Leaders Must Help 500M Small Farmers Battle Climate Change

The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has urged global leaders to help 500 million smallholder farmers responsible for up to a third of the world’s food production adapt to climate change-induced loss and damage.

Photo Insert: Many small farmers face a rising tide of climate threats including increased drought, flooding, and water scarcity.

Innovations are needed that can both reduce the contribution of global agriculture to climate change, and adapt to its increasingly evident consequences while also supporting livelihoods, nutrition, and equality, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Many smallholders reside in agriculture-dependent regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and face a rising tide of climate threats including increased drought, flooding, and water scarcity.

The climate crisis is exacerbating the degradation of food, land, and water systems, impacting productivity, viability, and resilience.

One example of work that CGIAR will undertake as part of new commitments is an initiative to develop climate-smart crop seed varieties, such as drought-tolerant wheat or rice that is adapted to grow in water affected by saline intrusion from rising sea levels.

The call comes as the United Kingdom pledged $55 million over two years to boost commitments to CGIAR research from a steadily growing global coalition to surpass $1 billion.

The new pledges will contribute to an accelerating of research and innovation to confront rapidly intensifying climate challenges that could upend the global fight against hunger and poverty.

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "To keep 1.5 degrees alive, we need action from every part of society, including an urgent transformation in the way we manage ecosystems and grow, produce and consume food on a global scale."

Claudia Sadoff, managing director for Research Delivery and Impact at CGIAR said “this is not an either/ or scenario where it's adaptation or mitigation. For agriculture to become a more sustainable and nature-positive sector, we have to provide tools that allow farmers to rebalance the relationship between agriculture and nature while building resilience to climate change."

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