By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
The African Union
Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) has signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) to
establish the Platform for Agricultural Carbon in Africa, aimed at improving
smallholder farmers’ access to climate finance.
The agreement was signed on
the sidelines of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in
Antalya, Türkiye, according to Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of
AUDA-NEPAD.
The initiative comes amid
concerns over the limited share of global climate finance reaching smallholder
farmers. Bekele-Thomas noted that less than 1% of global climate finance
reached smallholder farmers in 2025, highlighting the need for mechanisms that
enable African farmers to benefit from emerging climate finance opportunities.
She also pointed to growing
demand for agricultural carbon credits, which has more than tripled from
approximately one million in 2021 to 3.2 million so far in 2026.
“The market is moving. The
question is whether African farmers move with it or watch from the sidelines,”
she said.
The proposed platform will
be guided by three commitments designed to ensure that farmers participate
meaningfully in the development of agricultural carbon markets and benefit from
the opportunities they create.
Under the approach, farmers
and their organisations will help write the rules from the outset, every carbon
credit will reflect a real and verified climate benefit, and farmers
undertaking the work will receive a fair share of the proceeds.
Bekele-Thomas said carbon
markets could open a new pathway to financing for African farmers, but stressed
that the mechanisms must be developed with farmers rather than around them.
“Carbon markets can open a
new path to finance for Africa's farmers, but only if they are built with them,
not around them,” she said.
The agreement represents an
effort to strengthen the participation of African smallholder farmers in
voluntary carbon markets while ensuring that the environmental benefits and
financial returns are fairly distributed.
