Shamba Centre for Food & Climate

🗣️ Hoogeveen Hans, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United Nations Organisations for Food and Agriculture, makes an essential point: we need a transformative change in the financing of our food systems. What’s holding us back? Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are eager to take on more risk and provide more favorable, long-term commercial financing. This was revealed by the DFIs participating in our joint enquiry with the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development on sustainable finance.  📑 Find more insights on page 39.  https://lnkd.in/eZJSy3st 📺 Hans Hoogeveen’s remarks were made during the side event webinar on innovative donor approaches to sustainable finance part of the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2): https://lnkd.in/eFyC6mqK Netherlands FAO Centre for Sustainable Finance (CISL) Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN) Finance Financial Times SIX Financial Information Maurizio Navarra International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Songbae Lee #SustainableFinance #UNFSS #financing

The #Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is a historic agreement that seeks to restore nature and halt species extinction. Its four overarching goals focus on ecosystem and species health, the sustainable use of biodiversity, equitable sharing of benefits, and biodiversity implementation and sufficient financing. Discussions currently underway at the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (#COP16) include a review of the implementation of the national targets set in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Countries are expected to present their strategies and actions plan. What should those national action plans include? At the Shamba Centre, we believe that these plans must integrate agriculture. Biodiversity underpins agriculture, sustaining productivity, resilience, and long-term viability. It is not only a component of agriculture its foundation, directly influencing the health and sustainability of cropping systems. How does biodiversity support agriculture? ➡️ Genetic diversity and variability allows crops to adapt to environmental stresses such as pests, diseases, and changing climate conditions. ➡️ Providing critical ecosystem services such pollination by insects, nutrient cycling by microorganisms, soil formation as that are fundamental to corp growth. Biodiverse agricultural systems are inherently more resilient to environmental shocks and recover more quickly. 💡 Therefore, national biodiversity plans should highlight the integration of agriculture with biodiversity conservation, creating synergies between productive farming systems and long-term environmental goals. Read more: https://lnkd.in/etkk-GaE

💵 Every dollar of concessional finance can mobilise four dollars of commercial finance. 💰 However, whether those four dollars deliver a sustainable development impact will determine if blended finance can bring both financial and development additionality.    Iris Krebber, former Head of Agriculture, Food Security, Land at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and now Head of the FCDO Services’s Civilian Stabilisation Group Operations, is right.   In order to make sure that blended finance delivers on its promises, we need to clearly define the objectives from the start and ensure that everyone has the same understanding of those objectives. To continue experimenting with blended financing, the Shamba Centre and Global Donor Platform for Rural Development Technical note calls on donors and the wider blended finance community to expand the pool of blended finance.  📑 Read our Technical Note https://lnkd.in/eZJSy3st    📺 Iris Krebber’s remarks were made during the side event webinar on innovative donor approaches to sustainable finance part of the United Nations Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2): https://lnkd.in/eFyC6mqK #SovereignWealthFunds #SDG2 #BlendedFinance #UNFSS https://lnkd.in/ehDWr5Sd

The extreme concentration of agrifood markets is driving up food insecurity and poverty in Africa. During #acer2024, the Shamba Centre's Carin Smaller and Chilufya Sampa spoke on a panel discussion alongside Ninette Kaari Mwarania, MKIM from the Competition Authority of Kenya, Simon Roberts from Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) and Lloyds Nkhoma from the Competition and Fair Trading Commission in Malawi. Ongoing research by the Shamba Centre and CCRED show that, while competition regulators are reviewing mergers, more effective cross-border oversight and enforcement is needed. However, regional authorities rely on national competition authorities for market data. This means that robust authorities are needed at both the national and regional levels. 👿 Without effective oversight, mergers can have a detrimental impact. The high price of fertilizer is due to a merger which has limited the number of suppliers and is negatively impacting farmers. 📈 According to the latest AMO Price Tracker, the price of fertilizer is USD 1061 in Malawi (per metric tonne) compared with a world price that is under USD 400. This will inevitably impact harvests next year. (See https://lnkd.in/etXepssz) Moving forward, how can countries strengthen their competition regimes? ➡️ Cluster competition authorities by enforcement capacity and ensure the right level of support based on their priority needs.  ➡️ Harmonize sectors of interest – which means that we must focus on agrifood markets ➡️ Invest in data, research and prices monitoring so that markets can be better understood and patterns detected ➡️ Collaborate and share knowledge between relevant stakeholders Heike Fickel Peris Kahure Reena Das Nair Arthur Mahuma Thembalethu Buthelezi

🗣️ "Innovative financing instruments are essential, tailored to each country's ability to access financial flows to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms." Maximo Torero from FAO just highlighted in his presentation of the #SOFI2024 report at #CFS52. 🚨 Food and nutrition are largely financed by public money and financial risks associated with food production are considered to be very high. Solutions to bring in more private financing require clever thinking on sharing risks, supply chain financing, lending to producers who work in local currencies and supply domestic markets, and increasing the appetite of domestic lenders to venture into agrifood and nutrition markets.  💡 These are our 5️⃣ innovative ideas to finance food security and nutrition. ⬇️ #BlendedFinance #Financing #PrivateSector Carin Smaller Oshani Perera Francine Picard Mali Eber Rose Kamal El Harty Lysiane L. Global Donor Platform for Rural Development Songbae Lee Iris Krebber Christopher Wayne Hamid Hamirani Hoogeveen Hans https://lnkd.in/eFZdUi49

How much will it cost to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030? This is the key question governments, donors and policy makers have been asking since 2015 when they committed to achieve #SDG2 Zero Hunger by 2030. On #WorldFoodDay, as the global community recognises the right to food for a better life and a better future, the question remains more relevant than ever. Unfortunately, the answer is not simple. The Shamba Centre reviewed 8 reports published between 2015-2024 and found that the cost estimates range from a total of USD 86 billion to USD 4 trillion. This huge difference creates confusion and serves as an obstacle to effective action. How can we narrow the cost estimate gap? ▶️ Standardise use of data sources ▶️ Align baseline projections ▶️ Apply most relevant models ▶️ Resolve glaring contradictions Read our full review: https://lnkd.in/e3YYzyiD

This week, the Shamba Centre for Food & Climate is in Nairobi for #ACER2024. Together with Simon Roberts, Chilufya Sampa is teaching a masterclass on the harms of cartels and collusion. Collusion is when firms set prices higher than some competitive benchmark through an understanding not to compete. They can also reach agreement on other issues that ultimately impact price, such as market share, customer allocation, bid rigging. By colluding, firms are able to raise prices above competitive levels to increase profits. For example, cartels mark-ups are typically around 15%-25%. And we know that collusion is a problem in Africa where consumers pay higher food prices than in other developing countries. And cartels in fertilizer and poultry have increased prices by 50%, if not more. This contributes to the extreme concentration of agrifood markets in Africa, driving up food insecurity and poverty, and harming small producers, informal businesses, and consumers. What should we do? ⏩ Build the technical and legal capacity of competition authorities in Africa to effectively enforce competition laws and policies. ⏩ Invest in more data, research, and analysis ⏩ Understand that competition is essential in agrifood markets Find out more in our Nairobi Action Plan published with Competition Authority of Kenya: https://lnkd.in/dhAVcS2Y Ninette Kaari Mwarania, MKIM Heike Fickel Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) Peris Kahure Carin Smaller Reena Das Nair Arthur Mahuma Namhla Landani Grace Nsomba Mugambi Mutegi, MPRSK

As part of the Shamba Centre's participation at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, our Co-founder and Director of Programmes, Oshani Perera, officially presented the concept of outcome payments for sustainability. Outcome payments execute transactions that work on two fronts: payments are made to producers for the realisation of outcomes; buyers pay for these outcomes upon measurement and verification against pre-defined baselines. It offers additionality, compensating for multiple outcomes (co-benefits), such as environmental (soil health, biodiversity), social (food security, gender) and economic (income, employment), that may not have otherwise been pursued. Together with Quantified Ventures, the Shamba Centre is exploring opportunities to design outcome payments in developing countries with preliminary projects in Africa and Asia.  Tee (Terisa) Thomas Lysiane L. Kamal El Harty Vincent Gruson

The Shamba Centre is pleased to join #ACER2024 next week in Nairobi! Our Executive Director, Carin Smaller, and Special Advisor on Competition Policy and Law, Chilufya Sampa, will participate in a panel discussion examining competition and regional integration in agrifood markets. Panelists will discuss the Nairobi Action Plan (https://lnkd.in/dhAVcS2Y) and the International Competition Network's Special Project on agriculture and food (see https://lnkd.in/dUPUuGmr). Simon Roberts Ninette Kaari Mwarania, MKIM Heike Fickel Competition Authority of Kenya The Competition Commission South Africa COMESA Competition Commission

Governments worldwide allocate over 850 billion US dollars annually to agricultural support. However, much of this support promotes unsustainable practices, exacerbates inequalities, and negatively impacts the environment and human health. Could the re-alignment of public subsidies encourage environmentally-friendly and socially beneficial practices? How can repurposing agricultural support lead to more sustainablefood system? This is the topic of the discussion that the Shamba Centre's Co-founder and Director of Programmes, Oshani Perera, will moderate during the Hamburg Sustainability Conference taking place this week. Invited speakers include Jochen Flasbarth from Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Dr Donal Brown, MRCVS, CBE from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Estrella Penunia Banzuela from the Asian Farmers' Association, Sergiy Zorya and Shobha Shetty from The World Bank, Lina Gandløse Hansen from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Denmark and Henry Msatilomo from the Ministry of Agriculture in Malawi. As part of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, Oshani will also present a new idea on blended financing for outcome payments. She will be joined by the Shamba Centre's Co-founder and Director of Partnerships, Francine Picard, who is attending the conference on behalf of the Zero Hunger Coalition The Hamburg Sustainability Conference, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), UNDP, Michael Otto Foundation for Sustainability and the City of Hamburg, brings together approximately 1600 participants from 102 countries for more than 60 sessions to discuss concrete initiatives to accelerate the implementation of the #SDGs. https://lnkd.in/eV9rukBd