Harness agrifood value chains to help farmers be climate smart

At the 2023 United Nations climate conference (COP28), the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action marked the first official resolution at a climate COP to explicitly recognize the importance of agrifood systems in climate change. More than 160 countries have signed this Declaration, vowing to prioritize agriculture and food systems in their national climate plans. But there remains considerable pessimism about the capacity of global agriculture—consisting mainly of millions of small and mediumsized farms worldwide—to deal with the climate challenge (1). This pessimism needs to be challenged. Although agriculture is indeed fragmented, there is a relationship between the characteristics and actions of agricultural value chains (AVCs) in regard to farmers, and farmers’ own incentives and capacities to become “climate smart.” AVC structures and incentives provide opportunities to address problems in accessing technologies, introducing management change, and accessing financial resources for investments.