Climate Resilience Is No Longer Optional: From Climate-Smart Action to Climate Finance for African Agribusinesses

African agribusinesses are taking steps to adapt to climate change. The next challenge is ensuring that these efforts attract the investment needed to scale and endure.

Climate change is no longer a distant environmental concern for Africa’s agrifood sector. It is affecting how businesses produce, process, store, transport and sell food, and increasingly, their ability to remain profitable and competitive.

Across the continent, changing rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, flooding and extreme heat are disrupting agricultural production and threatening livelihoods. For agribusinesses, the consequences extend beyond the farm. They affect the availability of raw materials, the reliability of supply chains, the cost of energy and water, product quality, market access and business continuity.

The evidence is compelling. A 2024 study published in Nature Sustainability, drawing on data from approximately 120,000 agricultural plots across six African countries, found that adverse climate-related shocks affected around 35% of plots and reduced crop production by an average of 29%. The researchers also estimated that losses from droughts and floods were US$5.1 billion higher than recorded in disaster inventories, highlighting the scale of damage that can go unreported. Read the study

The financing gap is equally concerning. According to the World Bank, agrifood systems receive only about 4.3% of global climate finance, despite their central role in food security, livelihoods and climate action.

These figures point to an urgent challenge: African agribusinesses must become more climate-resilient, but the knowledge and practices required to adapt must be matched by the finance and investment needed to implement them.

At African Food Changemakers (AFC), this understanding has shaped our work through the Building Resilience Against Climate and Environmental Shocks (BRACE) program, which has supported more than 3,500 agribusinesses across over 40 African countries to understand climate-related risks, strengthen their preparedness and integrate climate-smart practices into their operations.

The reality of a changing climate

Speaking about the urgency of climate resilience, AFC Founder, Dr. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, captured the interconnected nature of the challenge:

“Wherever there's a crisis, a climate crisis, a shock, drought, flooding, extreme heat… the food ecosystem is the sector that's most affected.” As she further observed: “If it's not extreme heat, it's then flooding.”

These realities affect businesses differently, depending on their location, value chain and operating model. A farmer may experience declining yields or water scarcity. A processor may struggle with inconsistent raw material supplies and rising energy costs. An aggregator may face disrupted sourcing networks, while a distributor may experience transport interruptions and post-harvest losses.

For small and growing agrifood enterprises, which often operate with limited financial buffers, repeated disruptions can erode profitability, threaten jobs and constrain growth.

And these shocks are not isolated incidents that businesses can simply wait out. As Ndidi noted:

“Climate shocks are not one-off. This is our new normal. This is our reality. And it's not unique to Africa.”

This calls for a shift in how we think about climate action. Businesses cannot rely solely on responding after a crisis has occurred. They must build the capacity to anticipate risks, prepare for disruptions, adapt their operations and identify opportunities within a changing climate.

From climate risk to business resilience

Climate adaptation and resilience are closely related, but they serve distinct purposes.

Adaptation involves adjusting practices, systems and decisions to reduce vulnerability to climate impacts. Examples include improving water management, adopting climate-smart production methods, diversifying suppliers, strengthening storage and investing in energy-efficient technologies.

Resilience is the broader ability to withstand disruptions, recover, adapt and continue operating as conditions change.

For an agribusiness, this means embedding climate considerations into everyday business decisions—from production planning and procurement to processing, logistics, financial management and market development.

It also means recognising that climate action is not only about reducing losses. It can create opportunities to improve efficiency, strengthen competitiveness, access emerging markets and develop new products and services.

This is an important distinction. Climate resilience should not be treated merely as an additional cost of doing business. When approached strategically, it can be an investment in business continuity, productivity and long-term growth.

However, businesses need more than awareness to make this transition. They need practical knowledge, appropriate technologies, supportive networks and, critically, access to capital.

As AFC’s Executive Director, Ony M. Chinedu, has emphasized, adaptation does not always demand large-scale investment. Often, it begins with training and guidance that empower business owners with the confidence to experiment and adopt new practices.

What BRACE has shown us

Over three years, AFC's BRACE program supported more than 3,500 agribusinesses across over 40 African countries to understand climate-related risks, strengthen their preparedness and integrate climate-smart practices into their operations.

Program results showed that 97% of participating businesses adopted climate-smart practices, while 79% reported increased profitability. BRACE also recorded 3,631 jobs created, 268 businesses accessing green financing or climate grants, and 770 businesses adopting e-commerce.

Among the most widely adopted practices were Regenerative Agriculture (58%), Waste Management (45%), Water Management (38%), Eco-friendly Packaging, and Carbon Farming (23%). These outcomes demonstrate the potential of targeted learning, practical tools and ecosystem engagement to help businesses respond to climate challenges.

Source: Program Endline Evaluation Report

They also reinforce an important lesson: agribusinesses can take action when they have access to relevant knowledge and support.

Yet BRACE also highlighted a critical gap. While climate-smart adoption was widespread among participating businesses, translating these practices into sustained access to climate finance remained a challenge.

Businesses may adopt better water-management systems, improve energy efficiency, reduce post-harvest losses or introduce regenerative practices. But implementing these changes at scale often requires capital.

To attract that capital, businesses must be able to demonstrate what they are doing, explain why the investment matters, quantify the expected benefits where possible, manage risks and present credible business cases to potential funders.

Climate action can exist without investment readiness. And without investment readiness, effective climate practices risk remaining underfunded and difficult to scale.

This is the next challenge AFC is working to address.

Looking ahead: Building on BRACE through climate finance readiness

Building on the lessons of BRACE, AFC is working on its Climate Finance Readiness Program as the next phase of impact.

The program is designed to bridge the gap between climate-smart adoption and access to capital by helping agrifood SMEs strengthen the business capabilities and documentation needed to engage potential funders.

It will focus on four priorities:

1. Prepare SMEs for climate finance access

Equip businesses with the knowledge, skills and structures required to understand financing options, assess their readiness and respond to funder requirements.

2. Translate climate practices into investment opportunities

Help businesses articulate the commercial and resilience benefits of their climate-smart practices, connecting operational improvements to clear investment rationales and credible business cases.

3. Develop funder-ready documentation

Support businesses to strengthen the financial information, business plans, investment proposals and other documentation needed to demonstrate their credibility and readiness for funding.

4. Connect SMEs to financing opportunities

Strengthen pathways to relevant grants, blended finance and impact investors, recognising that access to funding depends on eligibility, funder priorities, due diligence and the availability of suitable opportunities.

The goal is not simply to help businesses become more knowledgeable about climate finance. It is to help them become better prepared to pursue it.

BRACE showed us that African agribusinesses are ready to act on climate. The next task is to build a stronger bridge between that action and the capital required to sustain and scale it.

As Ndidi expressed her hope for the program's legacy:

“Our hope is that we have equipped entrepreneurs and ecosystem players with the toolkit to thrive, but also that we come out as winners through this. That we come out as leapfrogging others.”

That ambition requires us to move from isolated examples of adaptation towards an ecosystem where climate resilience is supported by credible investment pathways, stronger institutions and lasting partnerships.

Partnership is the pathway to scale

No single organisation can close the climate finance gap for African agribusinesses. Achieving meaningful scale requires collaboration among businesses, financial institutions, technology providers, development partners, research institutions, market actors and business-support organisations.

Each stakeholder has a vital role: financial institutions and climate-finance providers, development partners and funders, technology innovators, buyers and market actors, technical experts and researchers, as well as business-support organizations and ecosystem partners.

For AFC, partnership is not an add-on to the BRACE journey. It is central to making the next phase possible.

We invite organisations that share this vision to work with us in preparing agribusinesses for climate finance, strengthening their resilience and creating pathways for climate-smart practices to attract investment.

The opportunity is to help move promising businesses beyond adoption—to investment readiness, improved competitiveness and sustained growth.

The next chapter begins with what we build together

Africa's agrifood sector faces significant climate risks, but it also has enormous potential to innovate, adapt and create new opportunities.

Realising that potential will require more than awareness and good intentions. It will require practical adaptation, stronger business capabilities, credible investment readiness and partnerships that connect entrepreneurs to the resources they need.

BRACE has demonstrated that climate-smart adoption is possible. The Climate Finance Readiness Program represents an important next step: helping businesses strengthen the bridge between climate action and investment.

For agribusinesses, the invitation is to continue learning, adapting and preparing for the future.

For funders, financial institutions, technology providers, buyers and ecosystem partners, the invitation is to help make that future achievable by investing in the readiness, resilience and growth of African agrifood enterprises.

Ndidi's message to the BRACE community captures the forward-looking spirit of this work:

“We're on that path. We're not looking back. We're looking forward. The future is bright because of what we do together.”

And her call to action remains one for the entire sector: “Move forward, shine brightly, innovate, serve as a beacon of hope.”

At African Food Changemakers, we believe that climate resilience must become more than a set of practices. It must become a foundation for stronger businesses, more resilient communities and a more sustainable African food system.

The next chapter is about ensuring that climate action is not only practised, but financed, scaled and sustained.

Join AFC in building that bridge.

Partner with us to prepare African agribusinesses for climate finance and unlock the potential of climate-resilient growth.

Together, we can move from climate risk to readiness, from adoption to investment, and from promising interventions to lasting impact.

REFERENCES:

1. Wollburg, P. et al. (2024). “Substantial impacts of climate shocks in African smallholder agriculture.” Read the study

2. World Meteorological Organization (2025). State of the Climate in Africa 2024. Read the report

3. Climate Policy Initiative (2024). Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa 2024. Read the report and findings

4. United Nations Environment Program (2024). Adaptation Gap Report 2024: Come Hell and High Water. Read the report

5. World Bank (2024). Climate-Smart Agriculture: From Knowledge to Implementation.

Read the World Bank publication