IIRR

Rural Food Access Cannot Be an Afterthought

As the World Food Forum gets underway this week, conversations are focused on building more inclusive and resilient food systems. But rural food access must be part of that conversation.

Communities that help grow our food can still struggle to access nutritious, affordable food themselves. Long distances, limited transportation and fewer services can make the challenge even greater.

In the Philippines, IIRR’s integrated school nutrition work shows how locally rooted solutions, including school gardens, locally available foods and nutrition education, can help improve access to diverse and nutritious diets.

The communities that help feed the world should not be left behind by the food systems they sustain.

Regenerative Agriculture Is More Than a Climate Solution

As the World Food Forum begins on October 8, conversations are turning to more sustainable, resilient and inclusive food systems. At IIRR, we believe smallholder farmers and rural livelihoods must be at the heart of that conversation.

Regenerative agriculture can restore soil health, conserve water and support biodiversity. But it can also help farmers reduce input costs, diversify food and income, and become more resilient to climate and economic shocks.

At IIRR we have seen how practices such as crop rotation, agroforestry and cover cropping can connect healthier landscapes with stronger rural livelihoods. When we invest in the soil, we must also invest in the people who depend on it.

This , we recognize the smallholder farmers who grow coffee and the work happening in rural communities to make farming more resilient to a changing climate.

In Guinayangan, Quezon, coffee is part of IIRR's work on climate-smart, diversified farming. Farmers have integrated coffee and other crops into coconut-based farms, creating additional opportunities for production and livelihood.

In Cavite, IIRR's ClimBeR project has worked with farmers and local partners to strengthen coffee nursery management. Participating farmers were tapped to establish individually managed nurseries of Liberica and Excelsa, varieties recognized in the project for their climate-hardy characteristics.

The work starts with practical decisions on the farm: what to plant, how to adapt, and how to make better use of available land and resources. Today, we celebrate the farmers doing that work.

Food, shelter, livelihoods and the continuity of rural communities are priorities across rural development. But none of these exists in a vacuum.

Land rights give people and communities greater security to own, use and manage the land on which they live and work, while helping protect them from displacement and competing claims. Without secure rights to land, efforts to strengthen livelihoods, food security and resilience can be difficult to sustain. Safeguarding land rights therefore provides an important foundation for communities to invest, plan for the future and build lasting progress.

In Uganda, IIRR has supported efforts to strengthen customary land tenure and community-based land-use planning, helping rural households secure their land rights and plan for the future.

Sustainable rural development is not only about what communities can build. It is also about having a secure foundation on which to build it.

Agrifood systems generate about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, while also being highly vulnerable to climate change. As focuses on turning ambition into implementation, the question is what that action looks like on the ground.

In Cambodia, the ASPIRE-AT program offers one example. IIRR-Cambodia supports producer organizations in strengthening climate resilience, management and market linkages. Practical changes include solar-powered irrigation and improved farming practices, alongside better drying, storage and small-scale processing to reduce post-harvest losses.

Global climate goals become meaningful when they translate into practical solutions that strengthen farmers and rural communities.

For over 60 years, IIRR has delivered international trainings and learning events across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, combining practical learning with real-world application.

Upcoming 2026 Learning Events

> October 12–16 | Face-to-Face
Climate-Resilient, Agrobiodiversity-Rich and Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: A Roving Workshop

> November 16–18 | Face-to-Face
Regional Workshop on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Nutrition Nexus: Insights from the Field

> December 3–4 | Virtual
> December 7–11 | Face-to-Face
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

Since 2000:
12,781 participants trained | 626 trainings and customized courses | 3,743 organizations, institutions, and government agencies reached

Join us and learn with IIRR.
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At IIRR, we believe meaningful participation is essential to stronger and more resilient rural communities. Rural people, including women, young people, farmers, pastoralists, and other often-excluded groups, should not simply be recipients of development, but active participants in shaping it.

We see this across our work, from strengthening producer organizations and agricultural cooperatives in Cambodia to working with pastoralist communities in Africa in ways that recognize local knowledge and realities. Participation is not only a democratic value, it is fundamental to locally led development.

This , we reaffirm the importance of participation, inclusion, local leadership, equal opportunity, strong local institutions, community voice, and shared responsibility in building more resilient and thriving societies.

The catastrophic flooding that struck Nepal and the Tibet region on August 26 has brought devastating loss to communities across the affected areas. Our thoughts are with the families and communities affected, and with those working to respond to the immediate needs on the ground.

As rescue and relief efforts continue, the disaster is also a sobering reminder of the growing risks facing communities in climate-vulnerable landscapes. Responding after a crisis is essential, but so is investing in preparedness before one occurs. Early-warning systems, risk monitoring, resilient infrastructure, stronger local institutions, and communities equipped to recognize and respond to hazards can all play an important role in reducing disaster risk.

At IIRR, our work on climate resilience has shown us the importance of locally led preparedness, from community-based monitoring and early-warning systems to strengthening local knowledge and capacities to anticipate and respond to climate-related risks.

No system can eliminate the risks posed by extreme events. But stronger preparedness can help give communities more information, greater capacity to act, and potentially more time to protect lives and livelihoods.

The tragedy in Nepal and Tibet is a reminder that resilience is built over time, long before disaster strikes, and with communities at the center.

Literacy is a foundation for opportunity, but reaching rural communities requires approaches that reflect how people actually live.

Across IIRR’s work in Africa and Asia, we have seen the importance of connecting education with the wider realities of rural life, from livelihoods and resilience to nutrition, health, gender, and access to essential services. From flexible learning approaches for pastoralist communities to strengthening teachers and schools and working with parents and communities, the goal is not simply to bring education to rural areas, but to make it relevant, accessible, and responsive to local realities.

This International Literacy Day, we believe education should not only reach rural communities. Communities should help shape it.

The COP17 in Ulaanbaatar last week brought renewed attention to land restoration, rangelands, drought resilience, and pastoralist communities. Its theme, “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope,” resonates strongly with IIRR’s experience working alongside pastoralist communities.

Through initiatives such as CLIMARK, pastoralist field schools, and livestock value-chain work, we have seen that restoring landscapes must go hand in hand with strengthening the livelihoods of the people who depend on them. This means building local knowledge and skills, making climate information useful and actionable, strengthening risk-management options, improving connections to markets, and putting communities at the center.

As the conversations from COP17 move forward, the challenge is to translate global commitments into resources, partnerships, and practical action on the ground. Restoring land also means strengthening the people and livelihoods that depend on it.