Agriculture

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Employment opportunities and income are being created as more gender-sensitive innovations in agriculture are put in place which ensure food security, climate change adaptation for smallholders, and protection of natural resources such as soil, water, and biodiversity.

Agricultural innovations being developed in Germany’s development policy partner countries have a huge potential for success as they build on local framework conditions and future target groups’ needs. Although this potential needs these promising ideas to transform agricultural systems in a way that protects resources, many remain undiscovered or only partially implemented. The reason for this is often a lack of or patchy support, or unsuitable political framework conditions. In addition to this, structural and cultural reasons make it difficult for women and young people to access these innovations which means their important contribution as users and developers is lost.

• The fund supports the ‘Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems’ special initiative by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
• It promotes agricultural innovation in the fields of technology, partnership, and processes. Topics include mechanisation, digitalisation, renewable energies, agricultural research, policy and trade, and cooperation with the private sector.
• Among other things, it supports innovators who are developing specific and self-sustaining business models which include gender-sensitive and gender-transformative strategies, and ensures that lessons learned are shared, for example, through events and learning platforms.
• The fund also actions emergency assistance measures which alleviate the impact of global food crises, for example those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or the war of aggression in Ukraine. Topics include preserving food, procuring seeds and machinery, and training on agricultural practices.

Small-scale farmers (women, men and youth), small and medium-sized enterprises, food processing companies and consumers.

• Resource-conserving and climate-adapted practices that make more efficient use of harvest cycles and increase yields, e.g. by growing potatoes on rice paddy residues
• Satellite and drone imagery that uses artificial intelligence to enable soil analyses on quality and carbon content.
• Mobile apps that make modern technologies accessible to smallholder farmers. These include digital harvest forecasts or intelligent cold chain systems.
• Participatory, applied research on agroecological pest management, e.g. with beneficial insects or fungi.
• Networks for the rental and use of agricultural equipment and machinery and the development of training platforms.

• Agripath – Sustainable agriculture through effective and efficient digital pathways (i4Ag)
• Virtual cold chain assistant for smallholder farmers (i4Ag)
• Improved water cycle systems for sustainable fisheries production in aquaculture, global (i4Ag)
• Potato Zero Tillage Under Rice Straw Cultivation

• Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag) (giz.de)