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The global challenge

Today, 836 million people still live in extreme poverty. Many depend on small-scale farms for their livelihoods. Without adequate knowledge about plant health or access to regional markets, farmers remain trapped in a cycle of poverty, struggling to control crop pests and satisfy the demands of food quality and safety standards.

The world’s 500 million smallholder farmers stand to gain from trading high-quality produce locally, regionally and internationally. It is vital that they have access to the knowledge and resources they need to grow more, sell more and ultimately raise themselves out of poverty. We must work together to realize the goals of SDG 1: No Poverty.

SDG 1: No poverty seeks to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Without plant health knowledge or access to markets farmers are trapped in a cycle of poverty..

CABI envisions a world where we break down barriers in agricultural trade and help small-scale farmers build successful and viable businesses, so they can ensure their own sustainable incomes.

Our action

CABI’s goal is to create employment opportunities – especially for women and young people – in agriculture by investing in inclusive economic growth. By sharing our expertise in food value chains and trade and digital development we help to create employment opportunities all the way from food production to market stall, putting innovation and technology front and centre.

Examples of our work

CABI and partners developed an online food safety training programme and a ‘Go to Market’ tool kit in Pakistan to analyse the performance of food value chains. The project has already helped improve papaya production by 22% and led to a 15% increase in the income of papaya farmers in Pakistan’s southeast province of Sindh.

Our work to create a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Ghana broke down trade barriers and improved the country’s horticultural export abilities, delivering a much-needed boost to its job market. Investment in these kinds of projects has a particular benefit for women and youth employment in agriculture.