AGRICULTURE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION, CLIMATE CHANGEPUTTING THE SMALL SCALE FARMERS TO THE POLICY AND PRACTICEIntroduction

Overall Objective of the InitiativeThe Agriculture, Climate Change, and Poverty Alleviation (ACCPA) is an initiative based on partnership between three civil society organization namely ActionAid Tanzania and Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (committed to improve accountability with specific experience in agriculture) and Mtandao wa Jamii wa Usimamizi wa Misitu (community engaged in participatory forest management). The initiative is an innovative partnership that will bridge the gap between the NGOs more traditional focus on forest conservation and those working on agricultural issues. The initiative aims to steer Tanzania towards an agricultural development pathway that achieves the dual goals of poverty reduction and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Why do we need to bridge the gap between small scale agriculture, climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation?

Overview

Small scale farmers are being knocked hard by the climate change. Agriculture is the key to Tanzania ability to adapt to climate change and to adopt a low carbon development pathway. Land use change particularly deforestation as a result of shifting agriculture, is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Tanzania. Investment and agricultural policies and practices are prioritizing a shift to more mechanized, fossil fuel dependent, larger scale agriculture with the aim of increasing productivity and commercializing smallholder production. Whilst this approach may increasing short term yields, it risks making small scale farmers poorer and more vulnerable to CC whilst increasing the emission GHGs from increased dependence on fossils fuel based inputs and machinery as well as increased deforestation from displaced small scale farmers and from new commercial farms.