The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) has announced $38.75 million in new grant funding to support smallholder farmers in low-income countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The funding is aimed at improving food security, raising farmer incomes, and strengthening resilience to climate change, economic instability, and other shocks affecting vulnerable agricultural communities.
GAFSP, a multilateral financing and partnership platform focused on improving food and nutrition security, said the new funding builds on its long-term support for low-income countries. Since 2010, the program has mobilized more than $2.44 billion in donor contributions and provided financial and technical assistance to agri-food projects in 55 countries.
The latest funding round places a strong emphasis on strengthening producer organizations and improving their long-term financial sustainability. By investing in farmer-led cooperatives, unions, and producer networks, GAFSP aims to address structural barriers that smallholder farmers often face in accessing finance, markets, and technical support, while also helping them adopt tested agricultural innovations.
A major focus of the new allocation is on women farmers, who play a central role in food production but often face challenges in accessing land, finance, and markets. In line with the International Year of the Woman Farmer, the funded projects are designed to expand opportunities for women across agricultural value chains and strengthen their leadership within producer organizations. For the first time, regional producer organizations were also allowed to compete for funding, creating new opportunities for cross-country knowledge sharing and collaboration.
The funding will support 16 producer organization-led projects, including 14 national projects and two regional initiatives. These projects are expected to directly benefit around 175,000 smallholder farmers by strengthening farmer institutions, improving organizational capacity, and enhancing the ability of smallholders to increase incomes, improve food and nutrition security, and build resilience to climate, economic, and fragility-related shocks.
Among the funded initiatives is a $2.5 million grant in Benin for the National Platform of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations. The project will support 11,000 young people and women in vegetable and poultry value chains over four years, while indirectly benefiting an additional 66,000 people. Activities will include promoting agroecology, improving women’s access to land and finance, and strengthening hundreds of producer cooperatives.
In Sri Lanka, the Federation of Thrift and Credit Cooperative Societies will receive $2.5 million to improve climate resilience and market access for 10,000 smallholder farming families across four climate-vulnerable districts. The four-year project will work through 200 grassroots cooperatives and provide climate-smart agriculture training, strengthen financial and insurance services, improve market linkages, and support cooperative agribusiness ventures, with a strong focus on women and youth.
In Haiti, the Union of Cocoa Cooperatives of the North will receive a $2.49 million grant to improve livelihoods and climate resilience for small-scale cocoa producers. The project will train 2,000 farmers in climate-resilient cocoa agroforestry, regenerate 500 hectares of land, strengthen cooperative governance, expand women and youth leadership, and invest in post-harvest infrastructure and certification to improve access to higher-value markets.
GAFSP leaders said investing in producer organizations can have a broad and lasting impact by helping farmers pool resources, negotiate better prices, access services, and participate more effectively in markets and policy discussions. They emphasized that at a time when global development finance for agriculture is under pressure, these grants are designed to strengthen the institutions that enable smallholder farmers to invest, innovate, and adapt.
The announcement also comes amid growing food security concerns in parts of West and Central Africa, where climate shocks, conflict, and economic volatility continue to put pressure on food systems. With millions of people projected to face crisis-level food insecurity during the 2026 lean season, GAFSP said stronger farmer cooperatives and improved market access will be essential to rebuilding livelihoods and improving food security in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
