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BULLETIN 1
Rural investment builds a promising future at home
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IFAD 17 December 2025
Migration is high on the political agenda of both developed and developing nations. This won't change anytime soon. High levels of poverty and hunger, trade tensions and growing inequality mean more people are likely to leaves their homes in search of a better future.
At IFAD, we believe migration should be a choice, not a necessity. No one should feel forced to leave their homes and their families in rural areas due to a lack of opportunities.
Rural communities are essential for global food security, economic stability and sustainable development. Our investments enable people to transform them into engines of opportunity – where incomes are secure and young people can build futures.
By strengthening food value chains from production to retail and fostering the development of rural businesses, we work with governments and partners to build long-term stability, resilience and economic growth. Just as interconnected vulnerabilities drive people to leave, our interconnected investments – combining public and private capital – create plenty of reasons to stay.
Home-grown opportunities
When people migrate from rural to urban areas, they are more likely to develop the intent to migrate internationally. For most people, it’s the first step – leaving home – that is the hardest.
But in my time visiting rural areas, I’ve seen that farmers choose to stay when investments create new economic opportunities – and some even return home.
Take Natalia and Ion, a couple who returned to Moldova from the United Kingdom to start a quail farm now supported by the Talent Retention for Rural Transformation Project (TRTP). Funded by IFAD and implemented in partnership with Moldova's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and UN Women, among others, TRTP aims to reduce poverty and prevent the migration of skilled individuals from rural areas by enhancing farmers' production, climate resilience and market access.
With a loan and a grant from TRTP, Natalia and Ion bought a refrigerated van which helped them expand their distribution network, sell to restaurants and markets at competitive rates, and triple their sales. Their entire family is now involved in a business they're proud to build at home.
Natalia and Ion’s story demonstrates how targeted rural financing can ease migratory pressures by generating stable, local value creation.
Boosting young rural entrepreneurs
Research suggests that rural development reduces migratory pressures through its impacts on labour markets, especially when investments focus on creating jobs for young people.
In Nigeria, IFAD and social enterprise firm Babban Gona are helping young entrepreneurs, especially women, build their businesses. The partnership is stimulating wide-ranging economic growth, giving young people a stake in their societies and interrupting root causes of migration.
In 2021, the Fund provided Babban Gona a US$5 million loan – our first under the Private Sector Financing Programme. This catalytic financing has not only enabled Babban Gona to support 377,000 small-scale rice and maize producers in Nigeria with training, quality inputs and storage, and marketing services but has also catalysed twice that amount in funding from other sources.
Along the way, its members have become, collectively, the largest group of maize producers in Africa. This highlights the power of blended finance and strategic partnerships to strengthen value chains, locally.
Once those value chains are strengthened, the right partnerships can ensure they generate jobs for rural youth. The Integrated Youth Agribusiness Hub programme, funded by IFAD, Germany and the Visa Foundation, does so by catalysing collaboration between employers, training organizations and financial institutions. Thanks to hubs in nine African countries, about 42,000 young rural people now have decent employment and entrepreneurship opportunities – and no longer need to look further afield.
See https://www.ifad.org/en/w/opinions/rural-investment-builds-a-promising-future-at-home
Migration is high on the political agenda of both developed and developing nations. This won't change anytime soon. High levels of poverty and hunger, trade tensions and growing inequality mean more people are likely to leaves their homes in search of a better future.
At IFAD, we believe migration should be a choice, not a necessity. No one should feel forced to leave their homes and their families in rural areas due to a lack of opportunities.
Rural communities are essential for global food security, economic stability and sustainable development. Our investments enable people to transform them into engines of opportunity – where incomes are secure and young people can build futures.
By strengthening food value chains from production to retail and fostering the development of rural businesses, we work with governments and partners to build long-term stability, resilience and economic growth. Just as interconnected vulnerabilities drive people to leave, our interconnected investments – combining public and private capital – create plenty of reasons to stay.
Home-grown opportunities
When people migrate from rural to urban areas, they are more likely to develop the intent to migrate internationally. For most people, it’s the first step – leaving home – that is the hardest.
But in my time visiting rural areas, I’ve seen that farmers choose to stay when investments create new economic opportunities – and some even return home.
Take Natalia and Ion, a couple who returned to Moldova from the United Kingdom to start a quail farm now supported by the Talent Retention for Rural Transformation Project (TRTP). Funded by IFAD and implemented in partnership with Moldova's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and UN Women, among others, TRTP aims to reduce poverty and prevent the migration of skilled individuals from rural areas by enhancing farmers' production, climate resilience and market access.
With a loan and a grant from TRTP, Natalia and Ion bought a refrigerated van which helped them expand their distribution network, sell to restaurants and markets at competitive rates, and triple their sales. Their entire family is now involved in a business they're proud to build at home.
Natalia and Ion’s story demonstrates how targeted rural financing can ease migratory pressures by generating stable, local value creation.
Boosting young rural entrepreneurs
Research suggests that rural development reduces migratory pressures through its impacts on labour markets, especially when investments focus on creating jobs for young people.
In Nigeria, IFAD and social enterprise firm Babban Gona are helping young entrepreneurs, especially women, build their businesses. The partnership is stimulating wide-ranging economic growth, giving young people a stake in their societies and interrupting root causes of migration.
In 2021, the Fund provided Babban Gona a US$5 million loan – our first under the Private Sector Financing Programme. This catalytic financing has not only enabled Babban Gona to support 377,000 small-scale rice and maize producers in Nigeria with training, quality inputs and storage, and marketing services but has also catalysed twice that amount in funding from other sources.
Along the way, its members have become, collectively, the largest group of maize producers in Africa. This highlights the power of blended finance and strategic partnerships to strengthen value chains, locally.
Once those value chains are strengthened, the right partnerships can ensure they generate jobs for rural youth. The Integrated Youth Agribusiness Hub programme, funded by IFAD, Germany and the Visa Foundation, does so by catalysing collaboration between employers, training organizations and financial institutions. Thanks to hubs in nine African countries, about 42,000 young rural people now have decent employment and entrepreneurship opportunities – and no longer need to look further afield.
See https://www.ifad.org/en/w/opinions/rural-investment-builds-a-promising-future-at-home
BULLETIN 2
Genome-Edited High-GABA Tomato Completes Singapore Food Agency (SFA) Process
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5 November 2025 — This marks the first instance in Singapore of a plant using genome editing technology being exempted from regulation. Sanatech Life Sciences Co.Sanatech
Seed Co., Ltd. (now Sanatech Life Sciences Co., Ltd.)’s genome-edited high-GABA tomato has been confirmed by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to be exempt from the GMO pre-market approval process (the approval process required for the sale of genetically modified crops and genome-edited crops deemed equivalent to genetically modified crops). (Notification received on October 30, 2025).
This process was conducted in accordance with SFA’s “Guidance on regulatory framework for genome edited crops for use as food and/or feed (August 1, 2024).” As a result, our genome-edited high-GABA tomato has been confirmed to contain no foreign genes and is considered equivalent to conventionally bred crops.
This marks the first instance in Singapore of a plant using genome editing technology being exempted from regulation.
Sanatech Life Sciences Co. Ltd. pursues product development guided by its corporate philosophy: “For tomorrow’s children and tomorrow’s planet.” As a global company, we will continue to earnestly work toward commercializing genome-edited crops in alignment with this philosophy.
For further details, please refer to the following SFA public page.
sfa.gov.sg/docs/default-source/regulatory-standards-frameworks-and-guidelines/list-of-notified-ged-crops.pdf
This process was conducted in accordance with SFA’s “Guidance on regulatory framework for genome edited crops for use as food and/or feed (August 1, 2024).” As a result, our genome-edited high-GABA tomato has been confirmed to contain no foreign genes and is considered equivalent to conventionally bred crops.
This marks the first instance in Singapore of a plant using genome editing technology being exempted from regulation.
Sanatech Life Sciences Co. Ltd. pursues product development guided by its corporate philosophy: “For tomorrow’s children and tomorrow’s planet.” As a global company, we will continue to earnestly work toward commercializing genome-edited crops in alignment with this philosophy.
For further details, please refer to the following SFA public page.
sfa.gov.sg/docs/default-source/regulatory-standards-frameworks-and-guidelines/list-of-notified-ged-crops.pdf
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Improving gene editing of CRISPR/Cas9 using the callus-specific promoter pYCE1 in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)
Yuanchao Li, Ruxue Bao, Mengtao Li, Changying Zeng, Haojie Yang, Yuan Yao, Youzhi Li , Wenquan Wang, Xin Chen
Front Plant Sci.; 2025 May 20: 16:1600438. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1600438.
Improving gene editing of CRISPR/Cas9 using the callus-specific promoter pYCE1 in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)
Yuanchao Li, Ruxue Bao, Mengtao Li, Changying Zeng, Haojie Yang, Yuan Yao, Youzhi Li , Wenquan Wang, Xin Chen
Front Plant Sci.; 2025 May 20: 16:1600438. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1600438.
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Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that an appropriate promoter can drive Cas9 transcription in the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which improves the efficiency of gene editing. Here, we identified and characterized callus-specific promoters to enhance gene editing efficiency in cassava. From the transcriptome data of 11 cassava tissues, the gene named YCE1 was identified to exhibit callus-specific expression. Its promoter (pYCE1) could efficiently and specifically drive EGFP transcription in callus tissues. Given that friable embryogenic callus (FECs) is the recipient for genetic transformation in cassava, we replaced the original 35S promoter with pYCE1 to drive Cas9 transcription for improving the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system. In single-gene editing, the mutation rate was significantly increased, which reached an overall mutation rate of 95.24% and a homozygous mutation rate of 52.38%, compared with 62.07% and 37.93% with the 35S promoter, respectively. Furthermore, achieving a dual-gene homozygous mutation rate of 64.71% in dual-gene editing demonstrated the high efficiency of pYCE1 in the gene editing application for cassava. These results underscore the potential of pYCE1 to enhance gene editing efficiency in the CRISPR/Cas9 system of cassava. This approach paves the way for advanced gene function research and genetic breeding in cassava.
See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40464017/
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Figure:
Identification of callus-specific expressed genes. (A) Candidate genes with high expression levels in callus tissues. LB, lateral bud; FR, fibrous root; SR, storage root; RAM, root apical meristem; SAM, shoot apical meristem; OES, organized embryogenic structures; FEC, friable embryogenic callus. (B) Validation of callus-specific highly expressed genes by RT-qPCR.
Identification of callus-specific expressed genes. (A) Candidate genes with high expression levels in callus tissues. LB, lateral bud; FR, fibrous root; SR, storage root; RAM, root apical meristem; SAM, shoot apical meristem; OES, organized embryogenic structures; FEC, friable embryogenic callus. (B) Validation of callus-specific highly expressed genes by RT-qPCR.
