Small-scale farmers in developing countries are already suffering from a changing climate they did not cause – with lower crop yields, reduced water availability, price spikes and increased food insecurity, said the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Whilst agriculture contributes to the climate crisis, small-scale farmers are guardians of our natural resources and have the potential to revolutionize food production to increase production and limit environmental degradation, it added.

IFAD said that it recognises that these farmers are a critical part of the solution to climate change. IFAD has shown that small-scale farmers can be effective agents of change - they can use climate finance to deliver multiple benefits in terms of food security, poverty reduction, ecosystem resilience and emission reductions, a statement said.

IFAD’s spokespeople will be participating in a wide range of events throughout UNFCCC COP25, running from December 2 to 13 in Madrid, Spain, and encouraging investment in farmers.

IFAD will be launching a new report focused on its work in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the IFAD Climate Action Report 2019.

Key Issues:

•    Small-scale farmers are often located on marginal lands where environmental and climate impacts are most strongly felt, reducing crop yields and incomes.
•    Small-scale farmers need to urgently adapt to environmental and climate impacts to ensure continued food production and sustainable incomes.
•    IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) is the largest global financing source of its kind, and channels more than US$300 million of climate finance to farmers in developing countries so they can access the information, tools and technologies that will help build their resilience to climate change.
•    Small farms provide more than 70 per cent of the food calories to people living in south and east Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

 IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, it has provided $21.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached about 491 million people.

IFAD is an international financial institution and a United Nations specialized agency based in Rome – the United Nations’ food and agriculture hub. – TradeArabia News Service