From Risk to Resilience: How Strategic Government Partnerships Can Enhance Access to Insurance-Linked Credit for Smallholders in Zambia

by Martina Mascarenhas, Anne G. Timu, Liangzhi You

Smallholder farmers across the globe produce over a third of the world’s food supply, yet they receive a disproportionately small share of global climate finance. A 2020 report released by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) shows that less than 2% of international climate finance, amounting to approximately $2 billion was allocated to smallholder farmers in 2017/2018. The financing gap is particularly alarming given that an estimated 500 million smallholder households are vulnerable to climate-related risks; rising temperatures, extreme heat, and higher rainfall volatility are negatively impacting crop production and livelihoods, while drought is becoming an increasingly damaging and widespread problem.

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