Bonn –  At COP 23 the German government announced that it is pledging €20 million in climate finance to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to help smallholder farmers in developing countries deal with the impacts of climate change and improve their food security.

“With this financial pledge from the Federal Republic of Germany, IFAD will be able to channel additional resources to those who need it most,” said IFAD Associate-Vice President, Périn Saint Ange.

“These funds will not only help in our efforts to adapt smallholder agriculture to climate change but they will have additional benefits related to other important cross-cutting issues like gender equality, youth unemployment and nutrition security,” added Saint Ange.

Building on the success of IFAD's Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), IFAD is now working to integrate climate change adaptation across its operations. These efforts will go a long way to helping the world's small farmers, who generate up to 80 per cent of the food produced in many developing countries, access the information, the inputs and the technologies they need to face the increasing risks to their lives and livelihoods posed by climate change.

“We are very pleased to give this financing to IFAD to allow them to build on the fantastic work they’ve done in their Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme,” said Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary to Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Germany and IFAD share a strong commitment to ensuring the resilience and prosperity of rural communities, where three-quarters of the world's poorest people live.

Germany is a founding member of IFAD and remains one of its largest donors.