Recognizing the constraints faced by smallholder farmers to invest in long-term sustainable land use practices, the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program (CCAFS) has authored a working paper on financing sustainable agriculture and mitigation.
24 January 2014: Recognizing the constraints faced by smallholder farmers to invest in long-term sustainable land use practices, the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program (CCAFS) has announced a working paper on financing sustainable agriculture and mitigation.
The paper, titled ‘Financing Sustainable Agriculture and Mitigation: Smallholders and the Landscape Fund,’ identifies barriers to capital and credit delivery systems as the largest constraints facing smallholder farmers, alongside issues of tenure, inflexible and high rate loans, lack of access to technical resources, and barriers to markets. The paper suggests the creation of a Landscape Fund that allows for investment in diverse sustainable agricultural practices through standard financing schemes. The Fund will seek to develop a wide investment base for a single initiative that moves funds to a diverse set of landscape activities within a portfolio of a range of sustainable land use practices. It will promote long-term investment that leads to expanded access to credit.
The Fund will be piloted during 2013 and 2014 in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Kenya and Brazil through the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Munden Center with partners from the Ateneo School of Government, CCAFS, Chatham House and the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF).
CCAFS is a program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), while both ICRAF and CIFOR are members of CGIAR. [Landscapes Forum Press Release] [Publication: Financing Sustainable Agriculture and Mitigation: Smallholders and the Landscape Fund]