MATI to spotlight smallholder farmer finance at COP31

MATI will host a COP31 session in Antalya on November 10 with leaders from the Nordic Development Fund, FAO and the UN Capital Development Fund. The discussion will focus on how blended finance and carbon revenue can scale resilience tools for smallholder farmers beyond pilot projects.

Why it matters: - Smallholder farmers face drought, degraded soil and volatile prices, but adaptation finance often stays short term. - MATI argues that combining resilience benefits with carbon removal revenue can make farm-level climate projects more investable. - The session will test whether that model can move from pilot projects to larger portfolios.

What happened: - MATI will host “From Degraded Soil to Durable Tonnes: De-Risking Removal that Builds Farmer Resilience” at the Think Negative Pavilion in the Blue Zone at COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, on Tuesday, November 10. - The live session runs from 11:15 to 12:15 local time. - Registration is open at the event page. - Speakers include Anu Hassinen of the Nordic Development Fund, Martial Bernoux of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Kawtar Zerouali of the UN Capital Development Fund and Ashish Kumar of MATI as moderator.

The details: - The session will examine which blended finance structures are ready to scale and where gaps remain between concessional and commercial capital. - Discussion topics include guarantees, first-loss layers and results-based payments. - Organizers say those tools have changed how lenders assess farm-level risk and have helped draw in commercial investment. - One structure under discussion is revenue stacking, where one climate outcome and one environmental outcome create separate payment streams. - Rock dust is the example MATI will use. - The material is spread on a smallholder field at no cost to the farmer. - MATI says the soil benefits can raise yields and incomes and help restore degraded soil. - As the rock weathers, it removes carbon dioxide from the air through enhanced rock weathering. - That removal is sold to a corporate buyer as a durable carbon removal credit. - MATI says the second revenue line can make a resilience intervention bankable in a way grant funding alone cannot. - Farmers in seven countries now work with MATI. - MATI says soil that holds water and nutrients helps farmers endure dry seasons. - MATI also says smallholders are least able to absorb a failed harvest. - Kumar said adaptation finance reaches smallholder farmers too rarely and is often short term. - Kumar said enhanced rock weathering gives a resilience intervention its own revenue line. - Kumar said the session will ask funders and banks what it would take to move the model from pilot to portfolio. - Shantanu Agarwal, founder and CEO of MATI, said smallholder farmers are the first to feel a changing climate and have the least room to absorb a bad season. - Agarwal said healthier soil is resilience a farmer can see in the field. - Agarwal said COP is where the people who finance that work are in the same room.

Between the lines: - MATI is trying to connect two markets that do not always meet: adaptation finance and carbon removal finance. - The pitch is that durable carbon credits can subsidize farmer resilience, reducing reliance on grants. - The Chatham House Rule suggests the discussion is meant to produce candid feedback from funders and banks. - The planned synthesis note signals the session is intended to generate actionable takeaways, not just a panel conversation.

What's next: - The session will take place on November 10 at COP31. - A short synthesis note will follow for participants. - NDF, FAO and UNCDF speakers will appear in their professional capacities. - MATI says the discussion will help clarify what public and concessional capital still needs to do to scale the model.

The bottom line: - MATI is using COP31 to make a finance case: smallholder resilience projects may scale faster if carbon removal revenue helps pay for them.