Gates Foundation pledges Ksh.180.8 billion to help farmers adapt to extreme weather

Speaking ahead of next week's COP30 climate summit in Brazil, Mark Suzman, head of the Gates Foundation, said the funding would go toward innovations like mapping soil health and biofertilisers that use microorganisms rather than chemicals to promote plant growth.

Gates called last week for a pivot in climate strategy, away from focusing on emissions targets and toward helping the poor, who are increasingly bearing the brunt of erratic weather and other climate extremes.

"These are the people who have contributed such a minimal fraction to the greenhouse gas emission that is causing climate change, but they are the most affected because those climate impacts actually hit them in terms of their ability to feed themselves and their families," Suzman told Reuters in an interview before the funding was announced.

Noting that climate-fuelled weather extremes are posing an increasing threat to crop yields and food security, the United Nations has urged more protection for agriculture as global warming intensifies.

A report by more than 20 organizations including consultants Systemiq found that crop resilience was one of the most impactful areas of investment. The report, released on Tuesday, said there was a widespread need for climate-resilient crop varieties, improved weather forecasts and innovations such as AI-enabled mapping and guidance.

FARMING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FUTURE

The International Potato Center, one of the organizations to previously benefit from Gates Foundation funding, unveiled on Thursday a newly cultivated variety of potato that is resistant to blight, a disease that is spreading to higher altitudes as global temperatures rise.

"This new potato was developed in Peru by identifying wild potatoes with resistance to the disease and incorporating this resistance into cultivated varieties," said one of the company's researchers, Thiago Mendes.