Doha: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) have entered into a new strategic partnership that will invest in climate-adaptive agricultural tools and technologies to build resilient food systems and markets across the African continent.
Announced at the 2022 Doha Forum, the partnership ‘Nanmo’ (growing together) will see the two parties jointly pledge up to $200 million towards agriculture, climate resilience, and economic development projects to support smallholder farmers on drylands.
These farmers are bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change and this partnership will aim to strengthen economies in sub-Saharan Africa in four key areas: equity as a primary driver of inclusive growth; enterprise as a means of job creation and poverty alleviation; agriculture as a primary source of food, jobs, and income; and access to technologies, financial tools, and emerging best practices as a driver of productivity, nutrition, and climate adaptation.
The partnership will also seek to ensure that women small-scale producers can positively contribute to, and benefit from, decisions about how their communities grow food and create jobs.
“Hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, are already seeing their livelihoods threatened by higher temperatures and changing weather patterns,” said Bill Gates.
“We’re building on our longstanding collaboration with QFFD to help these farmers adapt. Together, we can prevent millions of people from falling into poverty and hunger due to climate change and increase agricultural yields to jumpstart equitable economic growth where it’s most needed.”
The strategic partnership was announced by Gates and Khalifa Al Kuwari, Director General of QFFD.
One of the first projects funded by Nanmo will focus on improving the livelihoods of low-income women farmers in a number of African countries, working with the World Poultry Foundation to provide them with improved breeds of chicken for egg and meat production.
Khalifa Al Kuwari said: “We are thrilled to be announcing a new initiative in collaboration with our strategic partner, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, titled Nanmo, which aims at ensuring that sustainable development goals are met everywhere.”
“A thriving agriculture sector generates economic growth, but that growth doesn’t automatically benefit everyone equally,” said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. “Nanmo isn’t just about protecting agriculture against climate change. It’s also about making sure that smallholder farmers, including millions of women, can lift themselves out of poverty and invest in a better future for their families and their communities.”
The Gates Foundation has spent over $5 billion since 2009 on advancing agricultural development to support the needs of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
