Examining the Climate Finance Gap for Small-Scale Agriculture

Small-scale farmers are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, only 1.7 per cent of climate finance goes to small-scale farmers in developing countries, explains the report Examining the Climate Finance Gap for Small-Scale Agriculture published by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) in November 2020. 

Released during the Finance in Common Summit, where representatives of the world’s 450 Public Development Banks are meeting for the first time to discuss how to reorient financial flows to support global climate and development targets, the report provides a detailed analysis of climate-finance flows to small-scale farmers.

It shows that while financing that supports actions to address climate change surpassed half a trillion US dollars for the first time in 2017 and 2018, only USD 10 billion of this reached smallholder farmers annually.

Small-scale farmers currently produce 50 per cent of the world’s food calories. However, higher temperatures - together with increased incidences of drought and flooding - destroy crops and livestock and make it difficult for them to continue to feed their communities and earn a living.

While there are no exact figures available of what climate financing small-scale farmers require, various estimates of their general needs are in the order of hundreds of billions annually, which gives an indication of the magnitude of the climate investments required.

Next year, IFAD will launch ASAP+, a climate-financing mechanism envisioned to be the largest fund dedicated to channelling climate finance to small-scale producers to help them adapt to climate change and combat hunger and malnutrition.

ASAP+ builds on IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), the largest global climate-adaptation programme for smallholder farmers, which has already channelled over USD 300 million to more than 5 million farmers in 41 countries.

(IFAD/ile)

Read more and download the report Examining the Climate Finance Gap for Small-Scale Agriculture at IFAD website