As climate risks intensify, smallholder farmers call for direct access to finance

During a press conference titled "World's smallholders call for finance action amid El Niño threat", Esther Penunia (Secretary General, Asian Farmers Association), Stephen Muchiri, CEO (East Africa Farmers Federation) and Thomas Patriota (Head of International Affairs, Ministry of Development and Family Farming, Brazil) highlighted the growing challenges facing family farmers as climate impacts intensify and input costs remain volatile.

With concerns mounting over the effects of El Niño on rainfall patterns and agricultural production, they stressed that climate finance must reach smallholder farmers and their organizations more effectively if countries are to build resilient food systems and achieve their climate goals.

Yet the farmers most exposed to these risks remain among the least supported, with only a small share of climate finance reaching smallholder farmers and their organizations directly.

Feeding the world while facing mounting climate risks

Family farmers are experiencing firsthand the impacts of climate change. Speaking at the event, farmer leaders described how communities across Asia and Africa are already confronting the consequences of climate variability and rising production costs. Concerns are growing in both regions about the impacts of El Niño on rainfall patterns and floods, leading to increasing damages on crops, fisheries, livestock and critical infrastructure.

These challenges are not only local concerns. Family farmers produce more than half of the world's food calories - including commodities coffee, cocoa and rice that are consumed around the world – and sustain livelihoods across rural communities globally. When climate shocks affect farming communities, the impacts can reverberate far beyond rural landscapes, influencing food prices, markets and food security globally.

Farmer-led solutions already exist

Across regions, farmers and producer organizations are advancing agroecological and nature-positive approaches that strengthen resilience while supporting biodiversity, healthy soils and sustainable livelihoods. These approaches can reduce dependence on costly external inputs, improve soil health, enhance water retention and increase resilience to climate extremes.

For more than a decade, IUCN has worked alongside forest and farm producer organizations through initiatives such as the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), supporting locally led solutions that strengthen livelihoods, restore landscapes and build resilience to climate change.

This experience has consistently demonstrated that farmer organizations are often best placed to identify the best local climate resilience and landscape restoration solutions, and scale them in their communities.

The missing ingredient: finance that reaches farmers

Recognition of the importance of food systems and agriculture to reduce impact and increase resilience to climate change is growing. However, only 0.36% of international climate finance for adaptation reaches smallholder farmers and their organizations directly.

To address this gap, members of the Family Farmers for Climate Action alliance called for the creation of a Farmers' Resiliency and Empowerment Fund. The proposed mechanism seeks to channel finance more directly to farmer organizations, cooperatives and producer associations, helping overcome barriers that often prevent local actors from accessing international funding.

Putting farmers at the centre of climate action

As countries prepare for the next phase of global climate negotiations and implementation of climate commitments, ensuring that finance reaches those on the frontlines of climate change will be essential.

The message emerging from Bonn was clear: smallholder farmers are not simply beneficiaries of climate action. They are partners in delivering it.

As climate impacts continue to intensify, supporting family farmers is not only a matter of equity. It is an investment in global food security, resilient landscapes and a more sustainable future for all.