As intensifying climate change compromises crops around the world, Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, is calling for global leaders attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) to set a specific and ambitious goal on finance for adaptation, one that integrates the needs of small-scale farmers who produce a significant part of the food in developing countries, and for the world at large. IFAD indicatively estimates the finance gap for small-scale farmers’ adaptation to climate change at about US$ 75 billion per year in developing countries.
This specific goal on adaptation would fit under the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance, the new financial target for the amount of money developed countries contribute to support developing countries to tackle climate change, that COP member states are meant to adopt at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan starting on 11 November.
“As climate change profoundly disrupts food systems, the only way to safeguard global food security is to prioritize helping small-scale farmers to adapt to the new reality,” said Lario. “The first step is for leaders at COP29 to set an ambitious goal for adaptation finance that allows food production to continue even as the planet warms.”
Small-scale farmers produce about 35 per cent of the world’s food, and up to 70 per cent in Africa. Despite being key for food security globally, and for their countries and communities, they receive the fewest resources to deal with climate change and build their resilience. Data show that global climate finance for small-scale agri-food systems is strikingly low, at an annual average of just US$ 5.53 billion in 2019/20, equivalent to just 0.8 per cent of total climate finance tracked across all sectors.
“Small-scale farmers often live in poverty and have little choice. They must adapt or will starve,” said Lario. “Adaptation is a matter of global food security, but also geopolitical stability. Rising food prices, hunger and poverty led to forced migrations and conflicts.”
Climate change is already a key driver of hunger. In 2023, about 735 million people have suffered from hunger in part due to the effects of increased heat, droughts, floods and extreme weather events. Climate change could push an additional 132 million individuals into extreme poverty.
IFAD’s call for targeting small-scale farmers in climate spending and ambitious financing for adaptation comes at a time when extreme weather events, rising heat and unusual and unpredictable rain patterns are increasingly becoming the norm and have a devastating impact on crops and the rural communities making a living from farming. This summer, in Southern Africa, a historic dry spell and above-average temperatures led to well below-average maize harvests. In parts of West Africa erratic rains affected cocoa production, cutting output by half in Ghana. The combination of an historic drought in Brazil leading to a steep drop in coffee production and a typhoon in Vietnam decimating the key coffee growing region has triggered a sharp increase in prices on global markets.
It is estimated that climate change could reduce crop yields by up to a quarter by the end of the century. By 2035 – just a decade from now – climate change could be adding up to 50 per cent to the rate of food inflation across the board.
Many solutions exist to help small-scale farmers adapt to climate change. They include, for example, climate smart irrigation, water collecting techniques and infrastructure, drought tolerant crops, agroforestry, agroecology and improved soil management. Early warning systems alert farmers when a disaster is imminent, while weather services inform them about current conditions, optimal sowing times and crop management. Additionally, they provide advice on tackling pest and diseases.
There are more than 500 million small farms in the world. About three billion people live in the rural areas of developing countries and rely to a significant extent on small-scale agriculture for their food and livelihoods.
