Climate Conversations - Green value chains transform vulnerable farmers into entrepreneurs

By Naoufel Telahigue and Rami Abu Salman

Organic cocoa farmers in Sao Tome and Principe have benefited from
an IFAD scheme linking them with overseas buyers. PHOTO/IFAD

Next month, we will all gather again in Rio de Janeiro to work out what went wrong 20 years ago and consider solutions that we have dismissed.

Children who were 12 years old during the first Rio summit, in 1992, might now be quickly approaching the end of their life expectancy in some countries. But what if smallholder farmers had been at the centre of the debate 20 years ago?

At the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – the United Nations’ agency focused on rural development – we believe there can be no green economy without “green” agriculture.

Agriculture is a key economic and development sector in all countries across the globe, recognised by world leaders for boosting gross domestic product (GDP). If done sustainably, agriculture can provide a significant opportunity for the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty to improve their lives, and cater to the food security needs of the world’s more than 925 million malnourished people.

In addition, climate-smart and simple technologies can help poor smallholder farmers to build their resilience and mitigate risks associated with climate change.

IFAD and its partners have been working to ensure that innovation and investment in agriculture -  and more importantly in the world’s 500 million small farms - lead to long-term sustainability.

Organic fair-trade Cocoa
In Sao Tome and Principe, for example, IFAD has helped turn around the dying smallholder cocoa sector after the collapse of world market prices in the late 1990s.

By setting up public-private partnerships with overseas buyers of organic fair-trade cocoa of high quality, the project helped small farmers establish export cooperatives and achieve stable and significantly improved incomes.

Smallholder families participating in the programme have seen their yearly income increase, on average, from a level 25 percent below the poverty line to 8 percent above it. One particularly successful producer used the profit from organic cocoa production to set up a small roadside shop that his wife runs, generating even greater profit.

This initiative was coupled with organising small farmer groups and training them in organic and conservation agriculture, solar drying, integrated pest management and other environmentally sustainable practices.

Growth potential
Smallholder farmers have untapped growth potential. The message IFAD will take to the upcoming conference in Rio is that we must explore this potential by transforming smallholder farmers into empowered business women and men.

This transformation requires adopting new approaches that are competitive, sustainable, sufficiently diversified and within the carrying capacity of natural ecosystems. By helping smallholders in integrating and developing “green value chains”, we offer them an opportunity to sustainably harvest not only food, but also economic, social and environmental benefits.

For instance, a new initiative in Sierra Leone is aiming to develop markets for high-quality organic, fair-trade cocoa. The project will rehabilitate a cocoa plantation abandoned during the war.

Prices for good-quality certified cocoa are less susceptible to market fluctuations, and this encourages further investment and assures sustainability. In addition to the extra income provided by intercropped plants, cocoa agroforestry systems will support greater biodiversity and avoid land degradation and erosion caused by slash-and-burn farming.

Smallholder farmers have immense potential to contribute to a green economy and to sustainable growth in general. To do that successfully, they need enabling environments and support such as improved access to land, water and markets, financial services, adequate technologies and technical assistance.

In this respect, promoting the role of women and youth as farm entrepreneurs is particularly crucial. We have the means, we have the knowledge, and now we need the collective will. If we don’t act now, we risk going back in another 20 years to acknowledge the failure of choices.

Originally posted on AlertNet blog

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Naoufel Telahigue and Rami Abu Salman are Regional Environment and Climate Specialists at the IFAD. IFAD is co-organising Agriculture and Rural Development Day on June 18 ahead of the Rio+20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

How to save Bangladesh?

An interview with Thomas Rath, IFAD Country Programme Manager for Bangladesh
Originally posted on New York Times Green blog

A woman prepares a fishing net for mending in Hamidpur, Bangladesh.
©IFAD/Alexandra Boulat

In just over a month, policy makers from around the world will meet in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The meeting has been called Rio+20, reflecting the two decades that have passed since a landmark conference on the environment and development was held in Rio in 1992. This time the main themes are energy, sustainable cities, food security, water shortages, the health of oceans, disaster readiness and assuring people a livelihood.

Bangladesh is a prime example of a vulnerable developing nation that faces formidable challenges in all these areas, and it will be directly affected by the decisions that are made — or not made — at the conference. Firm commitments have often been elusive on the international level.

We asked Thomas Rath, the country program manager for the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development project in Bangladesh, about the development obstacles the country faces, some of which are linked toclimate change and environmental degradation. Following are excerpts, edited for brevity and clarity.

Q.

How would you describe Bangladesh’s agricultural picture?

A.

Bangladesh, bordering India, Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal, is in the subtropical zone, very wet and flat and dominated by agriculture. Three large rivers from the Himalayas flow through the country, all ending in the bay on the southern coast. It’s a beautiful, fertile tropical delta.

The New York Times

About 150 million people live here, and the population density is one of the highest in the world after places like Singapore and Hong Kong. That’s 1,200 people per square kilometer (about four-tenths of a square mile). By comparison, in Mongolia there are only three or four people per square kilometer.

This density means that many farmers have very small land plots on which they struggle to feed their families. About 35 percent of the population lives under the poverty line of $1 a day, and about 40 percent, or 60 million people, are completely dependent on agriculture. Many people are landless or have less than an acre or half an acre to live on. It makes you wonder what they are surviving on.

Rice is the principal crop and, for those with very little land, the only crop they grow. Forty percent of children are malnourished, either because they don’t get enough calories or because they can’t develop healthily only eating rice.

Q.

How is climate change affecting the land, people and economy?

A.

Bangladesh sits at the end of the cone of the Bay of Bengal. The country is infamous for natural disasters. Every year there are typhoons. The coastal zones routinely get washed away, and the farmland is destroyed: people lose animals, crops, everything they have. They are very exposed: most of the land is flat and just above sea level, every storm sweeps across the country without any obstacles, and tidal surges pound the coast.

Fishermen begin their work at dawn in Dhopadanga Boar, Bangladesh.
©IFAD/Alexandra Boulat

If you go further north, there is an area in the northeast that is essentially a large depression in the land. When the monsoon season starts, the water comes down from the mountains and floods the whole area. It fills up with water and takes months to drain. Vast areas are underwater half the time, so farmers can’t go into their fields or grow anything then; they have to rely on something else for most of the year.

These things have always happened in Bangladesh, but with climate change it is expected that these flash floods will occur more frequently, and rainfall will be more intense and erratic. Farmers are already trying to adapt to these changes by sowing their rice earlier and using varieties that mature more quickly so they can get the harvest in before the rains come and they are left with nothing to eat or sell.

In the coastal areas, storms are expected to come earlier and be more frequent and severe. In the last two decades, 500,000 people have been killed in storms, and we should expect that this will increase.

And then of course, the sea level will rise, and the ocean will come in over what dikes have been built. It is very likely that about 30 percent of land in Bangladesh will frequently be underwater and the soil will be saturated with salt and useless. Many, many people will lose their farmland, crops and livestock and homes and become climate change refugees. Where do these people go then, when there is already not enough land in the country?

Q.

What are your thoughts on Rio as the conference approaches? Are you hopeful? Cynical?

A.

I am not cynical — there are too many cynics already, and how does that help?

But I do think it’s important that people act instead of just talking.
It’s really sad that there are still politicians and governments out there who don’t believe that climate change is fact. It’s very sad. I don’t know what their motivations are, but they should come to Bangladesh and meet the people who won’t have homes or land or any way of supporting their families.

“Many, many people will lose their farmland, crops and livestock and homes and become climate change refugees. Where do these people go then?”

— Thomas Rath

If we don’t do anything, then the problem will come to us: these won’t be problems in our backyard, we will have climate refugees in our front yard, knocking on our door.

These people have a right to live, just as we who by chance were lucky enough to be born in comfortable North America and Europe have the right to live.

Rio was and is a fantastic thing, but we have no time to waste.

The planet cannot afford for us to continue the mistakes we made during industrialization: rooting our economy in fossil energy and polluting the atmosphere as much as possible. We need to help one another.

Q.

What are the biggest challenges for Bangladesh?

A.

It’s not enough for us to help people become better farmers; we need to help transition the economy to something that does not depend on the availability of land. I know farmers who grow rice before the monsoon season and then, when the rains come, they stock their flooded fields with fish fingerlings and crabs and sell these in Dhaka. It is a strange sort of crop rotation, but it works in some areas.

Agriculture will still be a very important sector in Bangladesh — it has to be, given so much food insecurity. But food insecurity can only be tackled by sufficient food production, and expanding agriculture — livestock, rice cultivation — contributes to climate change, which in turn leads to greater food insecurity through flooding, etc.

We need to find ways to help countries all over Asia to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while at the same time producing enough food to feed their people.

‘No empty promises’ at pre-G8 symposium on advancing food security

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze is in impressive company today at a high-level symposium on agricultural development and food security. Held in Washington, DC, and organized by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the all-day session takes place in connection with this year’s G8 summit of world leaders.

Planting maize seeds in Mswagini village, Tanzania.
©IFAD/Mwanzo Millingan

Like the summit itself – which President Barack Obama will host tomorrow at Camp David – the symposium is taking a serious and long overdue look at how the G8 nations can most effectively advance food and nutrition security in the developing world.

Among the other participants in the event are President Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Presidents of Benin, Ghana and Tanzania, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the Administrator of USAID, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, the pop star and activist Bono, and many more.

Their presence reflects a growing international consensus that, as Nwanze said today, “food security is the foundation for global security.”

New Alliance for sustainability
In a keynote speech at the symposium this morning, Obama echoed that sentiment. “Food security is a moral imperative, but it’s also an economic imperative…and it’s a security imperative,” he said. “Reducing hunger and malnutrition around the world enhances peace and security.”

Obama went on to announce a G8 initiative, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which he called “a major new partnership to reduce hunger and lift tens of millions of people from poverty.”

Rather than relying inordinately upon emergency aid to address cyclical crises, Obama said, the alliance will honour the commitments to global food security that the G8 made at their 2009 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy. Beyond those commitments, the G8 governments and their partners will also launch substantial new programmes in support of sustainable agriculture, with a special focus on Africa.

“No empty promises,” Obama said, adding that the New Alliance will begin with projects in Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania – “but this is just the beginning.” Over the next decade, the initiative aims to help 50 million rural people overcome poverty.

Africa’s potential
IFAD, WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization welcomed the launch of the New Alliance, and the Rome-based UN agencies will remain engaged in its rollout. At a symposium panel on trade and food security, IFAD’s Nwanze shared his thoughts on the need for such an undertaking, especially in many African nations.

“Africa is the last frontier,” Nwanze said, explaining that the continent holds greater potential for agricultural development than any other region – if only because it has under-produced for so long. To realize that potential and compete internationally, he said, Africa’s smallholder farmers need “sound, vibrant and sustainable domestic markets.” Strong domestic markets, in turn, hinge upon adequate infrastructure, technology, innovation and investment.

The New Alliance is slated to be active in all of these areas.

‘An enabling environment’
Of course, small-scale farmers are, themselves, central to the agricultural private sector. As rural entrepreneurs, they must be full partners in any effort to make a mass transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture.

Therefore, Nwanze said today, “we need to have strong farmer organizations. Where farmers are organized, particularly women farmers, they begin to thrive.” By creating “an enabling environment for smallholders,” he concluded, the partners in the New Alliance can bring lasting, positive change to rural Africa and beyond.

As the G8 leaders grapple with a host of thorny economic and political issues at their summit this weekend, let’s hope they remain focused on the imperative to end hunger and food insecurity worldwide. To do anything less, as the US President so aptly put it, would be “an affront to who we are.”


Below: Watch an IFAD video on increasing  food security in African countries based on increased private sector investments in agriculture, in line with the current G8 agenda.

Scaling up the fight against poverty and hunger in Africa #globalag

By José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) 

Agriculture is a powerful tool for reducing poverty and hunger. Events of recent years – such as food price increases, droughts, growing climate change impacts and other emergencies – have put agriculture high on the international agenda. We should be clear that agriculture is the solution. Economic growth generated by agriculture is more than twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. Agricultural development is also an effective means of assisting developing countries in building capacity and infrastructure as well as introducing innovation and technology.

Future food and nutrition security and the eradication of poverty will be profoundly influenced by the steps we take today to support the 2 billion people in developing countries who depend on small-scale farms, herding, fishing and other forms of agriculture.

The past year has seen a food security crisis in the Horn of Africa and a developing emergency in the Sahel region of West Africa, where we are just entering the peak hunger season. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme have responded in a variety of ways, from immediate humanitarian relief to building the capacity of smallholders to grow more food, increase their livelihoods and feed their families and communities.

But it is clear that much more needs to be done at every level. Far-reaching partnerships, broader consultation in the formulation and implementation of country-led development processes, as well as long-term commitments, must be made and maintained. In order for development efforts to be successful, is essential to have the participation of civil society, farmers’ organizations and the private sector at every stage.

Beginning with the L’Aquila summit three years ago, the G8 has led a serious and sustained process to mobilize support for greater aid to food and nutrition security. At the L’Aquila Summit, US$22 billion was pledged over three years. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) trust fund that emerged from the L’Aquila commitments is a new vehicle to ensure accountability in the implementation process for aid for food security and agriculture to some of the poorest countries in the world.

This financial commitment to support country-owned plans can help to make a big difference, but official development assistance alone has not and will not solve the problem. A favourable climate for investment must be created to attract other resources and partners in the framework of established development plans.
For example, in Africa, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), with its national compacts and investment plans, provides a key platform for public and private efforts  to converge towards agricultural development and food security.

Governments are primarily responsible for providing public goods and services that underpin and facilitate private investment, as well as the governance mechanisms that ensure socially and environmentally sustainable benefits from private investment. Farmers and their organizations must also be supported to benefit from increased investments, and they must be engaged from the outset in real, meaningful partnerships from public policy and programme design onward through evaluation.

Private sector investment, particularly through small- and medium-sized enterprises, is a critical factor for reaching the goal of a hunger-free Africa. However, the quality of this investment is of key importance. In this regard, Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, in the Context of National Food Security were endorsed earlier this month by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). Implementing these guidelines, which have been agreed upon by governments, civil society and the private sector, will help ensure that responsible governance of tenure contributes to responsible investment, enabling sustainable social, economic and environmental development around agriculture and towards food security.

The United Nations Rome-based agencies welcome the G8’s renewed commitment to keep food security high on the global agenda and the creation of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
The New Alliance complements ongoing activities and processes, starting from the CAADP itself, and is a tool that can accelerate progress in eradicating hunger and poverty in Africa. These efforts can and will succeed if they support smallholder production and market integration. This includes ensuring that technologies and inputs are adapted to local conditions, and promoting environmentally and socially sustainable farming practices to boost local economies. Stakeholders at the national and local level must drive and own the process from the start.

The New Alliance should avail itself of the opportunities to build upon, and further foster, truly participatory processes involving the G8, African countries, and the private sector, including first and foremost agricultural producers. In this way, it will respond to the needs of rural families and communities, and to the broader needs of African societies.

At the same time, we need to ensure that environmental sustainability is squarely addressed in the type of agricultural investments that are promoted, and that safety nets are in place and emergency preparedness is sustained to protect vulnerable people from the consequences of drought and other shocks.

Together, our agencies have been working with national governments, non-governmental organisations and civil society to help build resilience in developing countries. This includes targeted productive safety nets, such as school meal programmes, and other efforts that ensure that when the next disaster occurs, poor people are better equipped to feed themselves and protect assets such as livestock and property.

We welcome that the New Alliance is promoting a set of enabling tools related to markets and finance, risk and insurance, and science and technology, that can address gaps and strengthen smallholders’ position in the value chain.

We would, however, like to draw particular attention to the need to support women’s empowerment. Women make up nearly half of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa but face disproportionate barriers in access to resources and markets. The New Alliance must also address the aspirations of rural youth, who are key to long-term sustainability and the viability of rural agricultural communities.

Ending hunger and achieving food and nutrition security for the people of Africa is a pressing issue that cannot wait. Smallholders and rural people, who face the daily threat of food insecurity, urgently require access to science, technology and the most basic tools and services that would allow them to invest in their farms and businesses. With these benefits and a renewed commitment across all sectors we have an opportunity to reduce poverty, solve hunger and strengthen food security.

Cross-posted on Food for Thought blog

President Obama keynote address

G8 Summit: Putting food on the table through investing in small farmers #globalag

by Prof. Andrea Riccardi, Minister for International Cooperation and Integration Policies of the Italian Republic and Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD

Italy has long stressed the importance of tackling poverty and hunger and today it is host to the three major U.N .food agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

It was in Italy, at the L'Aquila G8 summit in 2009, that food security and agricultural development were finally put back at the top of the international agenda after decades of neglect during which governments and the international community turned their attention away from agriculture. Now we must make sure that they now stay at the top of the agenda, and that the commitments made at L'Aquila are fulfilled.

Investing in agriculture in developing countries is the single most effective method of improving food security for the world's poorest people while also stimulating economic growth. Growth generated by agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. And there is evidence that every dollar spent on agricultural research produces $9 worth of additional food in developing countries.

More than 95 percent of agricultural holdings in developing countries are less than 10 hectares, and in sub-Saharan Africa about 80 per cent of farmland belongs to, or is cultivated by, smallholders. And experience in developing countries repeatedly shows -- in Burkina Faso, China, Ethiopia, India, Thailand, Viet Nam and elsewhere -- that smallholders can lead agricultural growth.

In many countries we have seen how successful small and medium-sized farms can transform rural landscapes into vibrant economies, resulting in local demand for locally produced goods and services that also spur non-farm employment in services, agro-processing and small-scale manufacturing. This demand, in turn, leads to a dynamic flow of economic benefits, and the cultivation of new relationships between rural and urban areas.

In order for these small farms to thrive -- and to help lead the way to a more successful, profitable agricultural sector -- smallholder farmers need better linkages and access to markets, technology and information. They need mechanisms to manage the inherent risks of farming, particularly at a time of exceptionally volatile weather and prices. They need domestic and international investment in rural areas that is sustainable -- economically, environmentally and socially. This includes significant improvements in basic infrastructure and services, access to water, and better governance. They need legal empowerment and protection of their rights to the land they farm. And they need support in forming farmers' organizations and co-operatives to give them more bargaining power.

When rural small farmers are connected to markets they can sell more and better-quality food at higher prices, eat a more diversified diet, and improve household food and nutrition security. With increased income they can pay for essential medicines, send their children to school and improve their lives. Gender equality is important here as well: we know that giving women equal access to agricultural resources and inputs is one of the most powerful ways of reducing poverty and hunger.

Recognizing small farmers and their organizations as primary stakeholders in development means more than paying lip service to them in global meetings. Truly acting upon this recognition requires genuine collaboration and inclusive processes, which cannot be an afterthought but need to start from the very design of responsible investments in agriculture.

We have high hopes that this year's G8 meeting will lead to tangible support for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. As the current crisis of hunger and malnutrition in the Sahel shows, we cannot wait. We must act decisively and we must act now. It is our responsibility to make this investment now, for the sake of future generations.

Originally posted on Huffington Post and Italian version in Il Sole 24 Ore

Watch an interview with Minister Riccardi on the occasion of IFAD's 2012 Governing Council (In Italian)




What can G8 leaders do differently to ensure food security: An interview with IFAD President

by Prof. Andrea Riccardi is Minister for International Cooperation and Integration Policies of the Italian Republic and Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze is President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome.

What can G8 leaders do differently to ensure food security #globalag

Tomorrow IFAD President, Dr Kanayo Nwanze will be leaving for the States to attend the symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security - Advancing food and nutrition security at the 2012 G8 Summit.

The symposium takes place on the eve of 2012 G8 Summit and brings together senior global leaders to discuss new G8 efforts on food security and the opportunity and benefits of private sector investment in African agriculture and food sectors.

There is already quite a bit of buzz on social media about this event (#globalag), and everyone is looking forward to the live webstreaming and keynote addresses by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

IFAD President will be participating in a panel discussion on "Farm futures: Increasing trade to drive economic growth".

Earlier this afternoon, IFAD social reporting team met with the President and asked Dr Nwanze to share his views on the progress made since the G8 summit at l'Aquila and what he would like the G8 leaders to do differently.

It was heartening to hear that the glass is half full and that there is a renewed emphasis and commitment to the l'Aquila Food Security Initiative. "Food security is fundamental for global political stability", said Nwanze.  

Those of you following IFAD social reporting blog are familiar with the President's contributions and probably are not surprised hearing him ask the world leaders gathered for the G8 summit:

• not to make new commitments and not to make new declarations
• rather, look at what has worked in the previous initiatives and reinforce their commitments and put in additional resources
• to bring private sector into African agriculture focusing on domestic indigenous private sector
• to call upon developing countries to demonstrate political commitment 

We can only hope that these messages will be heard, endorsed and put to practice by the world leaders gathered for the 2012 G8 Summit.

What are you expectations from 2012 G8 Summit? Share your ideas and views. Do not miss the live webcasting and follow the conversation on Twitter #globalag

Did you know that rural women are still workers for men?

“Rural women play a key role in supporting their households and communities in achieving food and nutrition security, generating income and improving rural livelihoods and overall well- being” (Rural women and the millennium development goals).  However, rural women in developing countries  are relegated to labour intensive activities, are given little  access to resources , are not involved in the decision making process  but their income, the income they generate,  goes into men’s pocket.   Evidence shows that if  women had access to the same productive resources  as  men  women could:

• raise the total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4%
• reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12 to 17%
• increase the yields on their farms by 20 to 30% .

This means that by addressing gender inequalities, women could  play a crucial role in reducing   poverty and paving the way towards IFAD commitment to lift 80 million rural people out of poverty by 2015.  But how can we support  rural women  and help them to overcome  those persistent social and structural constraints ? How can IFAD projects  better address gender inequalities? We have a new policy that places gender equality and women’s empowerment at the heart of our ambitious  strategic plans for reducing poverty   and this week is the gender training week;  a golden opportunity for  IFAD and FAO colleagues to work together on case studies using  innovative approaches and  participatory tools.

The training  is  divided in modular sessions  on gender in key thematic areas and you can join one or more sessions . Yesterday we  focused on targeting and gender strategy ,  gender and poverty reduction issues and  gender along the value chain and we learned that:
• gender division of labour along the value chain is not equal
• women tend to trade on local market while men tend to trade on a larger scale
• women  grow crops, men sell
• women engagement in marketing is confined to small volumes  while men dominate the large volumes
• once the volume to be marketed becomes sizable, the activity becomes male-dominated
• gender equality requires a cultural change of both men and women
• gender balance does not mean that  there is no space for men, gender balance is about  equal gender division of labour along the value chain and equal opportunities.
• gender inequalities can be addressed  by strengthening the role of women
• gender inequalities can be addressed by engaging men. Watch the video “'Mapping the road to change, action learning for gender justice in Western Uganda' ” .  Men  can change!

The training is still on, join one of the coming session and contribute to the discussion.

Measuring impact in rural Vietnam: IFAD tests a new approach

Children walk to school in Hoang Su Phi, Viet Nam, in 2002.
Since then, the country has halved poverty overall.

Viet Nam has come a long way since its days as a net importer of food in the early 1980s. Today, following decades of robust growth, it is the world’s second largest exporter of rice. In the past 10 years alone, according to World Bank statistics, it has also halved the proportion of its population living in poverty. Yet inequities persist, especially in remote rural regions where many of the country’s ethnic minority groups live. IFAD continues to support five projects in these areas, working with smallholder farmers to reduce poverty through sustainable agricultural development.

This past week, staff and partners from the IFAD country office in Hanoi joined colleagues at headquarters in Rome by video link. They convened to discuss a newly expanded approach to monitoring and evaluating the impact of IFAD-supported projects in Viet Nam. It was the third in a series of research seminars co-sponsored by IFAD and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which has collaborated, as well, on developing this new approach.

The discussion was not without controversy. Still, there was a tangible sense of urgency, on all sides, about stepping up IFAD’s ability to accurately measure results on the ground – not only in Viet Nam but worldwide.

Ambitious target
Thomas Elhaut, IFAD’s Director of Statistics and Studies for Development, moderated the seminar. He began by placing the Viet Nam experience in a broader context: namely, the ambitious target set during the latest replenishment of funding from IFAD member states. The target calls for lifting 80 million rural people out of poverty by 2015.

Without improved evaluation, Elhaut suggested, IFAD will not have the evidence base to design and implement projects that can help reduce poverty on such as large scale. Nor, in the end, will it have the data to credibly report on progress toward the goal of 80 million.

From Hanoi, Atsuko Toda of IFAD and Nicholas Minot of IFPRI went on to describe the approach being tested in Viet Nam and why, in their view, it may hold promise for other countries. The methodology builds upon IFAD’s existing results and impact management system, or RIMS, which has been in use since 2003. By expanding the standardized RIMS household survey, this approach – dubbed “RIMS-plus” – aims to capture more detailed data that is relevant to specific project aims. In another innovation, it uses a control group of households, located outside the target area, to better assess which results are attributable to a project.

Additional indicators
Toda noted that the expanded questionnaire goes beyond the main objectives of the RIMS survey, which were to measure household assets and child nutrition. The RIMS-plus survey, she said, collects information on many additional indicators to diagnose constraints faced by farmers, including limits on access to rural markets, extension services and credit.

Minot added that the designers of the expanded questionnaire have still kept it relatively brief compared to most other household surveys; as a result, it should not overburden either enumerators or respondents.

Regarding the control groups, Minot explained that they would be selected from populations who live near project areas and whose backgrounds and economic status are similar to those of project beneficiaries. “It helps us to adjust for changes in the standard of living outside the project area,” he said. For example, a drought in the same province where a project is under way could cause an overall drop in rural incomes, which would have to be factored into any analysis of the project’s impact.

A third participant in the video link, Nguyen Ngoc Ahn of the Hanoi-based Development and Policies Research Centre, outlined the cost implications of both the extended questionnaire and the use of control groups. The questionnaire increases the amount of time needed to complete each survey and the training needed by enumerators, he said. The control groups add 300 households to the standard RIMS sample of 900 for large projects.

Costs of customization
At this point, some sceptical voices in the audience at IFAD headquarters questioned whether the new methodology’s value justified its added expense. Specifically, they asked whether the control groups could truly mirror the beneficiary households, given the complexities of rural poverty – including gender dynamics. In addition, they wondered whether the benefits of customized household surveys (more project-specific information) outweighed the advantages of standardized questionnaires (lower cost and consistent data across multiple projects).

In response, Toda noted that some of the expenses in Viet Nam represented the one-time cost of researching and developing a new evaluation tool. And while Minot acknowledged that the control groups could not match every household parameter, he maintained that they would provide valuable comparisons with project beneficiaries nonetheless.

On the question of standardized vs. customized surveys, Minot proposed a compromise: “We can use standardized modules but let each country decide which modules are most relevant for them,” he said. Such an arrangement would allow for a degree of customization without adding excessively to costs, he said.

As the seminar wrapped up, Thomas Elhaut praised the presenters in Hanoi for advancing IFAD’s thinking on the design and analysis of agricultural projects, even as various questions remain to be resolved. To some extent, those questions will be answered as the RIMS-plus experiment proceeds in the uplands and deltas of rural Viet Nam, where smallholder farmers need the tools to build a sustainable future.

Watch the recorded webcast of the IFAD-IFPRI seminar:

The weight of water – and the significance of leisure

World Water Day 2012

The weight of water – and the significance of leisure

While I was chewing my pencil over how to start on this blog, I googled “how much does water weigh?” And I was pretty surprised at some of the answers, including that the question was incorrect and that water’s weight depends on its temperature.



Senegal: Pascaline Bampoky carries home a bucket of water



What I was really trying to estimate was how heavy the bucket of water Pascaline Bampoky is carrying in the photo would be. If she’s carrying about 20 litres of water – then the answer is about 20 kilogrammes. The only time I lift that sort of weight is when I heave my suitcase onto the airport scales.

For millions of women – especially young women – across the developing world, water means heavy loads and hours of drudgery. Every day one of their jobs is to walk long distances, often across unsafe areas, lugging home buckets, jars or plastic containers of water for household needs.

Obviously they are not the strongest members of the family – but they are mostly the ones with the lowest status. And so the task falls to them.

Here are some sourced stats, if you need them to be convinced. In rural Guinea women spend 3 and half times longer than men fetching water every day.[1] In rural Benin, girls spend an hour a day collecting water, while boys spend 25 minutes. [2]

When the load is lightened

There are also studies looking at how women use their time when water supplies are improved and brought closer to home. The results are thought-provoking.

School enrolment and attainment does improve for girls – much more so than for boys. And in some places, women spend more time in market-related activities when they don’t have to fetch and carry water.[3]

But several studies also show that women use some of the time they save for something potentially life-changing but difficult to measure – and that something is leisure.

That got me thinking about how many different ways women might use their free time – and still call it leisure.

Some might sit in the shade and talk to their friends – and who knows where that might lead ;) Others might study, visit a relative or even play with their children. Or they might choose to use their time for a task in the home that they want to do.

What makes it leisure is that they have the choice.

Women’s freedom to choose how they spend at least some of their time is a key strand in their empowerment – that slippery objective that is difficult to define and difficult to achieve, but still right at the top of our agenda.

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[1] World Bank: World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development, page 299.

[2] WDR 2012, page 111.

[3] WDR 2012, page 299.

Profitable goat enterprises lifting poor farmers communities out of poverty. Kenya Learning Route, Case 5

By Elaine Reinke and Silvia Sperandini

“Efficient breeding accounts for 30% of goats’ productivity, the rest is appropriate feeding and proper management”, was one of the key messages our “Ruteros” got from the Meru Goat Breeders Association (MGBA) we visited in the Eastern province of Kenya at the last stop of our Learning Route. The case was truly impressive as an example of sustainable development cooperation where a project designed and implemented by FARM-Africa is proving its economic, social and environmental impact eight years after its official closure.

Field visits to producers revealed the success of the project when local smallholder farmers proudly explained how they were able to move from below the poverty line into the middle class of their community thanks to the profitable goat enterprises and services introduced by FARM-Africa.

At the heart of this model is the approach to improve the productivity and economic returns of goats kept by families on small farms through enhancing the management, health and breeding of the animals. Breeding is improved by the genetic upgrade of local goats with a superior exotic breed, the Toggenburg. The result is the Meru Goat, a 75% Toggenburg, which proved to be more adapted to hash environment, to the locally available fodder, more resistant to diseases and more productive, giving 4 liters of milk per day compared to the local breed with 0.5-1 liter. The Meru Goat is a valuable asset, growing faster than local goats and yielding three times the monetary value.
Over two days we spent with the Meru Goat Breeders, the Learning Route participants understood how forming farmer groups has been critical for the sustainability of the project. The role of the association includes the organization and management of all necessary support services and inputs (from veterinary services, breed registration and inspection to quality control and processing milk and milk products), all instrumental to maximizing returns from the goats enterprises.

One of the most discussed issues was the introduction of the zero-grazing approach and its benefits in a context like Meru where the population density is high and land is limited. Farmers confirmed that housing goats in pens keeps these animals secure and healthy, also reducing their exposure to parasites from grazing on common land contaminated by other livestock - which is one of the biggest health problem of goats in Africa.

The case showed that which appropriate technical support, farmers were able to become very efficient breeders, sharing the genetic resources as a community. Associations like MGBA serve as support centers for the adaptation and uptake of new technology (genetic and husbandry improvement) and livestock marketing (guaranteeing high quality standards). Today, the Meru goats are exported to Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Farmers have gained good knowledge on goat husbandry and forage development, and the high quality manure collected at the goats’ houses is fertilizing a rich vegetable production to generate additional incomes in the Meru Country.

With this case, the Kenya Learning Route on Innovative Livestock Marketing comes to its end, while the good practices and lessons learned will now travel with our “Ruteros” back to Sudan, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Madagascar and the US to benefit other communities and prove once again that livestock really plays a critical role for the livelihood of poor rural families.

PS. Picture of how innovations travel and view the photo story of the route: http://www.slideshare.net/ifad/lr-kenya-photo-story-ii-compressed

The power of camel milk: the story of the Anolei Camel Milk Cooperative. Kenya Learning Route case 4.

By Silvia Sperandini and Elaine Reinke“We are a community of camels”, is how Kalif Abey of the Kenya Camel Association (KCA) welcomed us in Greater Isiolo in the arid and semi-arid low plains of the upper eastern part of Kenya. The majority of the “ruteros” are from Sudan and Somaliland, therefore have extensive experience with camels and been eagerly awaiting to meet the hosts of this case, local camel raisers and members of the Anolei Camel Milk Cooperative.

Through the discussion with these local champions, it became clear that the potential of the camel and its products has been immensely underutilized in Kenya until it was considered a food animal in the current livestock policy passed by the government in 2008. This policy finally recognized the importance of the camel to safeguard livelihoods due to its ability to survive remain productive even under drought conditions in most of the Arid and Semi Arid Land (ASAL) districts.

With the camel raisers surrounded by some 400 Somali camels (Horr and Gelab sub-breeds), we understood the intensity of camel rearing in an environment where water and forage are scarce, and could sense the depth of the relationship between the pastoralists and their animals. We witnessed the milking process, not missing to taste the fresh camel milk, and learned about the efforts of the herders and the cooperative to open new marketing channels for this valuable product.

Camel milk is a natural and essential food item. Compared to cow and goat milk, it is richer in iron, minerals, vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids, while its fat content is lower. The camel’s lactation period is also longer (from 1 to 1.5 years), all year round and under the harshest conditions. Recent researches indicate some medicinal potential such as anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties and positive impacts in cases of diabetes and tuberculosis. The producers therefore proudly pledge that it is much more than simple milk.

Camel-owning cultures traditionally place the men as the camel owners, while women possess and market the milk. Today, this female-dominated business of camel milk marketing contributes KSH 8 billion (US$ 95 million) every year to the Kenyan economy, and the profits are usually managed and controlled by women. Having recognized the marketing potential and growing demand for camel milk, the Anolei women, a pro-active group of Somali women, got organized as a self-help group in 1997 and registered as a cooperative in 2010. They managed to set-up a new, profitable business purchasing camel milk from local producers and marketing it in Isiolo and Nairobi. With some support of the KCA and other partners including SNV, VSF and FAO, the Anolei women upgraded their business processes, improved hygiene standards and herd management. They now collect and transport to Eastleigh Nairobi some 4,000 (in the dry season) to 6,500 (in the rainy season) litres of camel milk per day from producers within a 40km radius from Isiolo. They also run a milk bar where our “ruteros” were invited to enjoy camel milk, tea and meat.

The learning route participants appreciated how this group built a successful business for the benefit of their communities and became an important player in an effective milk marketing chain. Along the way, they faced many constraints particularly related to hygiene and transportation. In response, they introduced aluminum cans and cooling and established pooled transport arrangements. Demand for camel milk is gradually increasing, also beyond the Somali communities in Kenya, but there is need for further improve business process. Women traders are now using M-PESA as a means of cash transactions, increasing security and reducing losses. Bank accounts have been opened and the cooperative is planning to take a loan to purchase their own truck tond improve their transport.

Other challenges remain beyond their control, such as the lack of trained specialized veterinarians in the country and recurrent tribal conflicts in the Isiolo area based on competition over pasture, calling for continued collaboration and partnership among the different actors.

Within their capacity, the Anolei women have significantly increased their incomes and their decision-making power in their households and communities. With their commitment and business skills, camel milk production and marketing has become the backbone of the livelihoods of the Isiolo people.

M-PESA: The power of mobile technology in livestock marketing. Kenya Learning Route, case 3.

By Elaine Reinke and Silvia Sperandini

“I don’t need to go to the bank, I have the bank in my phone.” This is what all the actors in the Kenyan livestock and meat value chain have in common: they use M-PESA. On our journey of good practices across Kenya, the learning route participants discovered why this innovative solution has not only revolutionized the Kenyan business sector but also facilitates market access of rural pastoralists and livestock traders day by day.

Since 2007, Safaricom (Vodafone group) leads the way with an electronic money transfer system based on SMS messaging that has changed the lives of millions of Kenyans across all demographic and social segments of the population including the rural poor. M-PESA allows quick, easy and immediate payments from one person to another and from individuals to businesses, from supermarket expenses over electricity bills to school fees and remittances. To exchange e-money into cash and vice versa, customers use M-PESA kiosks to deposit or withdraw bank notes when needed.

For pastoralists and livestock traders in rural areas M-PESA has innovated their way of making business. Even who is miles from the next commercial bank and moving cattle along remote grazing areas and trekking routes can now transfer money back home anytime or easily sell livestock without the risk of carrying cash over long distances as well as reducing debts and delayed payments caused by promissory payments.

The success of M-PESA among pastoralists also links back to the availability of mobile network coverage even in remote areas and prevalent use of mobile phones in pastoralist communities. Thanks to this technology pastoralists are now connected to their family and friends, can quickly find out where to bring their cattle for grazing instead of roaming in search of water and pasture, and communicate with their business contacts at livestock markets while still at rangelands, saving time for other income generating activities and household chores.

Today, 15 million M-PESA customers use about 28,000 agent outlets countrywide for cash disposal and withdrawal. Safaricom’s innovation started as a small pilot project which now transfers more money than all Kenyan commercial banks together.

Designed to reach the poorer segments of the population who are not able to access the formal banking system, it is also becoming important gateway to enter into the commercial banking system since Safaricom in collaboration with Equity Bank introduced M-Kesho. This innovative banking product offers a bank account that includes micro-savings, micro-credit and micro-insurance products. M-PESA customers who join M-Kesho can also withdraw cash from the bank using their M-PESA accounts, save money and obtain small loans using the MPESA e-money as guarantee.

But what is it that made M-PESA such a success here in Kenya, while the uptake in other countries in the region remains relatively low?

This is one of the questions the “ruteros” discussed with our hosts of this case which include local M-PESA agents, maasai pastoralists, livestock and meat traders. Enabling factors which emerged from the discussion are the investment and commitment of Safaricom but also the entrepreneurial culture and readiness of the business sector and supportive government policy.

From pastoralists to terminal market: journey along the livestock value chain. Kenya Learning Route case 2.

by Silvia Sperandini and Elaine Reinke

“If you want to understand the livestock value chain, just follow the cow!”, is the first thing that the “Ruteros” learned once we arrived in Kenya. By now, following the cow, we have reached the terminal market of Kiseria, south-eastern Kenya, where the Keekenyokie slaughterhouse is located and where the livestock value chain ends and the meat value chain starts.

During this journey we met various actors of the livestock chain from pastoralists and agro-pastoralists at village level (producers) to different types of traders which include: primary itinerant traders who move cattle from producers to primary markets, middle level traders who sell cattle into secondary and terminal markets, middlemen who operate as brokers, mainly at the market, taking animals from producers, itinerant traders and middle level traders, and negotiating with buyers and transporters.

Interacting with them we learned the tips and tricks of grading systems and pricing mechanisms but also understood that all these actors along the chain face a variety of challenges. Frequent drought periods cause market fluctuation and massive depreciation of stock. High incidences of livestock diseases and pests affect production as well as trading due to frequent quarantine. Poor market infrastructure and absence of organized facilities (feeding, water, vet services, troughs etc.) put animals and humans at risk. Limited capital and scarce access to credit affecting the production as well as trading. Limited livestock transportation mechanisms and continued moving on the hoof to markets affects quality of stock.

Kiseria is the most vibrant pastoralist-managed livestock market in Kenya and the Keekonyokie slaughterhouse is more than an abattoir. It is the gateway to the urban market and offers business opportunities to the pastoral Maasai communities located in southern Kenya and Tanzania. It is an innovative business enterprise that was established by Maasai pastoralist groups controlling the slaughterhouse management to the benefit of their communities.

The most innovative aspect of the business was found to be the IFAD-supported biogas plant to convert slaughterhouse waste into energy and bio fertilizer, reducing the environmental impact linked to its business activity. The company uses the biogas produced to generate electrical power for the meat cold room, processing equipment and heating water for cleaning the abattoir.

The Keekenyokie community has strong ambitions for the future of their slaughterhouse. Apart from expanding the facilities for slaughter, meat processing and biogas generation and storage, the business seeks to improve its hygiene and sanitation in order to meet quality standards for the export market. Packaging meat products with the Keekenyokie branding and selling them directly to supermarkets will further require additional capital to purchase machinery and training on using technical facilities. But the main innovation they would like to introduce is packaging and selling biogas to rural and peri-urban consumers.

The “Ruteros” were particularly impressed with the initiative and business-orientation of the Keekenyokie community, the effective integration of the value chain, as well as the biogas innovation, and gave a wealth of constructive recommendations to their hosts.

What's mine is yours: household dynamics and women's wages

What’s mine is yours: household dynamics and women’s wages

International Women’s Day 2012

“As many as a third of married women in Malawi and a fifth of married women in India are not involved in spending decisions, even about their own income.” [1]

I read that sentence twice to be sure I hadn’t misunderstood it, and then carried on:

“Even in an upper-middle-income country like Turkey, more than a quarter of married women in the lowest income quantile lack control over their earned income.”

©IFAD/Asad Zaidi

Women’s “lack of control” over the money that they themselves bring home shows the deep-seated nature of gender inequality. If we don’t fight that inequality, then enabling women to increase their incomes may only put more money in the pockets of their husbands. 

Similarly, helping them to increase their productivity may put more food on the market – but it may not change the women farmers’ quality of life.

That’s why IFAD’s work to empower women is so crucial to everything that we do. Without that empowerment, inequality will continue to prevent the benefits of economic growth and social development reaching poor rural women.

That in turn hampers development – leaving deep pockets of deprivation and desperation that are handed on from generation to generation.

Even more shocking and revealing are statistics on what women think about domestic violence:

“On average, 29 percent of women in countries with data concurred that wife beating was justified for arguing with the husband, 25 percent for refusing to have sex, and 21 percent for burning food.”[2]

Those are just averages. The country-specific figures are truly shocking – with over 80 per cent of women in one east African nation saying that wife-beating is justified.

Let’s walk the gender talk

There’s a lot of apparent consensus today at the international level that levelling the playing field for women makes economic sense. IFAD President Nwanze is a vocal champion of women’s rights. And Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti went off-script at our recent Governing Council meeting to stress the importance of women’s role and their rights.

Yet empowerment is difficult to do, and it’s difficult to measure. For that reason, one of our commitments to our Members under IFAD9 is to improve the indicators that measure impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment, so that we can better analyse what works and what doesn’t for poor rural women. At the same time, we are committed to promoting expanded economic opportunities for women.

When she visited IFAD last year, UN Women Director Michele Bachelet touched on the importance of gender champions and quotas. International Women’s Day is a good occasion for us to remember her words.

An organization that works to empower poor rural women must have powerful women within it. And it must have powerful men and women who are prepared to stand up and champion women’s rights.

Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day at IFAD with a renewed commitment to fight gender inequality on our doorstep and in the countries where we work.

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[1]World Bank: World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development, p. 20.

[2]WDR 2012: p. 83.