ADB investing $1.5 billion in clearinghouse facility to boost rice farming 

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest $1.5 billion through a five-year farming program aiming to improve rice productivity and low-carbon rice production across Asia and the Pacific (APAC), including the Philippines, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

This is part of the multilateral lender’s broader $40-billion commitment to food systems transformation by 2030, which was announced last month.

In particular, a new clearinghouse facility has been set up to promote climate-resilient and high-yield farming methods, efficient water use, inclusive agricultural value chains, and better nutrition for the poorest communities in the region.

According to the ADB, the initiative forged with Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was launched on Monday, June 9. This will be co-financed by Gates Foundation, the American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in 2000.

“Rice farming faces mounting pressure, from declining productivity and shrinking water supplies to its significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions,” the ADB said.

“Left unaddressed, these challenges threaten food security and the well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable communities,” it added.

As such, the project is said to “boost investments in sustainable and low-carbon rice production with the aim of improving the lives of millions of vulnerable smallholder farmers” across the APAC region, the ADB said.

Fatima Yasmin, ADB vice-president for sectors and themes, reported that rice supplies “over a quarter of the region’s calorie intake, and half in Southeast Asia.”

“Today, that livelihood is increasingly threatened by extreme weather and environmental degradation,” she said.

Yvonne Pinto, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said this joint initiative “will reinforce CGIAR’s strategic collaboration with the ADB and scale up CGIAR’s innovations in rice systems.”

Los Baños, Laguna-headquartered IRRI, part of CGIAR’s network of research centers, said that with partners like the ADB and Gates Foundation, it aims to help make Asia’s rice sector more sustainable and resilient—improving the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers now and in the years to come.

The first set of projects under the initiative is being rolled out in the Philippines, China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Pakistan.