ten rural households headed by women are affected by poverty.
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.
The heads of the three Rome-based food and agriculture agencies of the United Nations – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP) – visited Ghana’s food insecure northern region last week to find better ways to work together to fight hunger and poverty in the country.
With poor soils, erratic rainfall and one of the highest population densities, Ghana's Upper East Region is the country's most impoverished area. In 1987, 97% of residents in the area lived below the poverty line; frequent droughts and high food insecurity forced many men to migrate south seeking work as seasonal labourers. One clear solution, to achieve greater food security and allow farmers to earn a living from their land during the dry season was to use low-lying lands as reservoirs by building dykes and dams.
IFAD launched its first intervention in the Palestinian territories in 1994, soon after the Oslo accords were signed in September 1993. The Gaza Strip and Jericho Relief and Development Programme was designed to improve incomes and living standards and to help create an environment conducive to peace and security. Thanks to the programme, Jericho today has a revitalized the water supply system, which has given a major boost to agricultural production in the area.
Samia Al Sha’ar is 35 years old and is married with 6 children. She lives in the village of Khirbat al-Adas in the Gaza Strip. Her husband lost his job some time ago and for many years they had no house, nor any land to build one on. Since getting married they had been living in her brother-in-law’s home.
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