By Alice Ruhweza
On a road in Kenya’s Makueni County, a woman loads sacks of pigeon pea onto a motorbike. Her landscape is rehabilitated, soils restored, seeds climate-resilient, markets ready, and a weather alert on her phone shows when it will rain. Each element exists because financing, science, extension services and markets worked together. It shows what the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP30) can deliver if finance, infrastructure, inputs and knowledge reach smallholders simultaneously.
As the second week of COP 30 begins in Belém, delegates face multiple stark choices. In Africa, where three quarters of jobs are in agriculture and a single bad season can ripple through food prices, incomes and politics, the urgency is clear: climate action for smallholders is essential.
The Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and People-Centered Climate Action calls for urgent investment to support climate adaptation, eradicate hunger, and build climate-resilient food systems. Africa’s farmers are ready. With nearly USD 2.8 billion already announced for climate-smart agriculture, funding exists; what matters now is ensuring it reaches farmers through tangible interventions like healthy soils, timely seeds, and reliable market access.
Healthy soils underpin climate resilience. The African Union (AU)’s 10-year Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan provides a clear pathway to restore soils and lift yields if countries and financiers back science-driven agriculture, extension and input markets. Success should be measured in hectares restored, yield gains, and losses reduced, ensuring investment translates into concrete farm-level results.
Speeding up the time it takes seed from the lab to the local shop could transform African agriculture as powerfully as any new financing pledge. Across the continent, climate-smart and nutritious varieties already exist, yet too many are stuck behind slow release, certification, and distribution systems.
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)’s SeedSAT tool and other regional efforts show how to cut those delays and crowd in local enterprises so that a farmer can buy the right seed on time, close to home. At the Growing Innovations Showcase in the AgriZone at COP30, we’ve seen practical solutions, from climate-resilient seeds to digital advisory services, demonstrate that delivery innovations are achievable.
Equally critical is connecting farmers to markets and finance. Corridor approaches linking surplus zones to demand centres with storage, cold chains, harmonised rules, and value chain finance reduces waste and attract private capital. AGRA’s consortia approach, working with agro-dealer networks, anchor firms, and the Africa Corridor Initiative, strengthens input-output linkages, and gives smallholders visibility to buyers, builds trust and attracts investments. COP30 must ensure governments, donors, and financiers scale these proven approaches quickly.
Connecting farmers to real markets is equally critical. Corridor approaches linking surplus zones to demand centers, storage, cold chains, harmonized rules, and value chain finance reduce waste and attract private capital. AGRA’s consortia approach, working with agro-dealer networks, anchor firms, and the Africa Corridor Initiative, strengthen input-output linkages and give smallholders visibility to buyers and services, building trust and attracting investment. COP30 must line up governments, donors, and financiers to scale these proven approaches quickly.
Some argue we should wait for new funds, flawless data, or perfect safeguards before acting. Accountability matters, but progress cannot pause. We already have tools to target innovations and track progress. The AU Soil Plan provides a clear delivery framework, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Biennial Review offers mutual accountability, and the Emirates Declaration united over one hundred and thirty countries around a shared intent on food systems. Building on this, AGRA is scaling proven solutions across borders, coordinating innovation and finance for maximum impact. The sensible path is to use what exists, scale what works, fix what doesn’t, and spread proven methods. That is how public money attracts private capital and how farmers see real change within seasons, not decades.
So what should happen now?
Belém is not the place to rehearse promises. It is the place to fund delivery that puts smallholders first, especially women who carry much of the labour in our value chains. By acting decisively, we can make the scene on the Makueni road an everyday reality rather than the exception. If we stall, floods and droughts will continue to devastate communities and we will keep rehearsing grief.
The choice at COP30 is stark. Fund and scale tested methods that put smallholders first. African governments should also integrate climate action finance into their annual budgets. Or explain to our children why hunger rose in a decade of promises. If we get it right, smallholders can thrive when finance, delivery, and knowledge converge, and COP30 can be the turning point.
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Alice Ruhweza is the President of AGRA.
