04/08/2025
"We have perfected the financing of human wants while failing to fund the most basic of human needs"
The UN’s FSS+4 (Food Security & Sustainability) Stocktake took place in Addis Ababa last week. Among the points highlighted, as Amina Mohammed launched the Food Security and Nutrition report, was the vulnerability of so many women farmers in the global south who stand one bad harvest away from hunger, not just for themselves but also for their family and often the wider community who rely on them for food or a meagre wage.
Said the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN: “Farmers in the Global South pay far more for capital than their counterparts in developed nations. Meanwhile, women farmers face even steeper barriers despite producing the majority of the continent's food…. This crisis demands more than sympathy - it demands systematic change. It’s time for a fundamental shift in what we finance, how we finance it, and who controls access to those resources.”
There are pioneering inroads being made that deserve celebrating, for example the not-for-profit Humanity Insured has launched products that have already sustained 1.7 million people in climate-vulnerable communities, not including its latest pilot in collaboration with Frontier Markets which protects 10,000 women smallholder farmers in rural southern India in a landmark arrangement. But the scale of the investment is daunting and the model needs to be replicated quickly.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) echoed the need for support especially in the Global South: “If we want to transform global food systems, we must start with the rural people who feed one-third of the world from small plots,” said Alvaro Lario, IFAD President. “Investing in these small-scale food producers — especially women and youth — is the most direct path to building food systems that can feed the world, provide decent work, and protect our planet."
In today’s challenging global context—marked by slow growth, climate shocks, and multiple crises—the world’s 48 least developed countries, including 33 in Africa, face the greatest difficulty in mobilizing resources for food systems transformation. In response, IFAD is directing over half of its core resources to sub-Saharan Africa and 60 per cent to the continent.
To meet the challenge, IFAD is championing innovative financing solutions, including blended finance, new funding mechanisms, and stronger partnerships with governments, the private sector, and development organizations. These efforts aim to unlock greater investment in rural development and ensure that financial flows reach those who need them most.
The full report can be accessed here
We bring life-saving relief in emergencies and use food assistance to build peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
