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EU and Gates Foundation pledge €500 million for innovations for smallholder farmers

December 15, 2017
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The European Union together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged more than €500 million over the next three years to support agricultural research that will help the world’s poorest farmers better adapt to increasingly challenging growing conditions brought about by climate change, including rising temperatures, extreme weather patterns (droughts and floods), diseases, poor soil fertility, and attacks from crop pests. This was announced at the ‘One Planet Summit’ in Paris on Tuesday 12 December 2017.

The  EU, which is the largest donor for development aid, and the  Bill  and  Melinda  Gates  Foundation, which is the larger philanthropist  organisation in this field, will  work together  on  a  joint  initiative  to  drive  research  and  technical  and  organisational innovations  across  agricultural  and  food  systems  in  developing  countries.

The Commission will provide €270 million over the next three years (2018-2020) to foster a strong climate change focus in agriculture and food systems research for development.

The commitment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to match this funding with a $300  million  pledge  over  the  same  period  (2018-2020)  will  boost  climate  change related  innovations  through  research  in  agriculture.

Two-thirds of the world’s poorest people live in Africa and Asia, and roughly 800 million of them rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. These smallholder farmers play a negligible role in generating carbon emissions but they suffer some of the harshest effects of climate change. As the climate changes, farmers’ ability to produce crops to feed their families or earn an income will be increasingly threatened. Livelihoods will be destroyed and climate-related pressures could force people to abandon their homes and communities, in search of better conditions.

Poor farmers in developing countries will need the most innovative tools and technologies to adapt to the effects of climate change. There is an urgent need to equip them with the tools that can make their crops more productive, sustainable, and resilient in the face of a rapidly changing environment.

 

Read more (Press statement Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

Read more (Press statement European Commission)

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