The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a four-year, $1.4 billion pledge to help smallholder farmers address the immediate and long-term impacts of climate change.

Announced this week during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, the foundation’s pledge reiterated African leaders’ calls for countries to rapidly scale finance for climate adaptation. To that end, the commitment will fund immediate action and long-term initiatives to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia build resilience and food security by spurring African-led innovation to build a pipeline of climate-smart agriculture projects, new applications of digital technologies, climate-smart innovations for smallholder livestock farming, and support for women smallholder farmers to capitalize on their untapped potential.

According to the foundation More than two billion people depend on smallholder farms for food and income, yet less than 2 percent of global climate finance is devoted to helping these farms adapt to climate change. Moreover, food and economic crises will last longer and become more severe as climate threats escalate and further threaten food security by limiting smallholder farmers’ yields and resilience.

To improve the livelihoods of rural women in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the foundation is deepening its ongoing partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to scale initiatives that empower women farmers, support innovations at the nexus of gender and climate adaptation, and increase climate finance that gives rural women better access to the climate-smart resources they need to strengthen food systems. In addition, to accelerate the development of new adaptation innovations, the foundation is continuing to work with a coalition of partners to double the budget for the CGIAR agriculture research system. The CGIAR Excellence in Agronomy initiative partners with African research institutes, local businesses, and farmer organizations. Together, they are using big data, analytics, and digital platforms to deliver insights that can boost incomes, food security, and ecosystem health in smallholder farming communities.

“The effects of climate change have already been devastating, and every moment the world delays action, more people suffer, and the solutions become more complex and costly,” said Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman. “Our commitment will help smallholder farmers adapt today and build resilience for the future. It is essential for this climate summit to produce bold commitments that address immediate and long-term needs. Leaders must listen to the voices of African farmers and governments to understand their priorities and respond with urgency.”

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