UN Must Help Impoverished Farmers Adapt To Climate Change: Experts
A new push to give farmers in developing countries better access to markets, led by the United Nations' food aid agency, could fall short of its goals if it does not prioritize helping poor farmers adapt to climate change, experts have warned.
Aimed at boosting incomes and improving food security, the project plans to help 1.5 million small-scale farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America over the next three years with contracts to buy their crops, signed before they are planted, worth $750 million.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners - including agribusiness giants Bayer and Syngenta, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, Rabobank and Norwegian fertilizer producer Yara International - will also offer farmers access to agricultural inputs, loans and insurance.
"The platform will enable some of the most marginalized farmers to access reliable markets for the first time," WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said in a statement as the program was launched in Davos, Switzerland, late last month.
CIFOR