The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç), the only multilateral financing and partnership platform focused on food and nutrition security, has stepped up its efforts in the fight against hunger. Building on its $2.5 billion global portfolio benefiting over 20 million people in 55 low-income countries, ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç has now formally committed to deploy up to US$182 million in financing under the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, assembled under Brazil’s G20 Presidency. ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç will also participate in the Global Alliance’s sprint area focused on smallholder and family farming support programs. The sprint area seeks to strengthen country-owned programs in developing countries by improving their quality through additional expertise and co-financing the implementation of national policies that empower smallholder and family farmers, boosting investments as needed.
ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç’s commitments were announced on October 24th during a high-level roundtable event co-hosted by ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç and Brazil’s G20 Presidency. James Catto, Chair of the ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç Steering Committee, said: “With over a decade of proven experience and best practices ready to scale, ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç is in a unique position to support implementation of the aims of the Global Alliance. ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç’s comprehensive financing toolkit can help the objectives of the Alliance become a reality on the ground in low-income countries.â€
Speaking on behalf of Brazil’s G20 Presidency, Camila Costa of the Ministry of Finance, said: “The Global Alliance welcomes the forthcoming partnership with ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç. Together, we can ensure countries facing the highest levels of food and nutrition security can find solutions – and that international partners are aligned with their own goals and objectives for addressing hunger, malnutrition, and multidimensional rural poverty.â€
As the UN Decade of Family Farming enters its next phase, ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç will continue to elevate its direct support to organizations of smallholder producers in low-income countries. ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç plans to launch a new call for proposals in 2025 to benefit producer organization-led projects focused on implementing, improving, or scaling-up support services for member smallholder producers. ÂÒÂ׺£½Ç will also unlock more private and climate finance for investments in smallholder farmers and family farming in low-income countries, particularly through a new $75 million financing window called the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT).