Climate change: Coalition promises $650 m to African farmers

A coalition of donors, aid institutions and philanthropy has promised to invest more than US $650 million in the CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) System Organization to help 300 million smallholder farmers in developing countries towards awareness to  impacts of climate change, which already are eroding crop and livestock productions in places like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

 This was in a press statement issued out after the United Nations Climate Action Summit as a response to a call from the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) urging world leaders to mount a massive effort towards climate change.

It was stated that the investments from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the European Commission, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany are part of a broader commitment of more than US $790 million to address the impact of climate change on food and agriculture. The GCA is co-chaired by Bill Gates, former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva.

 Earlier this month, the GCA put forward an agenda for adaptation that contains a detailed action plan for confronting climate threats to agriculture and food security and a recommendation to double the scale of agricultural research through the CGIAR System.

“The global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) made a solemn promise to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty by 2030, and that simply cannot be achieved unless the world’s smallholder farmers can adapt to climate change,” said Elwyn Grainger-Jones, Executive Director of the CGIAR System Organization. “The new investments announced today are recognition that we have just 11 growing seasons between now and 2030 and farmers need a host of new innovations to overcome a growing array of climate threats. This new funding is an important start towards a global effort to substantially increase support for CGIAR activities.”

CGIAR is a global research partnership dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources for smallholder farmers in the developing world. Investments in CGIAR have proven to be highly cost-effective, generating returns ranging from $2 to $17 for every $1 invested, with significant economic benefits for producers and consumers. CGIAR’s 15 Research Centers are working as a single unit under its flagship Two Degree Initiative for Food and Agriculture. The Two Degree effort is helping small-scale food producers across the globe adapt their farming systems, livelihoods, and landscapes to weather extremes and embrace production practices that lower emissions.

The investment announced will support a wide range of activities across the CGIAR System to deliver a steady stream of adaptation solutions to smallholder farmers. The commitments to agriculture adaptation include:

US $310 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next three years to support CGIAR’s shared agenda to tackle climate change and make food production in the developing world more productive, resilient and sustainable. The foundation is the second largest donor to CGIAR after the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with investments contributing to work in crop breeding, seed systems, gender equity, livestock, nutrition, and policy.

Towards this, $150 million from the World Bank has been issued for CGIAR efforts on behalf of smallholder farmers in the developing world over the next three years. “The World Bank is working towards a stepped-up effort on agricultural research in Africa. Towards this end, the Bank intends to work with its partners to develop an IDA financing package of US $60 million for CGIAR-based institutions in Africa,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Acting CEO.

The Netherlands will reorient €100 million (US $110 million) towards food systems that are not only more productive, but more adaptive and resilient. The Netherlands will also increase its contribution to CGIAR to €50 million (US $55 million) over two years. The country’s work with CGIAR initiatives includes a strong focus on developing public-private partnerships (PPPs), pursuing research that supports the SDGs, including efforts to help women farmers, and emphasizing the role of urban and rural consumers in achieving sustainable food systems.

The United Kingdom, through DFID, is committing £45 million (US $56 million) for CGIAR in 2020, alongside an additional £27 million (US $34 million) to support the Global Commission’s recommendations on agriculture. DFID’s past investments have enabled CGIAR to scale-up efforts to develop crop varieties and farming systems that are more resilient and productive along with markets, value chains, technologies and policies that deliver benefits—along with better health and nutrition—to poor communities.

Switzerland has committed 33.1 million CHF (US $33 million) to CGIAR for 2020-21. Switzerland’s close partnership with CGIAR targets efforts to find innovative solutions for high-quality food and sustainable natural resource management.

The European Commission has committed €32.3 million (US $35 million) to CGIAR for 2020-21. The Commission, through its Development Cooperation (DEVCO) financing, supports CGIAR to develop and maintain a global policy dialogue with regard to a demand-driven agricultural research and innovation agenda.

Sweden has committed to increase funding for CGIAR to 150 million SEK (US $16 million). Sweden, through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), has been a partner of CGIAR since 1973, supporting efforts to reduce poverty and famine, and improve health and nutrition through international research, partnerships and leadership.

Germany, through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) commits to strengthen the resilience of 60 million small-scale farmers. In addition, BMZ, together with partners of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, aims at scaling-up access to micro-insurance for 150 million people by 2025, of which more than 90 percent will be smallholder farmers.

Courtesy CGIAR