ANNOUNCEMENTS
Agriculture a major source of livelihood for about 500 million smallholder farmers is facing the perils of climate change, threatening food and agribusinesses across the supply chain. (IFC, 2017) Moreover, with growing populations, it is becoming essential to transform our “conventional” agricultural systems into “climate-smart agriculture.” CSA is built on the foundation of sustainable agriculture with adaptation and mitigation as its focal points thus an integrative approach with three distinct objectives. Being highly regional specific it is influenced by socio-economic, regulatory and political conditions.
Transitioning to CSA comes at a cost and access to finance affects a farmer‟s decision to implement CSA practices. Since it has only been ten years that CSA was rolled out, financing options explicitly directed towards climate-smart agriculture remain limited however; overtime we can expect them to evolve with a growing focus on innovative financing mechanisms. In the prevailing scenario, Climate finance as allocated by the multilateral and bilateral funds has a significant potential in scaling up climate-smart initiatives with the help variety of financial instruments that they use, helping translate ideas into action. This study was designed to disseminate information, provide guidance and assess the potential of financial instruments to decipher CSA in a holistic manner and inform “smart” decisions. By reviewing “fragmented” data gathered onto a single platform this will help empower a range of stakeholders from investors; policy makers to private players, embark on a climate-smart journey.
Keywords: Climate-Smart Agriculture, climate-resilient agriculture, climate change, climate finance, agricultural finance
