Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help small-scale farmers in low-income countries access the funding pledged during COP26.

The UK Government remains committed to doubling our International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion between 2021/22 and 2025/26. This includes programmes specifically designed to help smallholder farmers in the most climate vulnerable countries access funding to adopt sustainable and resilient agricultural practices. For example, the £65 million Just Rural Transition Support Programme, announced at COP26 will support developing countries to design and implement approaches that help their farmers build resilience and drive investment into more sustainable methods of agriculture through repurposing agricultural policies and support. This programme will also include support to ensure that farmers, including smallholders, are involved in policy-making processes, for example through consultations, trials and pilot programmes for new technologies and approaches. We are also supporting the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness programme to work with producer organisations and agri-businesses in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to increase sourcing of agri-food products from smallholder farmers and to help farmers adopt climate-smart and productivity-enhancing agriculture technologies.

As well as supporting developing countries through UK Aid funded programmes we, together with the World Bank, convene a Policy Dialogue on Accelerating Transition to Sustainable Agriculture through redirecting public policies and support and scaling innovation. This has brought more than 30 countries together from across the globe to share evidence and experience and collectively raise ambition.