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The document examines the intersection of climate change, gender, and food systems in southern Africa, arguing that climate shocks intensify the burden of unpaid care work disproportionately borne by rural and working-class women. It critiques technocratic, productivity-focused agricultural policies and proposes a framework based on Feminist Ecological Economics and Feminist Political Ecology to reorient food systems around human needs and ecological regeneration. Key recommendations include the redistribution of care work, support for agroecology, and the implementation of gender-responsive fiscal policies.

The report details the EECCLiRe project's efforts to build climate resilience among Indonesian coffee smallholders through ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Key interventions included the use of climate field schools (CFS) to integrate scientific climate data with traditional knowledge, the promotion of agroforestry to protect heat-sensitive Arabica coffee, and the installation of plastic biodigesters to provide clean energy and organic fertilizer. The document also examines the role of ecolabels and geographical indication (GI) labels in supporting EbA by providing financial incentives, while noting challenges such as power imbalances with intermediaries and the need for context-specific, gender-responsive programming.

The document addresses the significant underfunding of climate-smart agrifood systems, which contribute approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It argues that while public and private capital are necessary, concessional capital is essential for the 'missing middle'—projects with high impact but sub-commercial returns. The playbook outlines five specific investment strategies: system-level approaches, natural capital restoration, shared climate-smart infrastructure, technical assistance for innovation, and the scaling of local financial intermediaries. It includes a framework to help donors, foundations, and development finance institutions design and implement blended finance strategies to accelerate the transition to net-zero agrifood systems.

The document argues that while Ghana has a robust policy framework for climate change, there is a critical disconnect between modern CSA tech, Indigenous Knowledge, and youth employment. It highlights the role of startups like Farmerline and AgroCenta in bridging these gaps and recommends the creation of multi-stakeholder platforms and digital IK repositories to foster a more inclusive, climate-resilient agricultural system.

Osomobegbe Global Ventures Limited (OGV), founded in 2019 by Osomobegbe Eugene, addresses post-harvest losses in Nigeria through the deployment of solar drying solutions. The company utilizes locally sourced materials to create dryers for vegetables, proteins, and fruits, extending product shelf life up to a year. OGV operates through three primary pillars: the installation of solar dryers, the operation of fee-based solar drying centres for small-scale producers, and the provision of training programmes for youth and farmers. While the company has scaled from supporting 300 to nearly 4,000 smallholder farmers, it faces challenges including funding limitations, workforce retention among youth due to financial constraints, and bureaucratic hurdles in accessing government contracts. OGV aims to install 1,000 solar dryers and support 10,000 farmers within the next five years.

The document details the journey of Desmond, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who founded Complete Farmer in 2017 to bridge the gap between traditional farming and modern technology. The startup addresses inefficiencies in the agricultural value chain by connecting smallholder farmers with global buyers, utilizing a model inspired by Alibaba. Key challenges identified include poor infrastructure—such as road networks and storage—and a lack of local technical talent and seed funding. To mitigate these, the company established 10 fulfillment centres (six owned) to reduce post-harvest losses and implemented youth-focused recruitment and training programmes. The COVID-19 pandemic served as a turning point in 2020, increasing demand for the platform's marketplace model. While the company has seen success through international investment and incubators like MEST, it faces scaling limitations due to insufficient capital and regional infrastructure gaps.

The document addresses the significant underfunding of climate-smart agrifood systems, which contribute approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It argues that while public and private capital have roles, concessional capital is essential for the 'missing middle'—investments with high social and environmental impact but sub-commercial returns. The playbook proposes five 'investment plays': deploying system-level approaches, supporting natural capital restoration, strengthening shared infrastructure, expanding technical assistance for innovation, and scaling local financial intermediaries. It includes a four-step framework for investor action: diagnosing the landscape, identifying financing gaps, designing instruments, and integrating partnerships.

Global climate finance for agrifood systems reached USD 94.9 billion in 2021/22, representing 7.2% of total global climate finance. While flows have increased since 2019/20, the report finds that investment is critically misaligned, with a massive funding gap of USD 1.1 trillion annually required through 2030 to align the sector with climate goals. Growth is heavily concentrated in domestic public investment in China and Europe, while private capital remains largely absent in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. Mitigation finance is dominated by energy-related projects like agrivoltaics, while adaptation finance remains heavily reliant on public grants. The report calls for a strategic mix of financial instruments and policy reforms to unlock capital for high-impact solutions such as soil carbon management and nature-based solutions.

The document argues that while African governments have set ambitious adaptation targets, governance and financial constraints hinder the effectiveness of these efforts. It advocates for locally led adaptation (LLA) as a participatory strategy to ensure resilience is context-specific and inclusive. Key barriers identified include a disconnect between national policies and local needs, limited direct access to climate finance for local actors, and weak monitoring systems. The brief recommends integrating Indigenous knowledge, devolving decision-making, and expanding decentralized finance to empower local communities.

Malawi is leveraging carbon markets to attract climate finance, protect ecosystems, and support its 2063 Vision. While the country has historically faced transparency issues and a lack of regulation, the government is now implementing a Carbon Trading Regulatory Framework and the Malawi Carbon Markets Initiative to oversee trade and ensure benefit-sharing. The Kulera Landscape REDD+ Program serves as a model for integrating local communities as partners rather than just beneficiaries. However, significant barriers remain, including technical capacity gaps in government, limited finance for smallholder farmers, and gender inequality in leadership.

The document highlights the effectiveness of community-based organisations (CBOs) in implementing sustainable agricultural practices through local trust and social proofing. It uses the example of Itanya Africa Group's vertical garden project to show how leveraging community influencers can overcome resistance to new methods. However, it notes that CBOs face a significant funding gap as major institutions often prefer larger NGOs, which limits the scale and speed of local interventions. The text calls for prioritising financial support for CBOs to scale models for food security and regenerative agriculture.

The document examines the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy in the tropics, focusing on the institutional, business, and technological environments of specific bioresources in Thailand, Kenya, and Colombia. It highlights a systemic gap where public policies prioritize economic growth and productivity over environmental and social sustainability, particularly for smallholder farmers. While Thailand leads in high-value bioproducts like bioplastics from cassava, it faces challenges with soil degradation and labor shortages. In contrast, Kenya and Colombia primarily use cassava for food security, with nascent industrial sectors. The paper also explores non-timber forest products (NTFPs), such as croton in Kenya and açaí in Colombia, noting that while they offer high value and conservation potential, they are hindered by complex regulatory permits and a lack of scaled investment. The authors recommend shifting from monocultures to sustainable production systems, strengthening smallholder cooperatives, and streamlining biodiversity regulations to ensure an inclusive and ecologically sound bioeconomy.

The project targets six priority value chains (dairy, poultry, coffee, tea, fruit trees, and African leafy vegetables) in the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) of Kenya. It aims to reach 572,000 direct beneficiaries, primarily smallholder farmers, by improving public agro-climate services, implementing sustainable landscape management, and deploying climate-resilient technologies. The initiative leverages the cooperative movement to facilitate risk-sharing and technology upscale, while partnering with financial institutions like Kenya Commercial Bank to provide accessible credit. The project expects to reduce GHG emissions by 4,268,492 tCO2eq over 20 years and restore or manage 30,540 hectares of land.

The RE-GAIN programme is a 5-year initiative designed to strengthen food security and climate resilience in seven African countries by scaling the adoption of Food Loss-Reduction Solutions (FL-RS). The programme addresses climate hazards—such as extreme heat, erratic rainfall, and flooding—that cause grain shattering, rotting, and mycotoxin contamination. It employs a three-pronged strategy: increasing farmer demand through awareness and training, enhancing supply and affordability via MSME business development and innovative financial models (including 'smart-subsidies'), and creating an enabling environment through policy reform. The project targets 2.63 million direct beneficiaries and expects to reduce GHG emissions by 111,275 tCO2e over 10 years.

In Chamwino, Tanzania, the transition from diesel-powered to solar-powered water pumps for the AMCOS farming cooperative led to significant increases in mango yields and farmer incomes. Between 2021 and 2022, average production rose from 40 to 97 fruits per tree, with those using drip irrigation exceeding 120 fruits. Monthly incomes nearly doubled from TZS 150,00 to TZS 297,000. Despite these gains, the project faces limitations including clogged pipes, insufficient storage, and a lack of processing facilities. The document argues that scaling such renewable energy initiatives requires integrated policies for water management, improved agricultural training, and better market infrastructure.

The report assesses gender inequalities in Kenya's agricultural sector, specifically within the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB). It identifies systemic barriers for women, including limited land ownership, restricted access to finance, and a disproportionate domestic work burden, which exacerbate their vulnerability to climate change. The assessment analyzes six priority value chains—coffee, tea, fruit trees, African leafy vegetables, poultry, and dairy—finding that while women provide the majority of labor, they are often excluded from leadership and financial control, particularly in 'masculinized' cash crops. To address this, the project proposes a Gender Action Plan using Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA) and Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) to shift deep-rooted socio-cultural norms and improve the representation and agency of marginalized groups in agricultural cooperatives.

The document examines the EECCLiRe project's efforts to implement ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) among coffee farmers in Ruteng and Bajawa, Flores. It identifies significant climate disruptions, including unpredictable rainfall and extreme events like a 2017 drought and 2020 storm, which have pushed some farmers toward horticulture. The brief highlights the tension between scientific methods—such as tree rejuvenation—and spiritual beliefs, as well as barriers like poor digital infrastructure for weather alerts and the loss of agricultural labor due to youth migration. It argues for a holistic EbA approach that combines traditional ecological insights with modern science and addresses gender and generational dynamics to avoid maladaptation.

The research applies a driver-response model to two watersheds in the Arizona-Sonora borderlands to analyze social-ecological interactions. In the Río Magdalena, smallholder agriculture employs low-impact adaptive strategies. In Ambos Nogales, urban growth and infrastructure-based solutions, such as inter-basin water transfers, dominate, while wastewater flows and climate change present ongoing challenges. The study argues that cross-border collaboration is essential for adaptation in these mutually conditioned systems.

The research examines how colonial legacies and neoliberal restructuring have created a 'disabling environment' for Jamaican coffee smallholders, characterized by low farm gate prices and limited support. It argues that climate change exacerbates these structural injustices, as industry leaders prioritize profit and privilege over the adaptation needs of farmers, leading to asymmetrical power structures that stifle smallholder agency.

The document reports on interviews with 1,500 farmers in ten African mountain regions, identifying increased temperatures, reduced fog, and erratic rainfall as primary climatic changes. These changes have led to lower yields for maize, cassava, and coffee, as well as reduced milk production and increased soil erosion. Farmers are adapting through on-farm strategies like changing planting dates and adopting new crop varieties, though wealth and conflict significantly influence the capacity to adapt. The brief recommends improving access to credit and markets, enhancing knowledge exchange, and accounting for the impacts of violent conflict in adaptation planning.