Climate change is severely impacting agriculture, especially for small farmers in Egypt's low-lying delta. These farmers face extreme weather, degraded soil, and water scarcity, threatening their crop quality and economic stability. With crop and livestock yields dropping by 30-40%, smallholders, many running micro or small businesses in the informal sector, are disproportionately affected. In this challenging environment, 71% of women work informally, with only 20% of SMEs being women-led, mainly as micro-businesses. This places women at the lowest end of the value chain, earning minimal returns.

To address these challenges, the UNDP Accelerator Lab , in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Center and the "Refuturism" social initiative, launched an exploration journey to enhance the socio-economic resilience of small farmers and empower rural women in agriculture. This initiative involved signals mapping surveys and future-thinking workshops to identify critical drivers for the future, explore potential scenarios, and recommend transformative solutions for a resilient future.

The journey began with signals mapping surveys among small farmers, including men, women, and youth across the delta. Key insights revealed land reclamation as the strongest economic signal, urban migration as the top social signal, and changing weather conditions as the most significant environmental signal.

Following the surveys, a three-day workshop was designed to immerse participants in a holistic future-thinking journey. 

The workshop began with visuals and videos to highlight technology's role in agriculture, leading participants to identify key possible technologies like solar energy, organic farming, robots, drones, and soilless agriculture, and desired technologies such as GPS-enabled tractors and 3D livestock health monitoring. Games and storytelling helped participants envision future scenarios across housing, environment, food, technology, and social life. On the second day, groups tackled agricultural challenges using these technologies, exploring possible and desired futures for 2050. The third day focused on reflection, emphasizing the need for technical support and women's empowerment, recognizing technology's potential to address rural challenges, and highlighting the necessity for innovative, less bureaucratic financial products, with communities showing readiness to adopt new technologies like AI and soilless agriculture given adequate support, readiness to adopt green behavior, and acceptance of the importance of role of women in agriculture.

The AccLab team validated these findings through collective intelligence workshops involving ministries, academia, and civil society, garnering recommendations for scaling up future-thinking experiments to enhance the socio-economic resilience of small farmers. The recommendations included:

1. Continuously Integrating Farmers’ Visions Using Futures Labs: Establishing Futures Labs ensures that farmers' insights and visions for the future are continually incorporated into planning and development processes. These labs can facilitate ongoing dialogue between farmers, policymakers, and researchers, fostering a collaborative environment for innovation and adaptation.

2. Supporting Women-Led Green Businesses with Market Studies and Incentives: Providing targeted support for women-led businesses in the green sector can help bridge the gender gap in agriculture. Market studies can identify viable opportunities, while financial incentives can encourage the growth of these enterprises, promoting sustainability and economic empowerment for women.

3. Promoting Market Collaborations to Provide a Marketplace for Women: Creating collaborative platforms and networks can help women farmers and entrepreneurs access broader markets. These marketplaces can facilitate the sale of products, share best practices, and foster partnerships, enhancing economic opportunities and resilience for women in agriculture.

4. Clustering Small Farmers to Enhance Productivity and Increase Incentives: Organizing small farmers into clusters can improve productivity through shared resources, collective bargaining, and increased access to markets. Clustering can also provide greater access to training, technology, and financial services, ultimately leading to higher yields and better economic outcomes.

5. Reviving the Role of Cooperatives (Both Market and Civil-Based): Strengthening cooperatives can play a crucial role in supporting small farmers. Cooperatives can provide a range of services, including marketing, credit, and technical assistance, helping farmers improve their productivity and secure better prices for their products.

6. Creating VC Marketing Access and Events: Establishing venture capital marketing access and hosting events can connect small farmers with investors and larger markets. These initiatives can provide farmers with the capital needed to innovate and expand, driving economic growth and sustainability in rural areas.

7. Building Financial Capacity for Small Farmers with Ongoing Monitoring: Providing financial literacy and capacity-building programs can empower small farmers to manage their finances more effectively. Ongoing monitoring and support can ensure that farmers continue to benefit from these programs, helping them make informed decisions and achieve long-term financial stability.

Through these concerted efforts, the journey of Delta small farmers from their complex present towards a resilient and thriving future in 2050 seems increasingly attainable.