11 June 2018, The Hague: The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs has granted funding of €39.5 million to implement a 5-year Climate Smart Agriculture programme in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to a consortium led by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, in partnership with Wageningen University and Research, CGIAR’s Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security Programme, Agriterra, and Rabo Partnerships.
This initiative will significantly contribute to the Netherlands’ international commitments on climate change.
Objective
Climate change threatens crop yields in Africa, and harvest losses may add up to 20 fold the investment costs of adapting agricultural practices now. The programme aims to increase food production and food security by enhancing climate resilience throughout the supply chain. By 2022 this will result in adaptive productive capacity and increased incomes for 300,000 medium sized and smallholder producers. On top of that we will improve business performance of 50 small medium enterprises and 30 cooperatives to mitigate the risks of climate change on their supply chains.
"This grant will help us scale up our support to farmer communities to feed their families and increase their income. This will require adapting the way they farm to more frequent drought and other climate-related changes" said Meike van Ginneken, CEO of SNV.
Scaling to systemic change
The programme uses a three pronged approach. We will implement complementary interventions to increase adoption of climate smart practices and technologies among farmers and SMEs. We will stimulate their growth throughout the value chain by enhancing private sector investments in climate adaptation. And we will advocate with partners and the government of the three targeted countries to encourage a favourable enabling environment for large scale market adoption. We collaborate with private and financial sector partners such as Rabobank - who will pave the way for financially viable Climate Smart Agriculture solutions and investment to agribusinesses. Dutch expertise in sustainable food production systems, particularly in potatoes, oilseeds and pulses will be mobilised.
The programme activities will be in line with existing government strategies like the National Climate Plans and collaborate with multilateral climate investments and the Embassy of the Netherlands in all three countries.
About
SNV: SNV is a non-profit organisation that contributes to eliminating poverty through increased income and access to basic services. SNV’s global team of experts in Agriculture, WASH and Energy implements projects at scale. Our long-term, local staying power in 26 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America enables us to kick-start markets, strengthen institutions, and establish conducive legal and policy environments.
Wageningen University and Research: In 2018, Wageningen University & Research will celebrate 100 years of existence. Focusing on the mission ‘To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life’ WUR combines fundamental and applied knowledge in order to contribute to resolving important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is a strategic partnership led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). CCAFS brings together some of the world’s best researchers to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and trade-offs between climate change, agriculture and food security.
Agriterra is an agri-agency founded by the Dutch agricultural sector that professionalises farmer organisations and cooperatives worldwide in order to better serve the needs and interests of their member farmers.
Rabo Partnerships B.V., a fully owned subsidiary of Rabobank previously known as RIAS and Rabo Development, builds on 25 years of experience worldwide in strengthening financial institutions and cooperatives through sharing of knowledge and networks. Our mission is to increase access to financial services for people in emerging markets with an emphasis on developing rural livelihoods and increased agrifinance.
