(Bloomberg) — The United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development and partner organizations will provide $2 billion in finance to boost food security in Egypt as part of the North African country’s drive to increase investment in food, water and energy.
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The contribution will be channeled to the Egyptian government through loans until 2030 and will be part of the Nexus of Water, Food and Energy. NWFE is a program designed to accelerate the achievement of Egypt’s climate goals that will be announced at the COP27 international climate conference next month, IFAD said in a response to queries. The funding will be targeted at small-scale, rural farmers.
IFAD will lead coordination of the food part of the program while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will head up the energy part of the program. The African Development Bank will oversee water investments.
The NWFE program comes as Africa, which has contributed little to climate change in the form of emissions, struggles with extreme weather from rising seas, cyclones and more frequent droughts and floods. These threaten the food security of countries across the continent.
The money is for “production, food storage and food transportation,” Alvario Lario, IFAD’s president, said in an interview last week, adding to “link markets with smallholder” farmers.
Small-scale farmers receive 1.7% of global climate finance while producing one-third of the world’s food and a livelihood for more than 3 billion people, according to IFAD.
Climate change is slashing crop yields, prompting the need for drought-resistant seeds, better irrigation systems and weather forecasting systems to help farmers plan ahead.
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