The report sheds light on the pressing need and opportunities for private investment in climate adaptation within the agriculture sectors of emerging markets.
The report underscores that both mitigation and adaptation financing is necessary to help smallholder farmers (SHFs) adapt to climate change. However there are many challenges associated with investing in adaptation such as diverse fundings needs, the lack of a standardized definition of adaptation, and context specificity.
Concessional finance and government support are often needed to supplement adaptation funding from private sector actors. The report highlights that blended finance is an important investment strategy to support climate adaptation for private SHFs investors.
Tech investors -- predominantly venture capital, private equity and impact funds – have provided over $5.7 billion of funding to work on adaptation tools and services for smallholder farmers in emerging markets since 2012.
Digital tools and platforms, including agribusiness marketplaces and farm management services, are among the most invested categories while Southeast Asia is the most active region for investment in smallholder-relevant adaptation tech, bringing in $1.9 billion since 2012.
