World Bank Leader Reveals Ag’s Biggest Bang for the Buck

“Clearly the biggest bang for the public buck is investing in ag research and innovation.”

In an interview with The Point Cloud, Martien van Nieuwkoop, Global Director for the Agriculture and Food Global Practice at the World Bank, underscored the critical need for increased investment in agricultural research and innovation. Van Nieuwkoop was attending the AIM for Climate Summit in Washington, DC alongside agriculture officials from governments around the world.

The Point Cloud is Agerpoint’s interview series featuring leaders at the intersection of climate, agriculture, nature, and technology. Watch and read highlights from the conversation below. You can also hear to the full interview as an audio podcast on your favorite platforms.

Opportunity and Underinvestment

Van Nieuwkoop highlighted the potential returns, ranging between 30% and 40%, that agriculture research and innovation investments can offer. However, he expressed concern over the inadequate allocation of resources by governments, with most countries falling well below the benchmark of 1% of agriculture GDP.

The glaring underinvestment becomes even more striking in regions like the Middle East and North Africa, which face heightened vulnerability to climate change impacts. Despite being among the most at-risk regions, they allocate the least amount of resources towards agricultural research and innovation.

Van Nieuwkoop's call to action emphasizes the imperative for governments to prioritize and boost funding in this sector, enabling the development of climate-resilient agricultural systems in the face of global challenges.

Climate Change and Climate Finance

“Climate change is real for smallholder farmers,” says van Nieuwkoop. “The 500 million smallholder farmers in this world - based on the latest data that there is out there, agriculture productivity would have been 21% higher in the absence of climate change.”

Van Nieuwkoop also highlighted a gap between the industry’s contribution to climate change and the amount of climate financing it receives. “Agriculture and foods, contributing to 33% of the greenhouse gas emissions, only receive about 4 or 5% of climate financing.”

Another data point to ponder: while governments are providing agriculture “about $700 billion per year, only 35 cents of every dollar actually ends up effectively in the hands of farmers and contributing to increased productivity. So it’s very, very ineffective.”

Van Nieuwkoop hopes “that $700 billion, that now is part of the climate problem in agriculture and food, can actually become part of the solutions.”

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