By: Julianna White (CCAFS Low Emissions Development)

Expected population growth and increasing consumption of dairy and meat are driving demand for climate-smart livestock production in East Africa.

Livestock—key to livelihoods and food and nutrition security for millions—is responsible for 40% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. And emissions are increasing year upon year, as production increases. One way to bend the curve of emissions is to reduce the emission intensity of dairy and meat, which means producing the same amount of dairy or meat with fewer emissions.

Reducing emission intensity is especially important for countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, where the livestock sector accounts for 12% and 25% of gross domestic product (GDP), respectively, and current livestock production is emission-intensive. As both Ethiopia and Kenya raised livestock as a component of their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to global climate change mitigation, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)—with its partner the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—recently published reports on the feasibility of various low-emission livestock options in the countries and an investment case for one LED option.

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By:Kathlee Freeman (CCAFS) and Tatiana Gumucio (IRI)

Newly produced materials from CCAFS to assist experts in implementing gender-based research in climate work in order to fulfill the needs of both men and women farmers.

Climate change brings with it erratic and shifting weather patterns. The first five months of 2018 have been exceptionally warm, with hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and droughts wreaking havoc across much of the world. Receding ice in Antarctica also spells disaster for coastal regions as ocean levels continue to rise.

For smallholder farmers in developing communities, accessing weather information is essential, especially as the weather becomes harder to predict using traditional methods. Women smallholders, in particular, face a number of constraints when accessing weather information. Financial limitations often prevent women from owning information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as a cell phones or radios, making it difficult for such information to reach them. Gender-based differences in education levels and household duties may make it difficult for women to access, interpret, and make use of climate information. Extension services and other interventions may also miss women due to their exclusion from decision-making processes or social norms concerning their mobility and interactions in male-dominated spaces.

Given these constraints, projects aiming to improve access to climate services and insurance schemes must account for gender-based realities and needs. Researchers for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Gender and Social Inclusion (FP5) and Climate Services and Safety Nets (FP4) Flagships recently developed a number of materials to assist project leaders, researchers, and other stakeholders in meeting the needs of men and women.

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By: Dansira Dembele and Samuel T. Partey (CCAFS West Africa)

The climate-smart agriculture profile of Côte d’Ivoire defines entry points for investing into and scaling climate-smart practices to achieve sustainable development.

Climate change and weather variability continue to challenge the agricultural sector of Côte d’Ivoire. The projected impacts of climate change include extended periods of drought, loss of soil fertility and shorter growing season. It will affect especially the northern part of the country, and is expected to cause major economic losses and hunger for more than 70% of the households. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is proposed as a solution to guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security under a changing climate. The approach aims to tackle three main objectives: sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; adapt and build resilience to climate change; and reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, where possible.

Currently, the mainstreaming of CSA into national agricultural development planning is sought for by many countries in West Africa in pursuant of their commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To help countries succeed, it is imperative to identify, develop and appropriately package technologies and practices that underpin CSA and document the enabling institutions, policies and financial mechanisms in order to develop and promote practices. The development of CSA country profiles is based on this agenda and aims to define the entry points for investing into and scaling CSA.

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By: Gebermedihin Ambaw and Meron Tadesse (CCAFS)

A climate-smart landscape approach in Southern Ethiopia uncovers the opportunities for renewable energy-based irrigation systems, diversified production and resilient livelihoods.

In October 2018, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in East Africa (CCAFS EA), along with partners from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and also Ethiopian institutions, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoALR), Mekelle University and Debre Berhan University, carried out a field visit to Doyogena in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. The main objective of the visit was to explore the opportunities to design and implement renewable energy-based irrigation systems—with a focus on addressing critical water-related needs—to ensure year-round high value crop and livestock feed production in the region.

Stakeholder discussion concerned the needs, opportunities and challenges of successfully introducing a small-scale solar energy irrigation system to improve livelihoods, diversify diets and income and to enhance resilience and adaptive capacity. Furthermore, the use of gender-sensitive climate-smart practices and technologies at scale was also discussed, in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sequester carbon in agricultural landscapes where possible.

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By: Faith Okiror (IITA), David Mukasa (IITA), Victor Komakech (HRNS) and Sarah Margiotta (IITA)

Study tour guided farmers on the performance of coffee at different steps of the application of agronomic and climate change adaptation practices.

As part of USAID’s Feed the Future project*, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) have established 10 Climate Smart Investment Pathway (CSIP) demonstration plots in Luwero and Ntungamo districts in Uganda for research and learning on good agronomic practices for coffee.

The research will inform the Coffee and Climate Initiative (CCI) on good agronomic and climate change adaptation practices, reaching over 2,000 smallholder coffee farmers in the two pilot project sites. As part of the initiative, trainings are organized by HRNS to guide farmers on how to cope with climate change shocks. Droughts, rainfall variability, hard to control pests and diseases are just some of the challenges farmers face. In addition to putting the livelihoods of millions of smallholder coffee farmers at risk, these challenges also threaten global coffee supply.

HRNS organized a 2-day learning event on 29-30 May 2018 with the purpose of facilitating a visit to the Stepwise demonstration sites for all participants. Sixty-four farmers, extensionists, local leaders, representatives from farmer alliances (Uganda Coffee Farmers Alliance) and government bodies (Operation Wealth Creation Program), and local government officials attended the event. The tour gave farmers a practical learning experience through physical observation of the performance of coffee at different steps of the application of agronomic and climate change adaptation practices. Read More

By: Lili Szilagyi and Catherine Mungai (CCAFS)

Pre-event at the Seventh Climate Change and Development in Africa Conference reflects on the involvement of youth in agriculture.

The recently released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns us that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" are needed to limit global warming.

We are only beginning to feel the impacts of climate change. We need to think about future generations and involving youth in climate change work is paramount. Youth have a key role to play in climate change processes, such as influencing decisions at country, regional and global levels and being engaged in the development of climate change interventions that respond to the needs of vulnerable communities.

At the Seventh Climate Change and Development in Africa Conference (CCDA VII), the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) co-organized a pre-event around youth in agriculture. The session was led in cooperation with the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Read More

By: Catherine Mungai and Maren Radeny (CCAFS)

Mainstreaming climate-smart agriculture to support the transformation of Kenya's agriculture sector into an innovative, commercially-oriented, competitive and modern sector.

On 31 October 2018, the Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries & Irrigation (MoALF&I) launched the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Implementation Framework 2018-2027 at Kilimo Grounds, Nairobi.

The framework sets guidelines for implementing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approaches, strategies, practices and technologies in Kenya. The purpose is to promote climate-resilient and low-carbon growth sustainable agriculture that ensures food security and contributes to national development goals.

The framework was produced by MoALF&I in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry with support from the Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans project (NAP-Ag), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Read More

What is social learning and what role can it play in agriculture in West Africa?

Social learning is defined as a collective and deliberative learning form that can lead to shared understanding of a specific situation and support reaching an agreement. It happens through individuals' observation of or interaction with their social context.

Although social learning is sometimes linked to more well-known approaches, such as participatory methods (e.g. participatory action research), it differs from these in several respects. For instnace, though participatory approaches can stimulate social learning through removing barriers to individual and community learning processes, they do not necessarily lead to interaction among different stakeholder groups for learning purposes. Read More

Two pilot interventions in Uganda share experiences of promoting climate-smart practices to coffee farmers

Earlier this year in July, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Uganda and partners met to share learning and experiences from the Climate Smart Investment Pathway pilot in Luwero, Central Uganda. This approach has been jointly developed by IITA and partners and has come to be known as the Stepwise approach, or simply Stepwise.

The research on Stepwise is being done in collaboration with Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) on Robusta coffee in Luwero, Central Uganda; and with Olam Uganda on Arabica coffee, on the slopes of Mt. Elgon in Sironko District, in the Eastern part of the country. Read More