Climate-resilient agri project to boost rural farmers
THE resilience of climate-vulnerable rural smallholder farmers will be further boosted with the implementation of the project called “Adapting Philippine Agriculture to Climate Change.”
This was learned after the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved the said project proposal by the Philippine Government and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) during its 35th Board Meeting held in Songdo, Incheon, in the Republic of Korea.
Aside from boosting the resiliency of the rural farmers, the project will also play a key role in advancing the country’s transition towards more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive agrifood systems.
The project will be supported by a US$26.2 million GCF grant and US$12.9 million in co-financing from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA), totaling to US$39.2 million.
The initiative will directly benefit 1.25 million Filipino farmers by raising their awareness of climate risks and risk-reduction measures, building capacity to develop enterprises and providing access to finance and related technologies, and adopting climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) practices.
As one of the agencies involved in the project, the DA expressed its appreciation for the support of the GCF to the project that would benefit farmers and fisherfolk for a more resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.
“Through this, we are giving flesh to the President’s pronouncement in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) emphasizing that the production of farm inputs or the needs of farmers to increase their productivity should conform to the challenges brought by climate change and global warming,” DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said of the project.
The DA, along with DOST-PAGASA and FAO, will also work with the private sector and financial institutions to enhance CRA value chains and provide financial and risk-transfer products for boosting investments in climate actions to enable and facilitate partnerships to ensure a sustainable future for all.
