IFAD social reporting blog

Ethiopia's Rural Financial Intermediation Programme (RUFIP) supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), enabled more than 3 million poor rural households to get out of poverty by accessing financial services. Now in its second phase, RUFIP-II programme aims to scale up delivery of financial services at national level to reach almost 7 million households by 2019.

The overall objective of the programme is to provide poor rural people with sustainable access to a range of financial services through a nationwide network of some 30 Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and about 5,500 rural savings and credit cooperatives (RUSACCOs) as well as 100 unions of RUSACCOs. It is supporting these rural financial institutions by developing their institutional capacity to manage credit funds and increasing their professional skills to deliver tailored financial services to their community members. It  is also helping to improve the policy environment as well as  introducing new regulatory and supervisory parameters.

Written by Emily Nink

Originally posted here.

2014 was the hottest year on record, according to both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Rainfall in crucial agricultural zones is diminishing, and small farmers are facing desertification of farmland due to climate change. Everyone must play a role in helping small farmers adapt to climate change, and chefs are uniquely positioned to partner with the farmers who grow the ingredients for their meals. Recipes for Change, a campaign of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), features ingredients that are under threat from climatic changes.

The campaign focuses on traditional crops and dishes that are under threat from global climate change. Regional celebrity chefs travel to rural areas to work with small farmers and to cook traditional meals with local farmers. A series of videos features stories and recipes from rural communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and also features celebrity chefs from those regions. IFAD, a specialized agency of the United Nations, has partnered with the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) to produce the videos.

The project notes that one in three people are dependent on smallholder farms for food security. Furthermore, small farmers often produce food on marginal land and face reduced yields and incomes due to climate change. Therefore, adaptation to climate change is of vital importance to small farmers and rural communities.

Videos include recipes for sweet and sour catfish soup from Vietnam, bananas with beans and split green peas from Rwanda, and Chairo soup from Bolivia. Other recipes, such as Poulet Yassa from Senegal and Guatemalan rice and beans, are also available; the online recipes explain both regional climate risks and IFAD solutions to problems faced by smallholder farmers.

In celebration of World Environment Day 2015, Italian celebrity chef Carlo Cracco visited Moroccan farmer Fatima Abed to create a recipe for lamb tagine with Moroccan truffles. Abed is facing desertification and land degradation due to climatic changes. “Coming here is a humbling experience because if you let it, the desert will advance,” said Cracco. “We must help those people who work to recuperate the land, so that there is a change in the way we fight the battle of climate change.”

Leading up to the Conference of the Parties (COP21) in December of 2015, IFAD will intensify the campaign in hopes of contributing to a worldwide call for an ambitious global deal on climate change. Many other organizations are showing support and solidarity for small farmers adapting to climate change by organizing actions and campaigns worldwide.

Recipes For Change grew out of IFAD’s existing work with small farmers and adaptation to climate change. IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) channels climate finance to small farmers to build resilience in the face of climate risks. Working in more than 30 developing countries, ASAP is now the largest global financing source related to adaptation to climate change.

Join the community and discuss ingredients and issues with other changemakers! Follow Recipes for Change on Twitter and Instagram: #RecipesForChange

Participants of the Local Champions Exhibition are welcomed to  the Healthy Spirit (Mongkol) Communicty Learning Center in Takeo Province on the second day.  The  special Field training offered first-hand experience with highly successful group of Local Champions.  Their training aim to strengthen the know-how of participants on local knowledge management and on scaling up local solutions.

The first Asia-Pacific Local Champions Exhibition opened today at the Royal University of Agriculture of Phnom Penh. The three-day event receives more than a hundred guests from eight countries, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Tonga and Vietnam. The event is a unique opportunity to build personal contacts with outstanding rural women and men, promoting innovations in sustainable rural and agricultural development, with special focus on the involvement of rural youth.

Local champions and members of the public and private sectors showcases products, knowledge and innovations, best practices and technologies in 18 Innovation Shops.

In the afternoon, public-private Roundtables provide space to identify concrete collaboration opportunities between local champions, rural youth and other development practitioners.

Asia-Pacific Local Champions Exhibition (10-12 August, Cambodia)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry of Cambodia, the International Fund for Agriculture Development and PROCASUR are pleased to invite you to the first Asia-Pacific Local Champions Exhibition, bringing together local champions with the public sector, universities, NGOs and cooperation agencies. This groundbreaking event will be a unique opportunity to build personal contacts with outstanding rural women and men, promoting innovations in sustainable rural and agricultural development, with special focus on the involvement of rural youth.

The three-day gathering combines smart networking and learning tools within an interactive framework: Local champions will invite you to visit their Innovation Shops, sales booths to share and explain solutions, best practices and technologies born from endurance; public-private Roundtables will provide space to identify concrete collaboration opportunities between local champions and other rural development practitioners; and a Field training will strengthen the know-how of participants on local knowledge management and on scaling up local solutions.

The event is open to all kinds of rural development practitioners, including local champions, project directors, knowledge management professionals, civil society and cooperation leaders, and it focuses on four critical areas:

1. Natural resources management and climate change;
2. Rural groups for economic and social development: cooperatives, associations, SHGs, enterprises,    indigenous communities;
3. Agriculture and market: high-value products, organic agriculture, non-farm based businesses
4. Local knowledge enterprises: community learning centers, farmer field schools, learning routes.

If you are interested in attending, please register with PROCASUR before the 15th of July. Your delegation may be partially supported with our limited funds, including international tickets, accommodation, meals and local transportation.

For further information download the Exhibition Booklet and visit www.asia.procasur.org

Do you know what the national flower of Hawaii, Haiti, Malaysia and South Korea is?

The delicious tea made from its flowers can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, boost the immune system and help weight loss. In some countries it's used as a vegetable and as a natural food coloring and is used to make paper. Wearing it can also denote if a woman is married or single.

© Lavanya Kurup

These are all the various uses of the beautiful and highly versatile hibiscus, which is also one of the crops that is part of the IFAD-supported Agricultural Value Chains Support Project in Senegal. The project, together with  farmers’ organizations, put in place a financing scheme for agricultural inputs such as certified seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and small tools, farmers also have access to extension services. This has allowed, crop yields to significantly increase in project areas.

For example, in the last five years, hibiscus yield increased from 200 kilograms per hectare to the current 650 kilograms per hectare. This is an impressive 225% increase! As a result, smallholder farmers have been able to produce enough for their own consumption, as well as for sale on the open market. A number of international tea/herbal companies have expressed interest in the crop which illustrates its potential on a number of fronts.

One of the main reasons for the success of the Agricultural Value Chains Support Project is  the Market Operators contractual arrangement which has created the necessary  linkages between farmers' organizations and market operators. This arrangement has helped to integrate farmers into the value chain allowing them  to deliver valuable and high quality products and services to the market across the entire value chain, starting with cultivating, processing, packaging.

The project has set up four value chain fora  for hibiscus, millet/sorghum, cowpea and sesame. The fora are a platform where every value chain actor (producer, transporter, input provider, trader, processor, banker, etc.)  can meet, share information, plan together activities, and mediate among actors (i.e. between producers and buyers).

The project has had a significant impact on the local economy and has helped to reduce food insecurity, increase incomes and create jobs, especially for women and young people.

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IFAD’s President and DR Congo’s Minister of Agricuture, Livestock and Fishery, Isidore Kabwe Mwehu Longo - ©IFAD/D.Paqui

Vegetable garden in Wungu (Madimba) - ©IFAD/D.Paqui

IFAD President, Kanayo Nwanze with Julienne Mankéla, successful farmer in Wungu (Madimba) - ©IFAD/D.Paqui