Mobilising financing for agricultural technologies: seeding a climate resilient and food-secure future

Over the last 100 years, agriculture has scaled up like never before to feed the world’s growing population. This growth comes with an increase of climate risks and stressors that can adversely impact food production and security. From altered weather patterns to soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and an increase in pests and diseases, agricultural technology has never been more critical, providing huge opportunities to mitigate climate vulnerabilities, enhance productivity, secure food, build resilient farming systems, and revolutionise the agricultural world.

However, financing for such technologies in the developing world falls short. Up to USD 300 billion per year by 2030 is estimated for developing countries to adapt to climate change. And adaptation receives only 5 per cent of all climate finance – with less than USD 500 million of private investment.

As the first private sector investment fund for adaptation, CRAFT mobilises capital to scale up technologies for climate resilience and adaptation and applies them in developing countries using a south-south technology transfer mechanism.

GCF’s commitment of up to USD 100 million in catalytic capital to CRAFT allows the programme to scale up adaptation finance and accelerate development, application and transfer of private sector technologies in climate adaptation and resilience. Implemented with Pegasus Capital Advisors, CRAFT supports investment in six technologies (agricultural analytics, water harvesting and irrigation, food systems, geospatial mapping and imaging, catastrophe risk modeling, supply chain analytics) in six countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

“I believe that agriculture needs disruptive technology that works on the frontier. Agriculture needs to change.”

One such company to benefit from CRAFT is Solinftec, a Brazil-based agricultural technology company that has developed a suite of technology products for monitoring and optimising farm operations to reduce costs, emissions, and environmental impacts, and for improving agricultural yields and farmer resilience.

The Solinftec platform uses data to drive decision-making in real time, helping farmers become more responsive and adaptive to changing weather and climate conditions. Acting as an agronomist and an applicator in the field, it continuously monitors the field, tracking and understanding what is happening at a plant-by-plant level day after day. This granular level detection allows different insights to be obtained such as stand count (the precise number of plants in a specific area), crop stage, weed pressure, early disease detection, and the identification and mitigation of insects and pests. The technology protects crops, provides ideal conditions to grow the highest yields possible, and protects the environment.

“One of the main challenges that AI technology can help with in terms of insect pest management is locating insect infestations. Not just the location of them, but the severity of them. That frees farmers up to not have to go out and scout.”

The robot known as ‘Solix AG’ is autonomous and sustainable, powered by solar energy. The robot lives in the field, constantly learning and adapting, using artificial intelligence to monitor and care for every piece of the crop every day, like a guardian. It provides a complete agronomic field analysis, early-stage weed control, up to 95 per cent reduction in herbicide application, reduced soil compaction and carbon footprint, productivity increase, and low-impact and high-productivity agriculture.

These solutions guide planting, spraying, and harvesting decisions, which can help farmers monitor yields, manage fuel and agricultural inputs application, and other key activities. This has resulted in improved productivity and significant cost-savings of up to 15 per cent to farmers through reductions in water, fuel, fertilizer, and seed costs.

Solinftec also helps farmers reduce their emissions, primarily through fuel reductions and reduced application of ammonia-based fertilizer and of crop protection chemicals. On average, in 2022, customers reduced their fuel consumption by 15.4 per cent. It has been estimated that 385,114 tCO2e of emissions have been avoided since GCF’s investment in Solinftec through the programme.

By Zeenia Dastur