The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has undergone one of “the most pivotal shifts” to its agricultural development programs by focusing on climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers, a significant move for one of the largest funders in the sector, which stops short of reorienting all its work to climate.
That’s according to Purvi Mehta, who serves as the agricultural lead for Asia, and was tapped earlier this year to head the foundation’s new climate portfolio within its agricultural development programs. After seven years of focusing on Asia’s agricultural development, she will now also direct its climate-specific investments.
The shift comes as the foundation considers the role climate is having on global food security and poverty. On Monday during the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, the foundation announced it would invest $1.4 billion “to help smallholder farmers address the immediate and long-term impacts of climate change.”