Rice farmers across Asia will get help adapting to climate change through a new partnership between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and CGIAR, according to an official news release from the Asian Development Bank. CGIAR, short for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, announced the мinitiative today alongside the Gates Foundation to support millions of smallholder farmers.
More than half of Asia eats rice every day, and millions of families depend on growing it for their income. But rice farming faces serious problems. Harvests are getting smaller, water is running out, and rice production creates a lot of greenhouse gases. These challenges put both food supplies and farmer livelihoods at risk.
The partnership creates the ADB–CGIAR Clearinghouse Facility, funded partly by the Gates Foundation. It will help farmers grow more rice using less water and producing fewer emissions. The program also focuses on building better supply chains and nutrition. “Rice is essential to food security in Asia, supplying over a quarter of the region’s calorie intake,” said Fatima Yasmin, ADB’s Vice-President for Sectors and Themes. She pointed out that extreme weather and environmental damage now threaten hundreds of millions of farmers.
ADB will put up to $1.5 billion into this work between 2025 and 2030. That money is part of a bigger $40 billion promise ADB made in May to change food systems by 2030. The first projects will happen in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
Yvonne Pinto runs the International Rice Research Institute, which belongs to CGIAR. She thinks working with ADB and the Gates Foundation can “transform the lives of millions of smallholder farmers now and in the future.” The program aims to help farmers deal with climate change while keeping rice affordable for everyone who depends on it.
