The $7 billion (€6.4 billion) pledged to transform global food systems at the recent COP28 climate talks was a clear indication that governments and philanthropists understand the urgency of the climate crisis and its implications for food security.
The fund will go some way towards achieving the goals of the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action, which is supported by more than 159 countries.
It will also help close the investment gap in science and innovation to solve the complex dilemma of sustaining population without harming the planet.
But investing is only one piece of the puzzle. The role of seeds is largely overlooked in discussions about transforming food systems, and this is a serious oversight.
No agricultural input can be more effective in building climate resilience than the seed itself.
Seeds also need financing to develop
Often the biggest challenge is scaling up seed innovation and bringing it to millions of small farmers.
Therefore, delivering the necessary improvements in crop productivity by 2030 and beyond requires creative and collaborative partnerships that will leverage the best of both the public and private sectors and scale up existing initiatives.
The public and private sectors play complementary roles when it comes to developing cutting-edge climate-challenging crops and ensuring small farmers have access to these improved seeds.
In the first place, the implementation of agricultural innovation on a large scale certainly requires sustainable and significant financing, and this cannot be provided at the levels required by either the public or private sector.
Clearly, industry can mobilize additional financing – often more quickly – that will strengthen public investment by governments and development agencies.
Some estimates believe the private sector could close more than half of the $2.5 trillion (€2.29 trillion) annual funding gap needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including ending hunger.
The private seed sector, for example, invests $10 billion (€9.17 billion) annually in research and development for more than 80 crops.
Pooled investment could help accelerate end-to-end crop breeding programs to rapidly develop new varieties that can better combat high temperatures, water scarcity and new pest threats.
Increase in crop productivity is possible
Second, the public and private sectors offer different forms of expertise and knowledge that, when shared, can fill gaps in the innovation process to ensure that seeds are developed and adapted to suit the unique needs of farmers, especially in developing countries.
Publicly funded research, such as that conducted by CGIAR, plays a vital role in delivering science that serves global goals such as reducing food insecurity and poverty without the burden of commercial pressures.
The private seed sector, on the other hand, can complement and expand this work to ensure last-mile delivery by bringing these improved seeds to market and ensuring a stable supply.
Seed companies gather practical information through regular contact with farmers, retailers, traders and processors. This market intelligence is then translated into focused breeding targets to address specific climate-related challenges.
For example, vegetable growing is highly segmented, resulting in thousands of innovative tomato varieties on the market; This maximizes farmers’ chances of finding a variety that grows in their local conditions.
Given that one of the targets of the new road map prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a 2.3% increase in crop productivity in low-income countries by 2050, the global crop sector needs to work together to ensure sustainable concentration and markets. delivery.
We know this is possible. Despite the loss of 130 million hectares of arable land, yields of primary crops have increased globally by 50% in the last two decades. This is the kind of passion we reflected when we launched our newly signed partnership with CGIAR.
Finally, both the public and private sectors have valuable access to key actors, from national research institutes to seed associations, compounding the value that each offers independently.
Give the seed the place it deserves
The seed industry can unite the industry around pre-competitive issues to support long-term sustainability.
This is the aim of the recently launched Seed Resilience project in Rwanda, a signatory of the Emirates Declaration along with the non-profit Fair Planet.
Through trials of improved, certified crop varieties, the project aims to identify the best of the latest seeds to offer Rwandan farmers the best choice and chance of yield improvement despite the challenges of climate change.
Public and nonprofit partners will then provide training in good agricultural practices to optimize the benefits of using improved seeds.
The Seeds for Food Coalition, a public-private-civil partnership, is another initiative to mobilize action towards inclusive seed systems.
Transforming food systems around the world to ensure no one is left behind in the race to net zero requires sustainable financing but also requires all parties to embrace new ways of working.
The next climate talks are less than a year away. Until then, policymakers need to give seeds their rightful place in discussions about food systems transformation and climate action.
By collaborating more closely together, the public and private seed sector can unlock new, creative solutions that can actually achieve the goal of ending hunger against all odds.
Michael Keller serves as Secretary General of the International Seed Federation (ISF).
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