Supporting a decent living for food producers

IDRC is supporting innovations that make a difference by equipping farmers and food producers with tools to improve productivity, ease workloads, reduce health risks, protect the environment and secure sustainable incomes.

In Benin, Southeast Asia and Algeria, innovative initiatives are empowering producers, particularly women, by introducing eco-friendly practices and sustainable business models. These stories reflect a shared goal: helping food producers build better lives and incomes for themselves and their communities.

New stoves that protect mangroves and empower women in Benin

In the mangroves of southwestern Benin, life unfolds in a rhythm shaped by nature and necessity. Women like Mawulawe Kombete and Vivienne Lainsou, from the town of Ouidah, once spent long hours gathering firewood from mangroves and working in dense smoke to produce salt from low-tide saline deposits and to smoke fish. These traditional methods consumed their time and health, limiting their income and opportunities, while depleting the overexploited mangrove in Ramsar Site 1017, an internationally protected wetland. 

Thanks to a community-led stove design supported by IDRC, the sun and agricultural waste have replaced wood as energy sources for salt production and fish smoking across 20 villages near Ouidah. This shift is improving wellbeing, preserving mangroves needed to protect marine life and opening doors for economic advancement.

For Kombete and the many women who switched to the hybrid stoves, the change is transformative. Freed from the need to gather firewood, the women now reclaim precious hours to invest as they wish: in small businesses, family life and self-care. These stoves not only lighten their daily workload, but also equip them with new opportunities to earn a living that supports their families and futures. 

Elie Antoine Padonou, a researcher at the Laboratoire d’écologie appliquée, Université d’Abomey-Calavi in Benin, explained that to produce salt, women run water through the sand, then evaporate the brine using the stoves at high temperature. 

With the traditional stoves, women could take four hours for one batch, starting very early in the morning to make up to three batches a day, Padonou added. With the innovation, they can produce four batches.

The research also included developing composting techniques to grow chemical-free vegetables. Composting reduces water pollution and preserves fish habitat, while lowering fertilizer costs and increasing household food supplies. It’s a livelihood model where clean energy, agriculture, fisheries and economic opportunity converge.

The innovations are also challenging gender norms. Kombete, Lainsou and others are now seen as leaders, reshaping local economies and inspiring cultural change. 

“This project has been a great step forward for women’s empowerment and environmental care,” said Padonou. The time saved with the new technology enables women to pursue valued activities, such as expanding salt sales and exploring business opportunities in eco-tourism. 

Women farmers working for a low-carbon future 

As the sun rose over the lush cornfields of the Philippines, 65-year-old Francisca Somejo Rimalos tended to her crops with the wisdom of five decades of farming experience. Even after all these years, Rimalos’ eyes sparkled with the excitement of new knowledge from a training program she recently completed. 

Rimalos is one of 32 women corn farmers who completed this innovative training, a component of a larger effort to drive transformative change in agriculture by empowering women farmers across Southeast Asia. Supported by IDRC and led by Grow Asia and its country partnerships, the research addresses critical challenges facing the region's agricultural sector, from deforestation to greenhouse gas emissions.

With roughly 70 million smallholder farms, Southeast Asia's agriculture holds immense potential to combat poverty and transition to a low-carbon economy.

“Agriculture contributes more than 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia, yet these sectors also hold potential as significant carbon sinks,” said Chrissa (Borj) Borja, head of programs for Grow Asia. "Our work supports climate-smart practices that amplify this potential, specifically through empowering women farmers."

Agriculture is also key to promoting sustainable livelihoods for women, who make up 32% of the agricultural labour force in key exporting member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

Grow Asia’s approach is multifaceted, focusing on introducing climate-smart technologies, reducing gender disparities and fostering collaboration with the private sector. 

The reach extends beyond individual farmers by creating systemic change. In Cambodia, the research team introduced drip irrigation systems that benefit entire communities of vegetable farmers. In the Philippines, the team used a train-the-trainers model to deliver specialized knowledge on pest management and sustainable farming to women leaders in corn production. Women like Rimalos become ambassadors of change, sharing their knowledge with others in their communities.

Lacina Diarra, program officer at IDRC, emphasizes the importance of affordable climate-smart tools: "The project has demonstrated that when women farmers have access to these technologies, they can increase yields and reduce emissions, contributing to food security."

The success of these innovations paves the way for their extended use within ASEAN countries and beyond. The research results will also inform future initiatives for farmers who grow other crops, such as coffee and beans, aligning with ASEAN's broader goal to foster a low-carbon economy led by empowered women farmers.

Boosting food productivity in Algeria naturally 

In Biskra, a semi-arid region in northern Algeria, Houaria Boudia has wholeheartedly embraced a new agricultural product based on the mutually beneficial relationship between fungi and plants. 

Boudia is one of nearly 5,000 small-scale farmers in Biskra grappling with the harsh realities of drought, soil degradation and rising chemical fertilizer prices. 

Encouraged by her success, Boudia began to visit her neighbours, share her experience and encourage them to try this native mycorrhiza. They, too, saw impressive results. Trials with nearly 200 farmers resulted in yield increases of 32% to 55% on crops such as olives, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes and beans, using less water than on regular control fields.

“Farmers typically need to see results before they’re willing to try something different,” said Wissam Ait Ouamer, a research associate at the Université de Blida 1, Algeria, who enlisted Boudia’s help. “Her influence opened doors for us in the community.”

The research behind this bio-innovation was led by the Centre d’études des procédés chimiques du Quebec (CÉPROCQ), Collège de Maisonneuve, Canada, in collaboration with the Université de Blida 1. The IDRC-supported team isolated and multiplied several local mycorrhizas found in different types of Algerian soils. They tested them in the lab and then in farmers’ fields.

“The mycorrhiza binds to the roots, bends and extends, allowing plants to search for deep waters and scarce nutrients,” said Yacine Boumghar, former director of CÉPROCQ. 

Working with mycorrhiza offers many economic, health and environmental advantages. Farmers save on chemical fertilizers, which can pollute water and cause health problems like allergies. And the larger yields bring more income.

Microbiologist Hicham Messaoudi worked with Algeria’s Ministry of Agriculture to have the team’s mycorrhiza approved and made available to the private sector, to ensure that the benefits of this bio-innovation reach farmers on a national scale.

Start-ups like PLANTAbiotek and Alitech are about to begin offering the product and should play an important role in producing and commercializing the mycorrhizas. 

As the impact of this research continues to grow, it supports Algeria’s efforts to align with global climate and food security goals. Farmers like Boudia, with their openness and community spirit, are helping lead the way — proving that sustainable and more profitable agriculture is possible in Algeria.

ⓘ Photography credits 

Top image: IDRC / Bartay | Kate Sinclair, an IDRC-supported graduate student undertook field research with rural Indigenous farmers in Columbia to build evidence-based innovations for women’s autonomy and food security.
Slider 1:  Elie Antoine Padonou/Université d'Abomey Calavi | Freed from the need to gather firewood and tend woodburning stoves, women salt producers in Ouidah, Benin have reclaimed precious hours to invest in small businesses, family life and self-care.
Slider 2: Maria Carolina Rodriguez Bello Dawonlay/Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture | Jocelyn Dawonlay is a local researcher and corn farmer in Impasugong, Philippines. 
Slider 3: CÉPROCQ and Université de Blida 1 | A farmer from Biskra, Algeria examines his pepper plants, grown with the help of mycorrhizal fungi.