USAID highlights Bayer-IRRI DSR collab at COP27

On 11 November, USAID Administrator Samantha Power reaffirmed USAID’s commitment to the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) initiative, highlighting another installment of $43 million in line with AIM for Climate objectives. This investment will advance innovations for climate smart food systems to protect the yield and quality of crops and livestock from climate change, such as climate-responsive dryland grasses that can withstand reduced rainfall and improved maize varieties that produce higher yields in harsher conditions.

Additionally, USAID is partnering with the State Department to launch a new USAID Methane Accelerator program that will mainstream and scale up methane mitigation programming across the Agency. Methane emissions, including emissions from the agricultural sector, are supercharging global warming. Subject to Congressional Notification, USAID and the Department of State will dedicate $12 million to this program, with the goal of leveraging substantial additional resources.

Administrator Power also announced two new AIM for Climate Innovation Sprints and USAID partnerships that will increase private sector investments in climate smart food systems:

Bayer Crop Science and the International Rice Research Institute: USAID is partnering with Bayer Crop Science and the International Rice Research Institute on an Innovation Sprint to improve the quality of life of smallholder rice farmers through the introduction, on-farm testing, and scaling of improved, climate-smart rice varieties that are sown directly in the field as opposed to the labor-intensive process of transplanting seedlings by hand. Bayer has committed up to $4 million of in-kind support.

Olam Food Ingredients (ofi) and partners: USAID, ofi, Nestlé, Mars Wrigley, Costco Wholesale, Mondelēz International, and Blommer Chocolate Company have launched RESTORE: “Resilient Ecosystems and Sustainable Transformation of Rural Economies”, that will help smallholder cocoa farmers use more climate-smart agricultural practices. Through this Innovation Sprint, Ofi…