A joint project proposal of the Philippine Government and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been approved by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) during its 35th Board Meeting held in Songdo, Incheon in the Republic of Korea.
The project entitled “Adapting Philippine Agriculture to Climate Change” aims to boost the resilience of climate-vulnerable rural smallholder farmers, and will play a key role in advancing the country’s transition towards more sustainable, resilient and inclusive agrifood systems. It will be supported by a USD 26.2 million GCF grant and USD 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), totalling to USD 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 to access finance and related technologies, and adopting climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) practices. As one of the agencies involved in the project, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has 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 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. 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.
For more details on the project, please visit the FAO website: https://www.fao.org/asiapacific/news/detail-events/en/c/1634114/
