.jpg)
NITI Aayog, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and FAO launch Investment Forum for Advancing Climate Resilient Agrifood Systems in India
The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW), Government of India, and
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) jointly launched
the ‘Investment Forum for Advancing Climate Resilient Agrifood Systems in India’ in
New Delhi.
The kickoff event for this transformative initiative is a two-day multistakeholder meet scheduled for January 18-19, 2024, at the India International
Centre, New Delhi.
This initiative aims to develop an investment and partnership strategy to advance
climate resilient agrifood systems among the government, private sectors, and farmers’
organizations and financial institutions in India.
Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration, Prof Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI
Aayog emphasized the need for awareness on how agriculture contributes to climate
change, citing a contribution of a little more than 13% of total greenhouse gas
emissions in the country. He shared that agriculture could play a role in carbon
sequestration through tree plantation on farmland.
Prof Chand also called for a new
direction in economic analysis of agriculture production, considering natural resources
impacts climate change, and future generations. He proposed incorporating metrics
beyond financial prices to evaluate the economic impact of agricultural activities. Prof
Chand also stressed the importance of aligning efforts with the larger UN approach for
dealing with contemporary and long-term challenges.
Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, MoA&FW, Government of India highlighted the significance
of a multi-stakeholder approach in addressing climate challenges in India. He also
stressed upon the importance of considering the perspective of small and marginal
farmers, who constitute 85% of the farming population in India. Additionally, he spoke
on the spatial and temporal distribution of climate patterns affecting farming activities
and called upon the need for localized responses.
Ahuja also highlighted the need
to focus on investment structures to increase incentives for farmers in the country. Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator stressed that without an answer to
financial crisis there can be no answer to food crisis. “With food demand predicted to
grow by at least 50% by 2050 to feed our growing human family, we urgently need to
scale up investments in climate resilience in agriculture to ensure future generations
have the resources needed to grow enough food,” he added. He reiterated UN's
support for climate initiatives in India, such as the Year of Millets and expressed the
commitment to being a partner of choice for India.
The FAO Representative in India,Takayuki Hagiwara, applauded Government of
India’s strong leadership in building climate resilient agrifood systems through
prioritized actions in mitigation and adaptation domains. raised the critical need to
strengthen partnerships and investments to achieve climate resilience in agrifood
systems in India. He also highlighted that the importance of de-risking. He shared,
“When investing, it's crucial to ensure feasibility and examine the sustainability of our
actions. This includes considering the flow of working capital, labor availability,
sustainability and impacts on environment, the roles of women in agrifood systems,
and other factors. FAO's knowledge and experience are available for de-risking our
investments while developing climate-resilient agrifood systems.”
The two-day multi-stakeholder meet paved the way for discussions and deliberations
among key stakeholders, and their perspectives on national priorities, investment
opportunities, partnership, technical support and cooperation.
The Forum facilitated
discussions and deliberations on six key areas namely, (i) Climate resilient agriculture
(experiences and pathways) (ii) Digital infrastructure and solutions (iii) Financing
climate resilient agrifood systems (domestic and global) (iv) Climate resilient value
chains (v) Production practices and inputs for climate resilience and (vi) Gender
mainstreaming and social inclusion for climate resilience.
The meet witnessed almost 200 attendees with senior representatives from the
government, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management
(MANAGE), World Bank Yes Bank, Axis Bank, International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI), Delegation of the European Union, International Finance Cooperation,
and UN agencies participating at the event.
Climate change has profound implications for India, particularly affecting its socially
vulnerable rural population which is largely dependent on climate-sensitive agricultural
livelihoods. Indian agriculture, primarily rainfed, is susceptible to extreme
temperatures, droughts, floods, cyclones, and soil salinity.
Climate mainstreaming into
agrifood systems requires much larger investments from global climate finance,
domestic budgets, and the private sector.
This forum facilitates the identification of national priorities and policy platforms for
financing climate resilient agrifood systems through a variety of investments spanning
equity, grants supported by bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions
(DFIs), green and social bonds, and other guarantee or output-based financing through
corporations, blended finance, venture capital firms, among others. It brings forth key
stakeholders to provide insights on several opportunities that can be leveraged through
regional collaboration on climate-smart food system initiatives and suggest probable
arrangements to maximize resource consolidation, route catalytic findings and support
large-scale climate advocacy campaigns.