Gates Foundation Commits Ksh.. 180.8 Billion to Help Farmers Adapt to Extreme Weather

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is now committing itself to a huge KSh 180.8 billion ($1.4 billion) in the next four years to facilitate small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to cope with the growing effects of global warming.

The project that aims to empower farmers with new technologies and resistant farming methods to climate change tries to reinforce food security in the face of more and more unpredictable weather patterns.

In an interview with Reuters, despite the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, the Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Mark Suzman, divulged that the new funding will finance the research and implementation of technologies like soil health mapping and even the utilization of biofertilisers, manufactured by microorganisms, as compared to the traditional chemical-based fertilizers.

These innovations are aimed at enhancing soil fertility, boosting yields, and ensuring crops become resistant to environmental stress factors like droughts, floods, and pests.

According to Suzman, the climate strategy of the foundation focuses on assisting poor people of the world who contribute most to the effects but least to the emission of greenhouse gases in the world.

This is because, he said, they are the people who have contributed so little to contributing to the emissions that have led to climate change, but they are the most impacted since the effects will directly affect their capacity to feed themselves and their families.

The statements resonated with recent statements made by Bill Gates, who has urged the rest of the global community to not only continue to set targets on emissions reduction but also to focus on implementing adaptation efforts that can directly benefit the vulnerable populations. Gates claimed that although cutting down on emissions would be very critical, millions of farmers are already challenged by climate-related crises that should be addressed immediately.

Similar warnings have been raised by the United Nations, which has indicated that global temperatures are increasing and that agriculture and food systems are under increased risk.

It has demanded a greater focus on climate adaptation efforts that secure the existence of smallholder farmers, especially in third-world countries, against the ruinous impacts of extreme weather conditions like long droughts, erratic rain-falls and heat waves.

In a recent report of more than 20 global organizations, such as consulting firm Systemiq, crop resilience has been singled out as a key area of maximum climate investment.

The research revealed the imminent necessity of climate-resistant high-yield crops, better weather predictions, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence-based mapping applications that can provide farmers on the fly.

The International Potato Center, which is one of the recipients of past Gates Foundation funding, showed the promise of this kind of innovation this week.

On Thursday, the organization rolled out a new type of potato that resists blight or a killer plant disease that has been spreading to higher altitudes as the temperature rises globally.

This new potato came into being in Peru, where wild potatoes were found to have natural defenses against blight, and those characteristics were transferred to the breeds.

The advancement is a significant positive advancement towards safeguarding one of the most valuable staple crops in the world against the diseases that are caused by the climate.

The other project that the foundation has been involved with is TomorrowNow, which is a startup that offers farmers in African countries such as Kenya and Rwanda localized weather updates through a text message.

Through timely weather information, farmers would be able to know when they can plant and harvest, hence saving them the losses associated with unpredictable weather changes.

TomorrowNow CEO Wanjeri Mbugua said: "Our platform allows farmers to make better decisions and reduce wastage of seeds and resources. Suzman did point out that despite a substantial improvement in research and development in agricultural technology, the major obstacle is to make sure that the technologies find their way to the most marginalized farming communities in the world.

He told us there exists solid research work being done around the world, but the one that matters is that we can provide these solutions to the people who will most need them. The new project by the Gates Foundation is one of the biggest climate adaptation programs to address the small-scale farmers who are the largest food producers in the world, but are the most exposed to climate change.

Through investments in locally-led solutions, the foundation is expected to increase the speed at which the global can advance to achieve climate-resilient food systems and protect livelihoods in Africa and Asia.