Farms. Food. Future.

Amid mounting global challenges, ending hunger by 2030 remains stubbornly out of reach. In East and Southern Africa, IFAD is working to get back on track by investing in the people who produce a third of the world’s food: small-scale farmers.

In this episode, we dive into the innovations farmers are using to transform the region's food systems for the better. Get the lowdown on nutritional education in Lesotho and discover how smart irrigation and financial tools are building climate resilience in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Malawi.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-68

For rural economies to grow sustainably, simply having food to eat is not enough. Diets must also be nutritious to ensure good health and thriving communities

On this episode, we explore how IFAD-funded projects in the Near East, Europe, Central Asia and North are diversifying and strengthening diets among the region's small-scale farmers. Travel from the flourishing school gardens of Tajikistan and Tunisia to the farms of Iraq and Moldova, where a brighter, more nutritious future is taking root.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-67

Empowering women is essential to transforming our planet’s food systems. That’s why each year, IFAD recognizes projects from around the world that go the extra mile for gender equality.

In this episode, you’ll hear from the winners of this year’s IFAD Gender Awards. From changing household norms in Madagascar to amplifying women’s voices in Montenegro, learn how these five trailblazing projects are building a prosperous, more gender-equal future for farming.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-66

• FORMAPROD
• TTSD
• Pro-Camélidos
• GASIP

Con el auge de los teléfonos inteligentes y las redes sociales, las comunidades rurales están ahora conectadas globalmente. En nuestra primera edición en español de Farms. Food. Future., exploramos cómo los jóvenes rurales e indígenas de América Latina utilizan estas plataformas para promover su cultura y la conservación ambiental.

Viajaremos por la región, explorando la producción de café agroecológico en Perú, hasta México, donde una comunidad indígena mazahua está integrando energías renovables a sus prácticas agrícolas, pasaremos por Bolivia para conocer sobre el cuidado tradicional de llamas. También conoceremos a jóvenes emprendedores en Colombia, terminando nuestro recorrido en la ruta turística del “Cacao de la Sierra”, donde se celebra la riqueza del cacao local y su potencial como motor de desarrollo.

• Fondo de Apoyo a los Pueblos Indígenas
• ASOJE - A non-profit social enterprise that works to improve the quality of life of children and youth, especially rural children and youth in Latin America. ASOJE is an INCUBATOR OF sustainable and sustainable INITIATIVES; we have become a learning laboratory based on the experiences lived by the youth, which has allowed us to shape and implement relevant initiatives with a sense of belonging to the territories.
• Videos Rurales - Este video es un homenaje a mi papá y su ciudad natal Sicaya, que está en la provincia Capinota. https://youtu.be/0T5QuL5lppc

Indigenous Peoples live in more than 90 countries and account for 6.2 per cent of the world’s population. Yet to this day, they suffer from widespread discrimination.

To mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we shine a spotlight on Indigenous Peoples’ role essential role in building a sustainable future. Discover how communities in Peru, Colombia and Puerto Rico are protecting nature through traditional practices and leading the charge against climate change.

We also continue our Global Donor Platform for Rural Development series with Ji-Yeun Rim of the OECD, who discusses the crucial issue of rural youth employment.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-65

• Stop irreversible damage to the Amazon - Junglekeepers conserves threatened habitat in the vitally important Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon. The Las Piedras watershed is part of the Andes/Amazon hotspot—one of the most biodiverse and pristine areas on earth.
• Global Donor Platform for Rural Development - A network of 40 bilateral and multilateral donors, international financial institutions, intergovernmental organizations, foundations, and development agencies. Set up in 2003 following the first High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2002, it brings together donors that believe the best way to tackle global poverty and hunger is to develop agriculture, reshape food systems, and invest in rural communities.
• International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples - Around 200 groups of Indigenous Peoples currently live in voluntary isolation and initial contact. They reside in remote forests rich in natural resources in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Venezuela. They choose to live detached from the rest of the world and their mobility pattern allows them to engage in gathering and hunting, thereby preserving their cultures and languages.
• Indigenous People - There are over 476 million indigenous people living in 90 countries across the world, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the global population. Of those, there are more than 5,000 distinct groups.

Imagine a thin green line of hope stretching 8,000 km across northern Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. This is the Great Green Wall: an African-led land restoration project that aims to hold back encroaching desertification in the Sahel.

In this episode, we take a close look at what could one day be the largest living structure on our planet. Join us as our Associate Vice-President Dr. Jo Puri discusses how IFAD supports the Great Green Wall, while other UN experts share insights on the initiative’s past, present, and ambitious future.

You’ll also get a sneak peek at next episode’s spotlight on Global Citizen Prize winner Sophie Healy-Thow.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-64

• Act4Food - Act4Food Act4Change is a youth-led and initiated campaign that mobilises the power of young people to call for a global food system which provides everyone with access to safe, affordable and nutritious diets, while simultaneously protecting nature, tackling climate change and promoting human rights.
• Great Green Wall — The Great Green Wall Initiative - The Great Green Wall is an African-led movement with an epic ambition to grow an 8,000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa.
• UNCCD -

Despite Africa’s immense potential to feed the world, a fifth of its population struggles with chronic hunger and malnutrition. But from its fields to its markets, small-scale farmers are envisaging a different future.

In this episode, we embark on a culinary journey across West Africa and introduce IFAD’s newest Recipes for Change chef, Crystelle Pereira. We also continue our Global Donor Platform for Rural Development series with Lee Ann Jackson of the OECD discusses on how to strengthen global food systems.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-63

Rural LGBTQ+ people face significant challenges and discrimination compared to their urban peers. But they are essential to building a more inclusive future for agriculture.

To mark Pride Month, we speak with members of the community about their experiences. Hear from LGBTQ+ farmers forging inclusive spaces in vegetable farming, beekeeping and beyond. We also pick up where we left off last episode as Alina Luana de Oliveira delves deeper into the fight against discrimination in rural Brazil

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-62

• Rock Steady Farm - Rock Steady is a queer owned and operated cooperative vegetable farm rooted in social justice, food access and farmer training.
• They Keep Bees - They Keep Bees is a LGBTQIA+ run business in Western Massachusetts. We tend bees in Western Massachusetts and on the central coast of Florida.
• La Via Campesina - La Via Campesina, founded in 1993, is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty.
• Queer farmer network - The QFN was conceived to build community among queer farmers and to reflect on and interrupt racist, capitalist, and heteropatriarchal legacies in Agriculture.
• humble hands harvest – a worker-owned co-operative growing food to celebrate this place - Humble Hands Harvest is a worker-owned co-operative farm. We grow 2+ acres of organic vegetables, grass-finished sheep, pastured pork, and fruit and nut trees. We distribute at the Winneshiek Farmers Market in Decorah; and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for both our veggies and our meat. We found our long-term home in 2017 on Hidden Falls Road, 10 miles from Decorah, on ancestral Sauk, Meskwaki, Lakota, and Ho-chunk land, and began functioning as a worker-owned co-operative that same year.

Food systems transformation must be sustainable and inclusive, so nobody is left behind. With the right support, every farmer can rise above challenges and drive development, while empowering others to do the same.

From Malawi to Brazil, hear from farmers with disabilities who are rewriting the agricultural narrative. We also explore the importance of racial equity and food sovereignty in global food systems. Finally, we conclude our series on gender-based violence with Alina Luana de Oliveira from La Via Campesina, who discusses efforts to combat this chronic social problem in rural Brazil.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-61

• La Via Campesina - La Via Campesina, founded in 1993, is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty.
• Light for the World International: Disability & Development NGO - With your support, we contribute to improving health systems, enabling education for all, and amplifying the voices of people with disabilities in the workplace and beyond. In short: we break down unjust barriers to unlock the potential in all of us!
• SPARK - The SPARK program uses a systemic action learning approach to impact the lives of at least 7,000 persons with disabilities in Burkina Faso, India, Mozambique, and Malawi. This approach will enable them to become fully engaged in the economic activities of selected agricultural and pastoral value chains.
• SOUL FIRE FARM – Ending racism and injustice in the food system - Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system.
• Crisis Response Initiative - IFAD’s mission is to create inclusive and sustainable rural economies, where people live free from poverty and hunger. While we are focused on long-term development, we also need to mitigate shocks that arise in this era of converging crises—from COVID-19, to climate change, to the war in Ukraine.

It's no secret nature is under threat: the world has seen global wildlife populations drop by two thirds over the past 50 years, and agriculture is partly to blame. But from beekeeping to reforestation, small-scale farmers around the planet are doing their part to reverse this trend.

To celebrate World Biodiversity Day, we explore how rural communities are making farming green again. Tune in to hear a young Zimbabwean farmer's local insights on agroecology – and get the big picture on biodiversity from global conservation leaders, from the hills of southern India to the shores of Madagascar.

This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

For more information:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-60

• World Wildlife Fund - WWF works to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife, collaborating with partners from local to global levels in nearly 100 countries.
• NOTICE : Via Campesina - La Via Campesina, founded in 1993, is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty.
• The Green Belt Movement - Founded in 1977 by Professor Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya. GBM works at the grassroots, national, and international levels to promote environmental conservation; to build climate resilience and empower communities, especially women and girls; to foster democratic space and sustainable livelihoods.
• Aadhimalai – Shift the Power to the Producers - Aadhimalai aims at providing a sustainable livelihood support and income generation through fair trade practices to the community while preserving their traditional way of life and conserving the environment.