SmartAG Partner April - June 2014

The SmartAG Partner CCAFS East Africa Quarterly Newsletter April - June 2014

© 2014 CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), East Africa

Editing: Vivian Atakos, Maren Radeny, Catherine Mungai and James KinyangiDesign and Layout: Solomon Makau

Printing: Ecomedia

Photo Credits: Cover page C.Mungai (CCAFS) From Left to Right Pg (ii) S.Kilungu (CCAFS) iii. (CCAFS) 2. P. Kimeli (CCAFS) 5. S.Kilungu (CCAFS) 7. J.Recha (CCAFS) 9. N.Palmer (IWMI) 11. V.Atakos (CCAFS) 12, 13, 14 Big facts (CCAFS) 17. V.Atakos (CCAFS) 19. Joe Ronzio (IWMI) 21. P.Kimeli (CCAFS) 23. S.Kilungu (CCAFS) 25. P.Karaimu (ILRI) 27. Neil Palmer (IWMI) 30. J.Recha (CCAFS) 31. C.Schubert (CCAFS) 32. C.Schubert (CCAFS), S.Kiulngu (CCAFS) 33. C.Schubert (CCAFS), S.Kilungu (CCAFS) 35. IITA 37. V.Atakos (CCAFS)) 38. S.Kilungu (CCAFS) and CCAFS Back Page S.Kilungu (CCAFS)

A climate-smart agriculture alliance for Africa Mary Nyasimi, James Kinyangi, George Wamukoya and Richard Muyungi

Mixing livestock with tree planting: what are the issues? Kate Langford

Sustainable agriculture land management is paying off for Kenyan farmers Margie Miller

Big Facts: Focus on sub-saharan Africa Simon Bager

Latest UN climate talks bring forward significant results on agriculture and food security Pernille Hoej

Climate change vulnerability and risk assessment of agriculture and food security in Ethiopia: which way forward? Catherine Mungai

Assessing loss and damage from the double impact of floods and droughts in Mozambique

Catherine Mungai, Felisberto Maute and Saskia Hendrickx

Addressing climate change at the policy level Catherine Mungai and Mary Nyasimi

CONTENTS

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Improving potato yields for farmers in the Usambara Highlands

Dieudonné Harahagazwe, Roberto Quiroz and George Sayula

New analysis suggests gender differences in how farmers adapt to climate-smart agriculture

Timothy Muthee Mburu

Field Updates

Science NEWS

policy News

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Is Africa ready to take climate-smart agriculture forward?Vivian Atakos

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Out and about and diary CCAFS EA in the media

Further reading and CCAFS tools

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Genetic erosion threatens resilience of Ethiopian Boran Cattle

Getachew Gebru, Tesfaye Alemu and Solomon Desta

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Climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives for agriculture in East Africa Mary Nyasimi, Maren Radeny and James Kinyangi

CCAFS East Africa Quarterly Newsletter i

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Scaling up climate services in TanzaniaVivian Atakos, Arame Tall and Alexa Jay

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Traditional forecasting meets science for climate risk management

Wilson Ugangu, Philip Kimeli and George Sayula

What does a climate-smart farm look like? Cecilia Schubert

17‘Akoro’ no more: cassava multiplication techniques help Ugandan farmers achieve a

food secure futureCuthbert Aongat

18Uncovering gender perceptions and beliefs in the search for climate information

Cecilia schubert

Climate Smart Agriculture

“The african climate-smart agriculture alliance will provide a platform for discussions and actions in Africa related to improved resilience in the agricultural sector, improving productivity while contributing to the global efforts to reduce emissions.” Richard Muyungi Vice President’s Office Tanzania and Chair of the Africa CSA alliance

CCAFS East Africa Quarterly Newsletter iii

Message FromThe Program LeaderI welcome you to another informative issue of the SmartAG Partner – CCAFS East Africa quarterly newsletter. We share with you program updates on climate change, agriculture and food security matters based on our work and that of partners. As world leaders look forward to the September 2014 UN Climate Summit that is part of a global effort to mobilize action and ambition on climate change, 26 African countries are participating in a voluntary climate-smart agriculture (CSA) alliance for Africa. Read about the objectives of the alliance in our first article. Also, follow a report back from an official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Subsidiary Bodies 40 (SB40) side event by CCAFS and partners which explored Africa’s readiness to advance CSA.

Loss and damage in African countries has left communities facing acute food security problems as current coping strategies are inadequate. Read more from a recent study by CCAFS, the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Mozambique. From Ethiopia – CCAFS study sites - researchers have found that genetic erosion threatens resilience of the Ethiopian Boran cattle. Read on to review this problem and some of the recommendations under the science section.

A separate article presents promising findings following on farm potato trials led by the International Potato Centre (CIP). This project will deliver better potato varieties for farmers in Northern Tanzania.

Under field updates, find out how a climate-smart farm looks like - we profile farmers (including women) from the Nyando climate-smart villages. Finally, read our analysis that shows gender differences in how farmers are adopting climate-smart practices and strategies.

Dr. James Kinyangi

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CCAFS East Africa Quarterly Newsletter 1

Policy News

# 1

By Mary Nyasimi, James Kinyangi, George Wamukoya and Richard Muyungi

26 African countries are participating in a voluntary CSA alliance for Africa that is aimed to trigger policy changes and increase investments that can transform Africa’s agriculture in a changing climate.

A climate-smart agriculture alliance for Africa

African countries are moving forward with the advance-ment of climate-smart agriculture (CSA). During a Subsid-iary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 40) pre meeting held on 30th May in Bonn, Germany, del-

egates from 25 African countries engaged in a dialogue on a shared vision and a mechanism for coordinating country efforts for CSA. Additionally, participants deliberated on institutional frameworks for accelerated and increased investments in CSA.

The meeting convened by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) East Africa and the World Bank, invited a team of experts who shared their research findings and experiences on CSAs contribution to food security, jobs and incomes.

“Farmers in Africa are already implementing CSA practices. However, adoption rates are lower than expected given the potential benefits and resources spent on promotion. There is a lack of enabling insti-tutional arrangements that are critical in pushing for CSA in Africa” said Dr. Chinwe Ifejika Speranza from University of Bonn and United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security.

Dr. Chinwe further provided examples of successful adaptation CSA practices including the farmer managed natural regeneration in Niger where about 2.5 million people are benefiting from improved fodder, reduced loss of fertile topsoil, increased incomes and enhanced food security. In Tanzania, 1800 villages are decreasing de-forestation & forest degradation and are diversifying their livelihood

strategies and thus building their adaptive capacity. This is through participatory forest management.

Dr. Paul Mapfumo from the University of Zimbabwe spoke about more productive, efficient and resilient African farming systems. He noted that “there is a call for new paradigms in the architectural (structural and functional) designs of crop and livestock production systems, new regimes of ecosystems services and socio-ecological transformations that can provide win-win-win agro- ecological systems”. Finally, he said Africa needs to expand its opportunity horizons for enhanced adaptive capacity and livelihood benefits beyond farms (e.g. communities living beyond the reach of markets).

Gender perspectives on agriculture and climate change in Africa

During the meeting, the vital role of women as agricultural produc-ers and agents of food and nutritional security was deliberated.“In Africa, climate change is disproportionately affecting women and girls because of their greater vulnerability to extreme weather events”, said George Wamukoya from COMESA, who led discussions on the gender topic.

COMESA, the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) and CCAFS are working on a background paper to provide assessments of gen-der impacts, and of the potential to empower women and girls to increase their adaptive capacity and options for maximizing gender co-benefits and integrating gender dimensions into CSA. The paper will be used by the African Group of Negotiators and a policy brief will target African governments

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Towards a regional CSA alliance

A CSA alliance for Africa was first agreed upon in February 14, 2014 in a meeting in Arusha Tanzania where stakeholders convened to garner support for CSA in Africa.

There are a range of CSA practices that are currently undertaken by farmers together with diverse practitioners that need to be

“The alliance is a voluntary sign up by governments to push for implementation of CSA practices and technologies as

climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies for the millions of farmers in the region” said Dr. Richard Muyungi,

former SBSTA Chair.

identified and scaled up. Since 2012, CCAFS has been working with communities in Africa and beyond to develop climate-smart villages; sites for trialing CSA agricultural interventions together with farmers and other stakeholders. CSV activities are weather, water, carbon, nitrogen, energy and knowledge smart.

A regional CSA alliance can thus provide an opportunity for Africa leaders to learn and share climate-smart agricultural technologies and put in place mechanisms for Africa’s readiness to adopt and bring these interventions to scale. Through this alliance, Africa’s voice in the Global CSA alliance will be established in the upcoming United Nations General climate summit meeting in New York this September.


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Islands). In order to optimize opportunities for the regional alli-ance, the team will identify and review existing global and regional climate-smart alliances and recommend mechanisms for linkages. Finally, the alliance will be involved in the preparation and publica-tion of a technical (scientific) framework (underpinning the strategic vision, aspirational goals, benefits, opportunities, membership) for a functional, responsive and inclusive African CSA.

In the coming months, delegates will continue to garner support for the CSA alliance amongst more African countries in various fora such as African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)

Mary Nyasimi and James Kinyangi work with CCAFS. Mary is a Policy and Gender Specialist while James is the Program Leader for East Africa. George Wamukoya is a Climate Advisor with COMESA while Richard Muyungi works at the Vice President’s Office in Tanzania. He is also the former Chair of SBSTA.

Key outcomes of the Bonn meeting included: an increased under-standing and appreciation of CSA practices and technologies and their role in improving food security, increasing incomes and en-hancing livelihoods in Africa’s changing climate. Secondly, delegates reported increased government support for the CSA alliance as displayed by the voluntary endorsements. Thirdly, countries were encouraged to promote continental coordination and knowledge sharing on CSA.

In addition to the above it was agreed to develop a compendium of existing climate smart agriculture best approaches (with strong gen-der dimensions) covering the six sub-regions of Africa (North Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and the

Nearly 50% of African countries are participating in the voluntary CSA alliance

Read all: http://bit.ly/1mvzCWE

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# 2

Addressing climate change at the policy levelKenya is developing a Climate Change Policy and Bill. With input from a number of stakeholders, CCAFS included, the aim is to enhance resilience to climate change effects and ensure a low carbon climate resilient development in the country.

Kenya’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (MEWNR) is coordinating efforts to develop a Climate Change Policy and Bill. The goal is to enhance resilience to climate change effects and low carbon climate

resilient development; the cornerstone of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

Proposed interventions include: sustainable utilization of natural resources; mainstreaming climate change response in adaptation and mitigation; integrating climate change risk and vulnerability into Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) and Social Economic Assess-ment (SEA); establishment of greenhouse gases (GHG) inventory and incentives to promote public, private and other sectors that will be involved in climate change efforts.

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is among key stakeholders reviewing the draft policy and bill with recommendations being forwarded to the policy makers.

Climate Change Action in Kenya

In comparison to other East African countries, Kenya is much ad-vanced in terms of climate change planning and action. The Kenya

By Catherine Mungai and Mary Nyasimi

government has developed policies to tackle climate change as detailed in its National Climate Change Response Strategy (NC-CRS) launched in 2010. The NCCRS highlights the robust measures needed to address the challenges posed by climate variability and change in Kenya. Subsequently, a comprehensive National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) 2013 – 2017, to implement the NCCRS, was launched in February 2013 and endorsed by the cabinet in March 2013.

From policy formulation to implementation in agriculture

Since July 2013, CCAFS together with the MEWNR and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MoALF) have brought togeth-er stakeholders to develop priority actions for the agricultural sector in Kenya. Drawing upon the NCCAP, the stakeholders discussed sector specific areas of investments. This is because investment in climate smart agriculture technology and practices by the Kenya government and other stakeholders is necessary for current systems to cope with climate change.

During Kenya’s first national adaptation planning meeting for agri-culture, it was agreed to establish a consortium to generate specific activities in targeted areas, timelines and budgets, based on a number of priority actions. CCAFS therefore continues to work with partners to develop a concept based on the actions and investments proposed by four thematic working groups:

i) Climate-Smart Agriculture technologies and practices ii) Finance and investments

“It’s a great step for Kenya to have all these stakeholders work-ing together towards ensuring the climate change bill is passed in parliament by June 2014,” noted the Honorable Member of

Parliament Dr. Wilber Otichilo during a stakeholder consultation workshop held in February.


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iii) Knowledge and capacity buildingiv) Policies and legal frameworks. The concept will be used to mobilize financial and technical re-sources and to reach out to the County governments to support the piloting and scaling out of the priority actions.

Planning for the future from national, to county, to farm level

As Kenya continues the process of devolution, the bill and policy proposes that County governments integrate climate change action plans into their County Integrated Development Plans. Consultations with county government officials reveal that counties need technical and financial support to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation actions in their development plans. Specifically, the coun-ties call for guidance in sourcing for climate finance and linkages with international and national partners to support implementation.

To tackle the changing climate and prepare for the future, adaptation and mitigation strategies at the farm, county and national levels demand for excellent planning with climate smart practices accompanied by behavioral change and transformations in investment patterns.

“Climate- smart agriculture ideas should be bold, energetic and still remain practical. The impetus is to create the perfect synergy between seemingly quite different agricul-tural sub-sectors (that is aquaculture, crops, livestock and agroforestry),” said CCAFS Program Leader for East Africa, Dr. James Kinyangi. “Stakeholders want to invest in CSA ideas that can merge modern and indigenous knowledge and practices into formal climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. We need to make them concrete by linking them to the other sectors of the economy such as energy and water.”

Finance and investments

Knowledge and capacity building

Policy and legal frameworks

Climate -smart agriculture technologies

and practices

Catherine Mungai is a Program Specialist while Mary Nyasimi is a Gender and Policy Specialist at CCAFS. They are based at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya.

The four thematic areas established to identify investments

Read a CCAFS report on Planning climate adaptation in agriculture: http://bit.ly/1jRss44

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# 3

By Vivian Atakos

A UNFCCC 40th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB40) official side event by CCAFS and partners explored Africa’s readiness to advance climate-smart agriculture.

Is Africa ready to take climate-smart agriculture forward?

How do African countries want agriculture to be reflected in the 2015 global climate agreement that aims to limit global warming to 2ºC?This was a key question posed to the 64 participants at-

tending a side event on ‘Advancing readiness to fast track climate smart agriculture in Africa’ during the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 40th Session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 40) meeting in Bonn, Germany.

Co-organised by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the United Nations Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) and other partners, the meeting explored how to leverage policy, technical and financial support to scale up adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Africa. Secondly, the role of science in informing integration of CSA into national development policies and programmes was discussed.

“Achieving food security is the paramount issue for the African group”, noted Fred Kossam from Malawi who is also the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) coordinator on issues related to Agri-culture. Although the sector contributes a significant amount of GHGs, responsible for around 14% of global emissions, it has a huge potential to sequester carbon and give way to emission reduction. One of key issues under consideration by the AGN is how to deal with mitigation in agriculture under SBSTA.

As negotiations on agriculture progress at slow pace, African coun-tries continue to be adversely affected by climate change, hence the need for urgent transformation. In particular, women and other mar-ginalized groups are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Therefore, there is increased appreciation of

Climate-Smart Agriculture – that sustainably increases productiv-ity, enhances resilience to climate change and reduces emissions intensity from improvements in production as an adaptation and mitigation option for Africa.

“Farmers need to access new breeds and shift to more adaptable production systems,” said Manyewu Mutamba, of SACAU. Addition-ally, they must be supported to embrace technology and move beyond the hand hoe.

Policy makers, on the other hand, need to fix capacity limitations through extension and research and also identify innovative financ-ing frameworks such as from the private sector,”Manyewu Mutamba continued.

A number of funding opportunities for investment in CSA in Africa are available. According to Evans Njewa, the Lead Finance Negotia-tor for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), these are found both within and without the convention. Sources within the convention include the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), the adaptation window of the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund. Sources outside the convention include the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) by a consortium of multilateral de-velopment banks, the EU’s Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), the IFAD Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), among others.

African countries therefore need to ready themselves to access the various funding opportunities at their disposal. Such preparation will include capacity building on proposal development for the various funding pools available. “We can start getting our concepts ready for submission to the various funding agencies,” said Evans Njewa to the delegates attending the meeting.


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Access to funding means adoption of CSA technologies and practices in the continent can be speeded up. According to Henry Neufeldt, head of climate change unit at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a number of CSA readiness frameworks have been put in place to reach millions of farmers. An example is the African Climate-Smart Agriculture initiative - the 5, 6, 7 NGO Network - designed by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and partners to enable 25 million smallholder farmers to practice CSA by 2025. ICRAF is coordinating this initiative.

An emerging CSA alliance by African countries comprises the second readiness framework. This alliance is expected to mimic and inform the global CSA framework on African issues in the agriculture sector.

Our CSA alliance will provide a platform for discussions and actions in Africa related to improved resilience in the agricultural sector, improving productivity while contributing to the global efforts to reduce emissions,” said Richard Muyungi, former SBSTA Chair, who spoke during the session. He further added that over 25 African countries have voluntarily endorsed the CSA alliance and are willing to dialogue at the continental level.

The African CSA alliance will develop a framework within which to operate and also pilot a number of activities in the six sub regions as part of early action to address climate change. This is not to say that nothing is happening on the ground. Vivian Atakos is a communication specialist with CCAFS. Useful input

to the blog was received from James Kinyangi, Mary Nyasimi and Catherine Mungai all of the CCAFS East Africa team.

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Is what the global climate agreement seeks to reduce global warming by

“Adaptation is already occurring in Africa autonomously mostly at the farm level,” noted Chinwe Ifejika Speranza from the University of Bonn in her speech. Such adaptation includes intergration of trees such as Faidherbia Albida into croplands, conservation agriculture, weather forecasting and early warning systems as well as index based livestock insurance that has been piloted in countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.

In a nutshell, the side event provided an excellent opportunity for African coun-tries to examine how far they have come in ensuring that they transform agriculture to harness opportunities for inclusive growth and sustainable development. This is especially relevant as 2014 is the year of agriculture and food security that aims to consolidate active commitments toward new priorities, strategies and targets for achieving results and impacts, with special focus on sustained, all Africa agriculture-led growth, propelled by stronger, private sector investment and public-private partnerships.

Read more about the African CSA alliance: http://bit.ly/1qWia1t

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# 4

Scaling up climate services in Tanzania

Edward Kapande vividly remembers the droughts that hit his community in 1989, 1992 and most recently 2009.

“We lost all our cattle. Yet we had been warned of the im-pending doom”.He however remembers his educated uncle who sold his cattle when prices were still good; he had received advice from the forecast-ers and acted on them. Edward is chair of the Longido Community Integrated Program, a local Non-Governmental Organization working with the pastoralist community in Longido district, Tanzania.

For many farmers in Africa, erratic rainfall events have left them susceptible, with no guarantee of food availability in the coming months. The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agricul-ture and Food Security (CCAFS) research however shows this need not be the case. Climate information services can help farmers bet-ter understand, anticipate and manage the risks that a variable and changing climate brings to their livelihoods.

Edward notes that although climate services are important, his com-munity will only benefit if the information is made less technical for all to understand; including the uneducated. His view was shared by a number of stakeholders from across climate, agriculture, health and disaster risk reduction communities who attended a consulta-tive meeting for improving climate services in Tanzania held from 7 – 9 th May 2014.

A national consultation to get national policy-makers to agree to scale up climate services delivery for farmers

By Vivian Atakos, Arame Tall and Alexa Jay

Tanzania’s national consultation workshop on climate services convened over fifty climate scientists, researchers, practitioners, farmers and national policy-makers from across the climate sensitive sectors (of agriculture, health and disaster risk reduction). They dis-cussed climate service needs in the country; and agreed on a plan to scale up climate services for users. The meeting was a dialogue that brought climate scientists face to face with potential users of climate information and services, and built a common ground among them, enabling them to develop a common understanding and craft a joint agreement on how to work together to make climate services useful for vulnerable communities in Tanzania.

The consultation meeting was held just two months following a first kickoff meeting held in February 2014. This meeting brought together government departments involved in the project and inter-national project partners for a high level technical session.

Key workshop outputs

Users were brought face to face with providers of climate services in Tanzania, to understand the range of products the Tanzania Me-teorological Agency (TMA) has on offer and on the other end, have users expressed specific views on usefulness of each service.

“Through this facilitated dialogue we had the chance to hear from our users what kind of information they expect from us and chal-lenges they face in the current setup of weather and climate ser-vices. We ultimately want to ensure our information reaches the end user; in a clear, simple and user friendly manner to facilitate decision making” said Dr. Ladislaus Chang’a from TMA.

A new workshop method brings together climate forecasters and national policy-makers to dialogue, build common ground and agree on a national framework for climate services to get to millions of farmers in the country.


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Smallholder farmers in Tanzania are already using seasonal fore-casts, and forecasts of the start and end of the rainy season, to aid in their decision-making. Smallholder farmers at the meeting asked for additional forecast information, including updates on the progress of the season, which are currently not reaching them. Pastoralists specifically asked for new information including wind forecasts from TMA, information on climate change impacts among others to be delivered at least one month before the rainy season. Warnings about Rift Valley fever outbreaks would also be appreciated by this group.

Key Recommendations A key workshop recommendation was the creation of a national platform to serve as a forum for a sustained dialogue between users and producers of climate services in Tanzania. The main functions of the platform will include: continuous identification of user needs for climate services; communicating available TMA products and services to users in relevant sectors; identification of bottlenecks in improved delivery of climate services; making policy recommenda-tions to the steering committee for climate services; and to consider appropriate mechanisms for developing climate services.

Vivian Atakos is a Communication Specialist with CCAFS East Africa. Arame Tall is the Global Coordinator - Champion for CCAFS Climate Services. Alexa Jay is a Program and Communications Officer for CCAFS theme on Climate Risk Management.

CCAFS is one of the key partners in the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) adaptation programme in Africa and is also serving on the project steering committee to guide project activities and implementation in Tanzania and Malawi between 2014 - 2016. Other partners include: World Meteorological Organization (WMO), CCAFS, the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo (CICERO), International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), the World Health Organization (WHO)and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Read more about the role of CCAFS in the GFCS project: http://bit.ly/1lleSkz

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# 5

For quite some time, the 40th Session of the UNFCCC Sub-sidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) looked bleak in terms of progress on addressing issues relating to agriculture. Despite a wide range of actors, from

parties to observer and non-governmental organisations, raising issues such as food security and adaptation to climate change, Climate-smart Agriculture, sustainable landscapes and links to mitigation through official side events, sessions and meetings, the results of the negotiations were coming up short.

But late into the second week of the sessions, negotiations on agri-culture took a leap forward as the agriculture contact group agreed on constructive steps forward in a two year plan to address issues of adaptation of agriculture to climate change impacts, promoting sus-tainable rural development and productivity of agricultural systems and food security.

The role of agriculture

During the talks in Bonn, many actors pressed hard for a substantial plan for agriculture under the UNFCCC processes. During the Techni-cal Expert Meeting on Land Use on 11 June, the Farmers Constitu-ency presented their views on the role and status of agriculture in the face of climate change:

“It is clear that the risks posed by climate change have a direct bear-ing on food security and the development of the economies of our

Latest UN climate talks bring forward significant results on agriculture and food securityAt the eleventh hour, the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn finally made progress on issues related to agriculture. Here are some of the key results from the negotiations from SBSTA 40.

By Pernille Hoej

rural areas. Farmers face the twin challenge of producing enough food for the world’s growing population while ensuring the liveli-hoods of those whose subsistence depends on agricultural produc-tion,” reads the intervention made by the Farmers Constituency (FC) at the meeting.

The expert meeting touched upon an integrated approach to land use and adaption and mitigation. The issue was raised in a num-ber of interventions, and thus agricultural actors attending SBSTA 40 took forward the discussion of how to integrate adaptation to climate change and mitigation practices and mechanismsThe technical expert meetings ultimately served more as a brain-storming session than as a negotiation, though sharp views still came forward at the meeting:

“The farmers’ constituency encourages you to take the necessary steps here in Bonn to put us safely on track towards a SBSTA work program on agriculture and thereby ensure that an inclusion of agriculture and the land sectors in a 2015 agreement is on a strong scientific footing,” as it further says in the FC intervention.

Key results

On 13 June, progress was finally made at the negotiations. A sub-stantive SBSTA work program on agriculture, despite the call from the FC, was not realized in the conclusions on agriculture, but many of the issues put forward by actors related to agriculture were


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noted. The conclusions set forward activities reaching more than two years into the future, which is groundbreaking, as the past five years, results on agriculture has been rather procedural.

Many delegations mentioned the importance of adaptation activities that ensure food security as the entry point for climate activities in countries facing food insecurity and development challenges.

G-77/China was unified in supporting the conclusions on agriculture. The African Group and the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC) Group played particularly important roles in advocating for the conclusions on agriculture.

In the centre of the conclusion is adaptation at national and local level. The SBSTA agreed to undertake scientific and technical work within the following four areas, the:• Development of early warning systems and contingency plans

in relation to extreme weather events and its effects.• Assessment of risk and vulnerability of agricultural systems to

different climate change scenarios at regional, national and local levels.

• Identification of adaptation measures, taking into account the diversity of the agricultural systems, indigenous knowledge systems and the differences in scale.

• Identification and assessment of agricultural practices and tech-nologies to enhance productivity in a sustainable manner, food security and resilience.

The SBSTA also requested the UNFCCC secretariat to organize in-session workshops on these four elements, the two first to be held at SBSTA 42 (in June 2015) and the two next to be held at SBSTA 44 (in June 2016).

Pernille Hoej is a communications assistant with the CCAFS coordi-nating Unit. This story was developed with important inputs from Anette Engelund Friis (Danish Agriculture and Food Council) and Wendy Mann (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN - FAO).

The parties of SBSTA will submit their views on the four elements from the final conclusions on agriculture by February 2015. Reports from the first two workshops will be considered at SBSTA 43, held during COP 21 in Paris. Reports from the next to workshops will be considered one year after at SBSTA 45.

What now?

The results mark the start of, if not a program, then a much clearer course on agriculture – decisions in Paris can be taken regardless of the results, but nevertheless the SBSTA can inform parts of this pro-cess. The more direct links between mitigation and adaptation was also left out, but adaption co-benefits were included, which gives space for mitigation activities that occur through actions for adapta-tion. This is complementary to climate-smart agriculture practices.

Another important upcoming event will be the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon’s Climate Summit in New York in September 2014 – here the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture will be launched to further the agenda for agriculture and climate-smart production practices.

In the meantime, work in the field continues in order to fast-track mitigation of emissions from agricultural production and enhance adaptation to climate change for smallholder farmers.

Read full coverage of CCAFS activities at SBSTA: http://bit.ly/1mvzCWE

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Big facts: focus on sub-saharan AfricaThis story spotlights some of the Big Facts on Sub-Saharan Africa, and is part of a special blog series to complement the new Big Facts infographics website.

All regions are challenged by climate change but some are facing tougher challenges than others. In Sub-Saharan Africa, severe climatic changes, low adaptive capacity and high levels of food insecurity make for a tough task.

But large unused tracts of land, potential to significantly increase yields, as well as a young and growing population, offer glimmers of hope.

Population growth about to step up a gear

In some countries, population growth is slowing, others are in the midst of growing, and then there are those just getting started. The countries of Sub-Saharan Africa belong to the latter group. Currently a bit below a billion, the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is project-ed to reach more than 2 billion or 22% of the world total by 2050. By 2080, Sub-Saharan Africa will be the only region in the world with a population that is still growing. All other regions are projected to experience a slowdown in population growth and eventually a shift towards negative growth, as is already seen in some European countries (UN-DESA, 2013).

Undernutrition set to get under control

In many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, food insecurity is a serious problem. This region has the highest prevalence of undernutrition according to the latest projection by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. However, while 21.4% of the population is projected to be undernourished in 2015, this is expected to decrease to 14.5% by 2030 and 7.1 % by 2050 (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012: 27).

While this is good news, increasing the diversity of diets in Africa still remains a key issue; roots, tubers and plantains have traditionally been the mainstay of food consumption in several of the Sub-Saha

By Simon Bager

ran African countries. Ten countries depend on these products for over 30% of food consumption in terms of calories (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012: 48).

A continent of contrasts when it comes to crop yields

In a study of changes to yield under climate change, Ray and col-leagues found that, “Africa is a continent of contrasts”. For example, maize yields will have doubled by 2050 in some isolated areas of Ethiopia, Angola, South Africa, and Madagascar, but they are decreasing in Chad, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Another problem is that even in those areas where yields are grow-ing, in some places they are not growing as fast as the population, meaning that production per capita is likely to decline (Ray et al. 2013: 5).

# 6


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insecure land tenure, poorly developed markets, trade barriers, and inadequate infrastructure also contribute to vulnerability (UNEP, 2011).

On the positive side, climate change is bringing communities together with researchers and other partners and adaptation and mitigation actions are starting to occur on the ground. These efforts have been successfully targeting women farmers who are the most affected and already a few champion farmers are rising above the challenges faced by climate change and are showing others the way.

Impacts on crops

As a sector heavily dependent on the climate, agriculture will be exposed to the impacts of climate extremes in Africa. As climate change progresses, it is increasingly likely that current cropping systems will no longer be viable in many locations.

Jones and Thornton (2008) found that under a range of scenarios to 2050, 35 million farmers across 3% of the continent’s land area will need to switch from mixed crop-livestock systems to livestock only.

There are many conflicting and contradictory predictions of how crop yields will change as a result of climate change, with many predicting declines in key crops, making adaptation all the more important

Emissions: from farms and forests

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the food supply chain in Sub-Saharan Africa are heavily dominated by emissions taking place on the farm and in the first steps of the supply chain; this is exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and market access in many areas, leading to high levels of waste on farm and during post-harvest handling. Overall, however, the amount of food that each person wastes is low compared to most regions.

Looking ahead, a significant part of the GHG emissions generated will likely come from changing land use, specifically deforestation. There are still large unused tracts of land with varying degrees of agricultural potential in several countries. Alexandratos and Bruisma (2012: 113) estimate that about 50% of the land that is expected to be brought under cultivation by 2050 will be in Sub-Saharan Africa. While this could generate large emissions, it also has potential to increase food production significantly, hopefully improving food security in the region.

Impacts on people

To many people in Sub-Saharan Africa, climate change is already a reality. The people who are being hit hardest are those who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. And those living on the land in Africa are especially vulnerable. water management rain-fed system africa irrigation climate change CCAFS big factsOn one front, significant portions of the land rely on rain-fed agriculture, a system which will come under pressure as the temperature and precipita-tion levels change (Tirado and Meerman, 2010: 49). At the same time, a host of non-climate factors such as unequal land distribution,

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Adaptation

As more than 90% of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is rainfed, increasing water-storage capacity, such as small tanks, ponds and reservoirs can help farmers adapt to variability in water supply and increase production (IWMI, 2010). To deal with erratic rainfall, ac-cessible and reliable seasonal weather forecasts will also be needed, crop diversification and insurance systems must be introduced, and in places where flooding is a risk, crops tolerant to submergence should be planted.

Adaptive measures to deal with higher temperatures include crop diversification and the introduction of stress-tolerant varieties, implementing water-conserving agriculture, and exploring options for agroforestry (Oxfam, 2011).

Many local populations in Africa, especially those in the Sahel region, have experienced climate change in the past, and have “de-veloped and realized extensive adaptation strategies that have en-abled them to reduce their vulnerability”. This acquired indigenous knowledge should be utilized to help them and others deal with the impacts of future climate change (Nyong et al., 2007).

Mitigation

Deforestation is an issue in some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and a significant contributor of GHG emissions. By reducing deforestation and forest degradation, emissions could be reduced significantly.

Big Facts is also an open-access resource. You can download and share the graphics with your friends and colleagues and use them in your presentations and reports. Please do not hesitate to send us any suggestions for improvements by sending us an email.

This story is part of a series focusing on the Big Facts on various topics and in different regions; join the conversation at ccafs.cgiar.org/blog and on twitter using #bigfacts

Agroforestry could also contribute to the mitigation of climate change through carbon sequestration. As many as 630 million hect-ares of unproductive cropland and grassland could be converted to agroforestry systems, significantly reducing emissions (Verchot et al. 2004).

Finally, rangelands form the majority of agricultural land in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions. By implementing cropland and grazing land management (e.g. control-ling overgrazing and pasture improvement) significant amounts of carbon can be sequestered (Smith et al., 2007).

Dig deeper

This short post is by no means an exhaustive overview of the various issues related to climate change and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. I invite you to dig deeper into the various facts and graphics on the site and explore the differences and similarities between the different regions. In each of the sections, numerous references are given, should you want to explore a topic further.


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Low agricultural productivity and recurrent food insecurity have already put Ethiopia in a precarious situation, which will only be exacerbated by climate change and variability. To raise awareness on climate change and food security, and

to understand the needs for research and priorities for agricultural adaptation and mitigation in Ethiopia, the Climate Change Forum – Ethiopia (CCF-E), the Ministry of Agriculture, USAID Ethiopia and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) East Africa organized a national conference in July 2011, in Addis Ababa.

The two day conference on Raising Awareness on Climate Change and Food Security in Ethiopia aimed to: review and assess the vulnerability and risks to Ethiopian agriculture as a result of climate change; explore the threats faced by Ethiopian agriculture as a result of climate change; identify gaps and opportunities in addressing the challenges of climate change; and create a plan for integrating adaptation and mitigation actions and policies into the national framework.

Thirteen papers were presented at the conference on a range of top-ics. The recommendations from these papers provide a solid frame-work for the Ethiopian government to improve its climate change policies and enhance its research in critical sectors and regions. The

Climate change vulnerability and risk assessment of agriculture and food security in Ethiopia: which way forward?A recently published working paper gives recommendations that provide a solid framework for the Ethiopian government to improve its climate change policies and enhance its research in critical sectors and regions.By Catherine Mungai

groundwork has been laid through such documents as the Climate Resilient Green Economy mission statement and the Ethiopian Pro-gramme of Adaptation on Climate Change.

Key recommendations from this workshop include enhancing capacity in key sectors such as agro-meteorological advisories and downscaling climate change models, improving agricultural exten-sion services especially for women, increasing research in new crop varieties, and creating policies to allow mobility of pastoralists are all key areas which can help reduce the vulnerability of Ethiopian agriculture to climate change.

Catherine Mungai is a Program Specialist with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), East Africa.

Working paper 59 has been authored by Henry Mahoo, Maren Radeny, James Kinyangi and Laura Cramer.

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Access the Working paper here: http://bit.ly/1lau71A

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National governments across East Africa are in the process of formulating and implementing adaptation and mitiga-tion strategies to help farmers cope with climate change. These include formulating actions, frameworks and pro-

grams to address climate change and embedding these within the long-term national development plans. This working paper pro-vides understanding of the current state of national climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for agriculture and provides baseline information for sub-sequent assessments of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

In each country, specific government departments such as Environ-mental Protection Authority (Ethiopia), Ministry of Environment, Water and Mineral Resources (Kenya), Vice President‘s Office (Tanzania) and Ministry of Water and Environment (Uganda) are mandated to coordinate climate change initiatives. In all countries, the Ministry of Agriculture is the focal point for all climate change initiatives related to agriculture. Agricultural Sector Development Plans that provide strategies to boost agricultural productivity and spur economic growth have been prepared either as standalone plans or as part of National Development Plans (NDP). Irrigation, capacity building, enhancing private-public partnership for market development, and creating legal and regulatory environment that can attract investments are some of the priority areas identified for attention in agriculture to enhance climate resilience.

By Mary Nyasimi, Maren Radeny and James Kinyangi

A new working paper provides understanding of the current state of national climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for agriculture and provides baseline information for subsequent assessments of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives for agriculture in East Africa


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All countries have submitted draft National Adaptation Plan of Actions (NAPAs) and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NA-MAs) to UNFCCC, indicating priority interventions. Due to ineligibility to UNFCCC funding, Kenya initiated the National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) and prepared a detailed National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NCCAP) that identified priority immedi-ate, medium and long-term adaptation strategies in agriculture and other sectors.

Government research institutions are equally actively involved. The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and Uganda Ministry of Water and environment have established Climate Change Units, while the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research is taking pivotal role in developing livestock and crop programs geared towards contributing to a Climate Resilient Green Economy. Other initiatives include en-hancing capacity of researchers and professionals in climate change in East Africa, where training is offered by universities as part of their curriculum and short courses in selected research institutions. However, the effectiveness of these initiatives is hampered by lack of a clearly defined strategy and national policy. In addition, there

is lack of documentation of completed and on-going projects thus making it difficult to coordinate initiatives and avoid duplications.

To fund climate change initiatives in agriculture, all governments across the region are sourcing financing from various sources (other governments, foundations and research and development organiza-tions). However, Kenya also seeks financing from local sources within the country such as the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) and the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

Mary Nyasimi, Maren Radeny and James Kinyangi work for CCAFS East Africa. Mary Nyasimi is a Gender and Policy Specialist, Maren Radeny is the Science Officer while James Kinyangi is the Regional Program Leader.

Access the Working paper here: http://bit.ly/1pBzJlF

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Sustainable agriculture land management is paying off for Kenyan farmersFarmers are wearing many hats these days, as they try to increase yields, reduce soil degradation, adapt to climate change, and mitigate it at the same time. Investors, research organizations, and NGOs are teaming up to help farmers receive additional funding for these noble efforts via the carbon market.

By Margie Miller

The World Bank BioCarbon Fund developed a methodology to quantify and give credit for the greenhouse gas benefits of sustainable agriculture land management (SALM) prac-tices a few years ago. The BioCarbon Fund, which mobilizes

finance to help develop projects that sequester or conserve carbon in agro-ecosystems, was one of the first funds to focus on emission reductions from land use, land-use change and forestry sector.

In late 2011, the BioCarbon Fund methodology for SALMs was approved for use by the Verified Carbon Standard, a voluntary greenhouse gas reduction program. To pilot test the new method-ology, the World Bank partnered with the Swedish NGO Swedish Cooperative Center, Vi Agroforestry, to create the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project. Vi Agroforestry, which was already actively training local farmers in SALM practices, planned to use the methodology to measure and give credit for greenhouse gas benefits, providing an additional source of revenue for farmers that incentivized sustain-able practices.

The results? In the last three years, the project has worked with over 1,500 farmer groups. Farmers learned that they would receive one Verified Carbon Unit (VCU) for every metric ton of greenhouse gas they reduced or removed from the atmosphere. In January, the car-bon project issued its first round of carbon credits to these groups for reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by almost 25,000

metric tons of carbon dioxide-equal to emissions of 5,164 vehicles in a year. The carbon credits could be sold on the open market, and the proceeds used to finance other projects or supplement income.

EcoAgriculture Partners, in partnership with the low-emissions agri-culture program of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), has conducted research with this project since 2010 to improve the viability of the carbon project and its benefits for the rural poor in western Kenya.

To improve the quality of farmer trainers, EcoAgriculture Partners, CCAFS, and the Environmental Resources Management Center for Sustainable Development (ERMCSD) recently partnered up with Vi Agroforestry to produce a manual and set of posters for trainers to use to teach farmers about climate change and SALM practices. The materials cover soil nutrient management, tillage and residue management, agronomic practices, integrated pest management, agroforestry, soil and water management, and improved livestock management. Seth Shames, who manages EcoAgriculture Partners participation in the project, is excited about the possibilities for farmers in the program.

In the Vi Agroforestry model, extension outreach is intensive in the first three years of a project, and then gradually phased out. Shames says,


While visiting the project earlier this month, the community facilitators emphasized the importance of the training materials to their success in teach-ing farmers about climate change and the SALM practices. We are monitoring the results of these

trainings and their impact on the capacity of the lo-cal institutions to better manage the project.”

The long-term success of each project ultimately depends on the development of strong organizations of farmer groups that can sustain a project after the NGO is gone. Through these materials, the organizations involved hope to build the capacity of local institutions to support SALM implementation, community-based monitoring, and management of the “carbon bonus”, so that the project is truly sustainable.

Margie Miller provides communications and outreach support at EcoAgriculture Partners, who are working to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services, provide agricultural products sustainably and support viable livelihoods for local people

Download the training manual: Sustainable Agriculture Land Man-agement Practices for Climate Change Mitigation: http://bit.ly/1p26j2n

Science News

Planting trees and livestock-keeping might well go hand-in-hand in helping farmers both mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.

Livestock are often adapted to relatively marginal environments and can diversify rural production, promoting climate resilience. At the same time, trees can provide animal fodder and shelter, soil enrichment and other benefits to farmers, further supporting rural communities.

In East Africa, considerable success has already been achieved by dairy farmers growing the Latin American fodder shrub, calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus). Along with other interventions in the dairy sector, cultivation of this protein-rich species has increased milk production in cows and goats, and therefore farmers’ incomes. There are now more than 200,000 farmers in the highlands of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda growing the shrub.

A new working paper by scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre and the University of Copenhagen analyzes a wide range of issues relating to the future potential of trees as a source of livestock fodder for East Africa under climate change.

Currently there are 3 different livestock production systems in the region: pastoral, agro-pastoral and mixed farming. The type of live-stock system which exists in an area is largely driven by the length of growing period (LGP) of annual crops. Pastoral systems mainly occur

where there is a low LGP and mixed farming systems where the LGP is high. With climate change expected to decrease the LGP in com-ing years, cropping may decrease and farmers will need to improve pasture management and find new feed sources.

Trees may be able to supply feed more sustainably. Because they are able to draw water from deep in the soil and are more resilient to variable weather, they have the potential to provide fodder in dry conditions when shallow-rooted fodder is scarce.

“With weather patterns changing, farmers are looking to alternative ways of managing livestock and crops,” explains Ian Dawson, As-sociate Fellow with the World Agroforestry Centre and lead author of the new working paper. “There is untapped potential for trees to provide livestock fodder and other benefits to pastoralists, but a great deal of uncertainty remains.”

“Successful fodder trees need to display good growth, high feed value and be easy to source and supply,” says Sammy Carsan, [title] and co-author of the study. “The challenge lies in narrowing down to those fodder tree species which are genuinely useful for livestock keepers, and will continue to be so in the future.”

As weather patterns change, the geographic range where different animals can thrive and where particular trees will grow to provide fodder and other desired products is predicted to alter.

Mixing livestock with tree planting: what are the issues?Planting trees and livestock-keeping might well go hand-in-hand in helping farmers both mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Livestock are often adapted to relatively marginal environments and can diversify rural production, promoting climate resilience.

By Kate Langford

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Science News

“We need to model existing and potential future geographic dis-tributions for fodder species,” outlines Dawson. “We also need to better understand the climatic requirements of a wider range of indigenous trees that can be used for fodder, and promote those that are more climate resilient.”

So far, little has been done to exploit the genetic variation within African trees that would be useful for producing fodder, such as ease of digestion, protein content and productivity.

A major obstacle to the uptake of fodder trees in the region to date has been poor seed and seedling systems. The study stresses the need for better quality fodder tree seed sources delivered to farmers by better supply systems and greater extension support.

“We need more field trials on indigenous fodder trees and how they might respond to climate change, such as their drought

tolerance and water use efficiency,” says Carsan.

Kate Langford works as a Science Writer for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

Among the trees which have been identified as potentially suitable for fodder in East Africa are many which also have soil conservation / improvement properties that can support pasture and crop produc-tion. A number provide shade and ethno-veterinary (traditional) medicines for animals.

The working paper also discusses the climate change mitigation potential of fodder trees, and not just through the carbon stored in them. Livestock are responsible for an estimated 9 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, 37 per cent of methane emissions and 65 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions. These emissions are linked to what animals eat and how animal feeds are produced. The use of tree fodders may provide routes away from high emission pathways, however full ‘life cycle’ analyses of emissions are required (from production to consumption of feeds).

Download the full paper: http://bit.ly/1fLIqet

Assessing loss and damage from the double impact of floods and droughts in MozambiqueA recent study by CCAFS, ILRI and UNECA on loss and damage in Mozambique reveals communities still face acute food security problems as current coping strategies are inadequate.

By Catherine Mungai, Felisberto Maute and Saskia Hendrickx

The famous Limpopo, the Zambezi and the Save are three of Mozambique’s main rivers. Located on the south-eastern coast of the African continent, the country is exposed to a number of extreme weather events including droughts,

floods and tropical cyclones. The economy is largely dependent on agriculture, and communities rely on fishing, livestock keeping and rain-fed farming as important parts of their livelihood.

Destruction to crops from extreme weather and falls in agricultural productivity from drought threaten the food security, health and economic stability of many Mozambicans. The country’s three main rivers play a critical role in the occurrence of the double impact of floods and droughts affecting vulnerable communities living along their banks. Consequently, the unique nature of Mozambique provides a useful area in which to explore loss and damage in the context of social vulnerabilities and resilience.

Drought and floods impact livelihoods

Since September 2012, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Mozambique, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the United Nations Eco-nomic Commission for Africa (UNECA) through the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) have been undertaking a joint research project in Mozambique. This research aims to understand the impact of droughts and floods on maize production and how it leads to loss

and damage among rural households in southern and central Mo-zambique.

He further pointed out that communities tend to reside close to the river banks where they are faced with the risks of flooding and are forced to relocate upland to drought prone areas. Due to their low adaptive capacity, communities face challenges recovering from the losses they face as a result of floods and drought.

A survey of 303 households was conducted in four districts – Chibu-to, Mabote, Caia and Mopeia.The study sites within each district were selected based on the assumption that they represented particular vulnerability and exposure to floods and drought.

Current coping strategies are not enough

Major findings from the study reveal that floods and droughts severely affected the households surveyed. Indeed 86% of

the households were severely affected by floods while 84% by droughts,“ said Benjamin Ange Brida, a research fellow at ACPC

and the principal investigator of the project.

“Despite having various coping strategies in place, communities still face acute food security problems,” continued Benjamin

Ange Brida.

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Science News

In spite of the ‘powerlessness discourse’ often used at international level when a disaster occurs, rural communities in Mozambique have developed several coping strategies to deal with floods and droughts. These include: selling assets such as livestock, relying on assistance from social networks that include family and non-governmental organizations and diversifying their income generating activities. However despite these strategies, 48% of households still suffer the negative effects of floods. A significant majority (77%) indicated that their coping strategies did not prevent adverse effects of drought.

The researchers recommend the improvement of irrigation systems as a strategy which government can use to help the communities to cope with the challenges.

What is the role of policy?

According to the study, policymakers need better information, empirical data and analysis of both the challenges and the potential solutions.

During a validation workshop held on 27th March 2014 at the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM) in Maputo, participants discussed how the study findings can feed into national policies and ongoing international discussions on loss and dam-age. Drawn from different provinces, the 19 participants including farmers, NGOs, CGIAR centers, national research and meteorological institutions emphasized the need for improving the downscaling and sharing of early warning information. In her opening remarks, Dr.

Saskia Hendrickx is the Country Coordinator - ILRI Mozambique.Felisberto Maute is a Research Assistant, International Livestock Research Institute, Mozambique.Catherine Mungai is a Program Specialist, CCAFS East Africa.

As a next step, the researchers need to seek audience with the Mozambique government to share with them the findings of the research which they can use as they conduct global negotiations, he further advised.

The study has shown that current negative impacts are already translating into societal and individual loss and damage. However, more research is needed to quantify the losses in economic terms to guide comprehensive national and international policy.

“This study is the beginning and will form the base for undertak-ing further research work on assessing the adaptive capacity of communities in Mozambique,” pointed out Dr. James Kinyangi, the Regional Program Leader for CCAFS East Africa, during the

workshop.

Siboniso Moyo, the ILRI Regional Representative for Southern Africa emphasized the need for information, robust research and adequate funding. She further pointed out that the findings from the study will provide critical information for planning and decision making.

Further reading: http://bit.ly/1kChieM

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Genetic erosion threatens resilience of Ethiopian Boran cattleThe genetic makeup of the Ethiopian Boran cattle breed is under threat, a recent study has shown.

By Getachew Gebru, Tesfaye Alemu and Solomon Desta

Boran cattle are undoubtedly the most important indig-enous breed in the lowlands of southern Ethiopia for beef and milk production. Among the local cattle populations, the Boran cattle are superior and one of the most suitable

cattle breed for arid and semi-arid regions of Ethiopia. As a result of natural and artificial selection, the breed has developed greater ability to survive, grow and reproduce in conditions of high ambi-ent temperature, poor feed quality, water shortage and disease including tick infestations.

A recent study carried out by scientists from Managing Risks for Improved Livelihoods (MARIL) and Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI) in Ethiopia with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) shows that the genetic makeup of the Ethiopian Borana cattle breed is under threat. The study was conducted in Yabello and Arero dis-tricts in the Borana plateau—one of the CCAFS sites in East Africa.

The level of admixing observed from survey data and herd level ob-servation and other sources of information show recurrent drought, inter-clan and ethnic conflicts, lack of awareness about inbreeding and selective breeding coupled with pasture deterioration contrib-ute to genetic erosion. Other factors contributing to genetic erosion include restocking programmes by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), emergence of unplanned cultivation together with re-stricted movement and extension of markets. Diverse indicators of genetic erosion were used and included small animal sizes, low milk yield and mixed colour.

Neglect of traditional livestock production systems arising from commercialization of animal agriculture and change in traditional production systems is threatening the security of most of the indig-enous breeds; in addition, drought and civil conflict have reduced localized populations. With the current trend in climate variability and the resultant increase in the frequency of drought and other calamities the Borana breed is coming under threat. Pastoral com-munities are reporting changes in the phenotypic characteristics of the breed.

The study assessed the level of genetic erosion for Borana cattle and the different forms of admix and their relationship with climate variability using various methods. These included participatory ap-proaches to collect information from the older generation as well as the youth. Additional information was collected through a system-atic survey that allows for the measurement of genetic erosion and the different forms of admixes in the target sites. Information col-lected included the causes of loss that result in changes in produc-tion and productivity of the Borana cattle and its feature to resist drought and disease; herd characteristics and breed structure; herd size dynamics; reproductive and productive characteristics and cattle breed phenotypic description ( coat pattern, hair length and type, the horn and hump appearance).

The findings show limited use of artificial insemination service, with over 90% of the pastoralists in this study using natural uncontrolled mating, a possible reason for inbreeding. Few households (less than 10%) use natural controlled mating through group mating and,

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Field Updates

herding the other steers separately. Lack of awareness about selec-tive breeding can contribute to the inbreeding, leading to genetic erosion. Moreover, conflict through cattle raiding contributed to inbreeding as such animals were reared to increase their numbers regardless of their genetic makeup. NGO restocking programme on the other hand contributed to the inbreeding particularly when they fail to reinstate the original breed constitution of the target livestock population, or when community preferences are disregarded. How-ever, the impacts of such re-stocking programmes have not been documented.

Recommendations from the study

Continued natural selection for small sized animals’ due to recurrent droughts is one of the threats facing the genetic identity of indige-nous Borana cattle. Breed conservation strategies, therefore, should focus on breaking the cycle of natural disaster, which is a major

Getachew Gebru and Solomon Desta are scientists with Managing Risk for Improved Livelihoods (MARIL) in Ethiopia. Tesfaye Alemu works for the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute

Editing by Vivian Atakos and Maren Radeny of CCAFS, East Africa

challenge to the productive animals. Another recommendation is a community based and open nucleus breeding strategy be insti-tuted at community and government research levels together with necessary awareness creations and training in relation to climate change. This will ensure the Borana breed is further developed for sustainable utilization and conservation supported by the molecular level characterization. Lastly, more work is needed on the molecular characterization of the existing Borana cattle to know the inbreeding level and to estimate the extent of admixing with the small size zebu breeds.

Access CCAFS Site Atlas: Borana/ Yabello in Ethiopia: http://bit.ly/1oQwxBQ

Improving potato yields for farmers in the Usambara highlandsAction research by the International Potato Centre promises to deliver better potato varieties for smallholder farmers in Northern Tanzania.

By Dieudonné Harahagazwe, Roberto Quiroz and George Sayula

An ongoing but promising study in the densely populated Lushoto district, Northern Tanzania aims to empower farmers to plant potatoes year round while increasing yields. Preliminary findings show that advanced clones

and improved varieties that include Asante, Shangii and Obama currently being tested outperform local varieties such as Kidinya in terms of resistance to potato late blight disease.

Potatoes are one of the most important food crops grown in sub Saharan Africa. In deed a much higher proportion of sub Saharan African’s diet is made up of cereals, roots and tubers. The region’s population is set to double by 2050 and triple by 2100. Therefore, with current global trends in diets and population, 60 percent more food will be needed in 2050

Supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), East Africa, this study was initiated in 2013 and is led by the International Potato Center (CIP) in partnership with the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Lushoto District Agricultural and Livestock Development Office (DALDO), YARA Tanzania Limited, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s).Out of six clones being tested, one got a score of 45 percent of the total vote against one percent for the local kidinya variety when it comes to resistance to potato late blight disease; which can occur at any time during the growing season. The disease is however more likely to be seen during cool wet seasons and spreads rapidly killing plants within a few days. In terms of preferences by gender, for improved varieties, men preferred Asante whereas Shangii was

preferred most by women. The reasons for these preferences will be determined in subsequent trials.

Lushoto district is part of the Usambara highlands of Tanzania where potatoes are traditionally grown. With an annual production of around 100,000 tonnes, the area produces more potatoes than some countries like Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo or Mo-zambique (FAOSTAT 2013). However, most of the potatoes produced in Lushoto are local varieties among which ‘Kidinya’ is the most dominant. Farmers can only plant economically once a year because this variety is sensitive to potato late blight disease and heat.

The research process

The action research model applicable in this study is intensive, as most of the partners involved in facilitation are also trainees. Tested by CIP for the first time in three districts of Mozambique, the ap-proach consists of combining training-of-trainers (ToT) and participa-tory varietal selection experiments (PVS).

“The most important way of controlling late blight is to prevent its onset in the field – its control being very costly and thus less acces-

sible to small - scale farmers when symptoms are already visible. Coming up with resistant potato varieties for use in the region is therefore a game changer” says Dieudonné Harahagazwe of CIP.

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The mother – baby approach is being employed in the trials. This entails testing all genotypes us-ing standard on station experimental procedure with replications (called the mother trial), and having a set of farmers planting the same mate-rial (called baby trials). In this case, the mother trial was conducted at the Lushoto Resource Center and three villages (Kwesine, Boheloi and Maringo) ran the baby trials.

The best genotypes selected after two growing seasons will be submitted for official release prior to starting seed multiplication and dis-semination. Seed dissemination in the villages will be accompanied with empowerment of end-users through Farmer Run Field Schools.

Lushoto is one of CCAFS Climate Smart Villages, sites where researchers, development partners, and farmers are testing climate-smart agricul-tural interventions. The aim is to boost farmers’ ability to adapt to climate change, manage risks and build resilience. At the same time, the hope is also to improve livelihoods and incomes and, where possible, reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions to ensure solutions are sustainable.

Dieudonné Harahagazwe is a Crop Ecophysiol-ogy and Modeling Scientist, International Potato Center, KenyaRoberto Quiroz is the Interim Integrated Crop and Systems Research Program Leader, and Production Systems and the Environment Sub-Program Leader, International Potato Center, PeruGeorge Sayula is the Lushoto site team leader - he is a researcher with the Selian Agricultural Research InstituteElmar Schulte-Geldermann, Cecilia Turin, Asrat Amele, Merideth Bonierbale, Victor Mares, Gladness Brush, Elizabeth Msoka, Mary Rimoy and Andrew Exaud are also contributing to this study.Editing of this article was done by Vivian Atakos, Communications Specialist, CCAFS East Africa

Field Updates


Read more about ongoing research in Lushoto: Better bean varieties for Usambara’s rural poor: http://bit.ly/1jEBBNl

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New analysis suggests gender differences in how farmers adapt to climate-smart agricultureA recent gender-focused study conducted in baseline sites in East Africa reveals some interesting results related to how men and women farmers access climate-information and are adopting climate-smart practices and strategies.

By Timothy Muthee Mburu

Joash Mango, a researcher with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and Edith Ampaire, researcher with the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) recently presented initial

findings from their recently conducted gender-focused household survey.

Their presentation “Understanding Gender and Climate Change” attracted a number of participants as it was held during a well-or-ganized Gender Workshop at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in mid-May. The workshop, organized by CCAFS and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) had the ambition to present the latest research and findings out there on gender, climate change and agriculture.

The farm based studies were conducted in three of our baseline CCAFS sites, mainly in Nyando and Wote in Kenya, and Rakai in Uganda. In each site, an intra-household survey was conducted whereby men and women were interviewed separately. In total 200 households were visited.

The study, which will be released later this year, revealed that more male farmers in Nyando and Rakai had adopted to climate change through changes in agriculture practices, as compared to women in these two sites. Joash mentioned that “men are planting trees on their farms, while practicing mixed farming.”

On the contrast, the preliminary findings reveal that:

“Women in Wote have changed planting dates, planting variety of crops in order to minimize the risks of crop failure and some have even gone to an extent of planting trees on their farms” said Mango.For the women farmers in Nyando it is a different story: “women in Nyando don’t have enough information on climate changes, and therefore don’t see the need to adopt,” said Mango.

As we know, women can adopt and sustain climate change strategies and good agricultural practices when given the opportunity, in many cases they are just as likely as men to adopt climate-smart practices. However the adoptation of climate change practices among women is tied to the unequal access of resources between men and women, and this include limited decision making abilities for women in rural households, Mango explained.

More men in Nyando and Rakai had adopted climate smart agri-cultural practices as compared to women. The results also reveal that men have higher access to capital and community services as compared to their female counter parts.

One very interesting finding that came out was that men in Nyando are more aware of different climate change practices as compared to men in Wote and Rakai. This explains why men in Nyando have adopted climate change strategies as opposed to men in the other CCAFS sites said the authors.

Timothy Muthee is a communications intern with the Theme of Link-ing Knowlege with Action, CCAFS. Story edited by Cecilia Schubert, Communications officer for Theme 4.

Explore our gender work: http://bit.ly/1qNzsxE


Field Updates

# 15

Traditionally, farming communities across Africa have always used traditional knowledge to forecast the weather and plan accordingly for the season. This mainly happened within the private confines of families and their immedi-

ate neighbors. However, across several villages, nested deep in the Usambara Mountains, North East of Tanzania, small holder farmers are now benefitting from traditional weather forecasting informa-tion gathered by village based groups of experienced traditional weather forecasters.

Even more interesting, these committees of traditional weather forecasters (IK) drawn from several villages in Lushoto meet, after every 3 months, with a team of experts from Tanzania Meteorologi-cal Agency (TMA) where scientific forecasting is done to compare the data. This has led to a healthy cross pollination and gradual inte-gration of indigenous knowledge and scientific weather and climate forecasting for risk management.

“When scientific and indigenous knowledge approaches are utilized, better results can be obtained for guiding local farmers in making critical farming decisions” said George Sayula, an agricultural officer with the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in Arusha, Tanzania.

Working together to integrate traditional and scientific knowledge

This initiative is part of an ongoing project on promoting integration of indigenous knowledge and scientific weather and climate fore-casting for risk management under a changing climate in Lushoto

Traditional forecasting meets science for climate risk managementTraditional forecasters meet with climate scientists. What follows is a healthy cross pollination of ideas enabling vulnerable communities to make better farming decisions.

By Wilson Ugangu, Philip Kimeli and George Sayula

District, Tanga Region. Conceived jointly by Tanzania’s Sokoine Uni-versity of Agriculture and the Tanzania Meteorological Agency, with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agri-culture and Food Security (CCAFS), this project has served to validate traditional knowledge systems particularly at a time when effort is being made to combat the effects of climate change on food security among the most vulnerable rural communities across the world.

The project has several goals, key of which include, supporting IK forecasts in Lushoto as well as the dissemination of and up scaling of weather forecast information to the wider community so that each farmer is empowered.

According to a Baseline Survey conducted in the area in 2011 by CCAFS and partners, 21 % and 24 % of households still relied on indigenous knowledge with respect to forecasts of extreme events and timing of the start of the rains respectively.

Alloyce Shangali and his team of six other traditional weather forecasters from Yamba Village say that their findings are based on keen and consistent observations of certain indicators. These include appearance of thrips (insects) on surrounding wetland areas to in-dicate a good rain season. Additionally, flowering of fruit trees such as peaches and plums is a sign of rainfall. Other indicators include animal behavior, appearance of the sun, moon and the direction of the wind among others. This practice is informed by a foundation of indigenous cultural knowledge that goes back many generations.

Teams of traditional weather forecasters in villages such as Mbuzii and Yamba meet twice a month to deliberate and set an agenda for

30

their work. At each meeting they review the previous forecast and whether it came to pass or not. “We have a lot of confidence in what we do,” noted 66 years old, Alloyce Shangali, who is also spokesper-son for the Yamba group of forecasters.

“Each time we forecast, there are differences with previous seasons,” explained Kariati Shambiru a member of the traditional forecasters group. These variations, as he further notes, indicate the uncertainty in future climatic conditions and the importance of working with climate scientists at TMA.

Under a new multiagency programme expected to run from 2014-2016, TMA will seek to improve the accuracy and range of its short-term weather and longer-term seasonal forecasts.

Dissemination of climate forecasts to communities

After the formal meetings with the TMA team in Lushoto, forecasts are integrated and packaged for dissemination to the wider com-munity. Several dissemination tools are being used to reach out to the wider community in Lushoto. The most innovative of these tools is the FarmShort Messaging Service (SMS) tool designed for sending climate forecast information to farmers.

Phillip Kimeli and Wilson Ugangu work for CCAFS. Phillip is a Research Assistant while Wilson is a Communications Consultant. George Sayula is the Lushoto site Team Leader and he works for the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI).The blog was edited by Vivian Atakos, Communications Specialist for CCAFS East Africa.

Through the FarmSMS service, subscribed farmers receive timely climate information including alerts and advisories, weather and climate forecasts that are issued by TMA to the farming community in the Swahili national language. In other cases, word of mouth or interpersonal information exchanges, posters as well as flyers are used to reach as many farmers as possible with the latest forecasts.

Alloys Shangali says that the seasons have changed. The amount of rains that the Lushoto region used to receive has reduced, crop yields too have dwindled. The region’s population however contin-ues to expand, forcing farmers to cultivate steep slopes which was not the case three or four decades back. All in all, the Yamba village committee of traditional weather forecasters agrees that these are danger signs. More than ever, the community requires our services to effectively adapt to these changing conditions, he concludes.

Additional Reading: http://bit.ly/1jWSRhn


# 16

What does a climate-smart farm look like?

By Cecilia Schubert

Lower Nyando in western Kenya is one of a growing number of climate-smart villages set up in six locations across East Africa

by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Here farmers test new practices to cope with climate impacts, while showing others how they too can reap the benefits.

Climate-smart agriculture has the potential to help farmers adapt to and mitigate climate change, while boosting yields and incomes. The farm activities have a research purpose too - to see which practices and activities work where and in what climate.

The project is being implemented by the CCAFS East Africa program, CGIAR research centres such as the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), ViAgroforestry, Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI), World Neighbors, Kenya’s ministries of livestock, development and agricul-ture, community-based organisations and the private sector including Magos Farm Enterprises.

A profile of farmers (including women) from Nyando climate-smart villages who give us insights on best farming practices

Field Updates

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A key feature of the climate-smart sites is that they are open to visitors wanting to learn more about different agriculture practices. John is very enthusiastic about teaching others. “Everything I do here is like an open book. Anyone is welcome to come and ask me questions. I am happy to help,” he says, smiling.

Edward Ouko (pictured right) is another climate-smart farmer from the Nyando area. He is growing drought-tolerant and fast-maturing sorghum that he says is doing really well on his plot.

Apart from sorghum, Edward is also experi-menting with hybrid watermelons, toma-toes, green gram and beans, investigating which hybrid varieties perform best in the region’s increasingly hot and dry climate. Edward’s many experiments could hold the key to long-term solutions for farmers in the area.

Through inter-cropping maize and sorghum plants with fruit trees, John Oboum has been able to boost soil fertility and yields on his plot. He sells the fruit to earn extra money, as well as fruit tree seedlings to neighbours, advising them how to plant. (See photos on page 31).

Together with the International Livestock Research Institute and World Neighbors, CCAFS is collaborating with Oboum and other farmers to test hybrid sheep and goat breeds. These animals are more tolerant of heat, mature faster and produce milk. Oboum nowhas milk both to give to his children and sell. He is being trained by CCAFS on what to feed his animals, which vaccinations they need,

Farmer Peris Owiti (pictured left) receives training and seeds from CCAFS. She champions climate-smart farm practices on her demonstration plot, which she shows to female community members. Since February, she has been leading work to test drought- and pest-resistant seeds, as well as fast-maturing hybrid crops, comparing them to the performance of local varieties.

“It is important to include female champion farmers within the climate-smart village project, to ensure that women get role models to look up to, and a natural informant within their own networks,” says CCAFS East Africa gender expert Mary Nyasimi. Owiti has so far trained five women in her area to test drought-resistant crops, and her ambition is to reach many more.

and how to care for the offspring. He reports back on how the ani-mals are doing, so researchers can document if these hybrids might be a working climate solution for Kenyan farmers.

A key feature of the climate-smart sites is that they are open to visitors wanting to learn more about different agriculture practices. John is very enthusiastic about teaching others. “Everything I do here is like an open book. Anyone is welcome to come and ask me questions. I am happy to help,” he says, smiling.


Field Updates

To support ongoing farm initiatives by the Lower Kamula Youth Group (Members pictured above). CCAFS and local partners looked into constructing a small greenhouse that could help the group adapt to an increasingly variable climate. Covered with polythene and combined with drip irrigation lines, this greenhouse saves water while protecting crops against flooding and drought, and offers bet-ter control of pests and diseases.

The first crop grown in the greenhouse was tomatoes. After harvest-ing, a plump tomato can be sold for 5 KSH ($0.05) at the market, adding up to a secure income for the group. Here youth group mem-bers dismantle tomato plants, making room for new crops.

Outside the greenhouse the group is testing hybrid crops, such as drought-resistant Sukuma Wiki, a nutritious green vegetable, green beans and sorghum, using drip irrigation.

Cecilia Schubert works as a Communications Officer for CCAFS Theme 4, including Linking Knowledge to Action.

The group was also exploring the idea of fish farming, so CCAFS helped it get connected with partners to combine the local water pan with a fish pond, now holding 1,000 male tilapia. Depending on their size, the fish can be sold for 300-600 KSH ($3.5-7).

Making sure the fish get the right quality food and nutrients is important. CCAFS helped train the group on what to feed the fish and when, as well as how to integrate water management with fish farming.

The group has done very well, earning $240 in one year. The ambi-tion now is to help others in the community make a prosperous liv-ing out of farming by training them in “climate-smart” activities too.

This story has been reproduced from the Thomas Reuters Foundation website

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# 17

‘Akoro’ no more: cassava multiplication techniques help Ugandan farmers achieve a food secure futureIn Napak district in Uganda, farmers are facing a more food secure tomorrow thanks to cassava multiplication techniques.

By Cuthbert Aongat

Roasted cassava is very popular in the Orungo trading center for travelers. If you don’t buy it there and then, you will hard pushed to find anything else on your way to Karamoja in Uganda! In fact, as you enter Iriiri trading centre of

Napak district, you will probably not find anything but cassava to eat.

As you travel down to Napak district you might also find yourself hating everything, asking yourself why you chose to travel to such a hard to reach place. By then you have spent a minimum of 2-3 days traveling before entering Moroto town, on roads that are poorly constructed, muddy and slippery... waooo!

When you greet the locals, the common response is “Akoro” which means hunger, because that is what the region is known for, despite the many interventions attempted by humanitarian and develop-ment actors!

Cassava, the crop the Karimojong once referred to as “eloma bon” (grows alone) has brought hope to end hunger in some parts of the region.

This story showcases a few of the successful farmers that have been supported by a few NGOs in promoting cassava growing.

A turn of events: from raiding to farming

Rajab Angolere of Kokipurat village, about 9km from Lorengechora trading center tells his story on how cassava growing has trans-formed his life and secured food for his family of 12 throughout the year. He confessed himself as former drunkard and cattle rustler who abandoned raiding and drinking for farming.

He took up cassava multiplication in 2011-2012 when NGOs intro-duced cassava growing as one important food security crop for the region.

His family used to either migrate to the neighbouring Teso in search for food or rely on borrowing. In desparate times he would go raiding in order to meet a day’s meal; food aid was never enough because his family was growing in size.

When he received 10 bags of cassava cuttings in 2011, he planted one and half acres. He later cut the stems and replanted in five acres of land. This made his production multiply with additional planting material distributed in 2012. In 2013 he was able to plant 10 acres of cassava after multiplying cuttings.

“At this time, many households couldn’t see the value in this ven-ture; before I took this venture, hunger was looming and my family

suffered equally with the rest of the community.”


Field Updates

This year 2014, Rajab has been able to harvest six metric tones of cassava from his own gardens with more than another 5 Metric tons still remaining in his garden. In October 2013, Rajab sold 40 bags of cassava cuttings. He invested that money in further cultivation, paid school fees for his children and solved other immediate household issues. He now supplies dry and fresh cassava to Lorengechora Mar-ket and to Moroto town.

Farmer turned bee-keeper

Understanding the long term effects of hunger, Angolere consoli-dated cassava growing with bee keeping as an alternative income generating activity for his household. Rajab established 20 bee hives and now owns an apiary project.

He is optimistic that bee keeping will earn him a better income because there is a high potential in his community to produce sweet and delicious honey.

Cassava pays for school in Tepeth

In Iriiri Sub County-Losikait Village in Tepeth parish, about 3km from Iriiri trading centre, another successful farmer of 7 children took me to her home to witness the harvest she is getting from growing cassava.

Mrs. Adungo Paul explained that they have so far harvested 6 tonnes of cassava which their family is going to sell for tuition fees for their children.

Read all the winning stories from CCAFS open blog competition: http://bit.ly/1sx1p0J“I am an active farmer now in my village; people come to learn and

actively participate; when they come, I ask them to support me to cultivate more crops and in return I give them some food,” Rajab

explained.

This was the winning story in the CCAFS open blog competition, from the East Africa region.

Cuthbert Aongat is making a difference to food and farming in his community via his newly created organisation ‘Community focus Uganda’, focusing on food and agriculture development (among other things). He is also working at Action Against Hunger as an assistant food security and livelihoods coordinator while develop-ing his skills as a news journalist, highlighting stories like this one, online.

When asked if they have enough to consume at household level, she said: “Additional 4 acres of cassava are yet to be harvested and these will cater for this entire hunger gap until the next season. Besides we have three acres currently planted and will be ready for consumption by September 2014.” She added that part of the cas-sava being harvested will be stored for home consumption while the other will be sold in the market.

Mrs. Adungo explained that with the current harvest and the hard work that their family is putting in, food aid is no longer their prior-ity, the family can now afford food when they need it. Their main concern is how to earn more income to support their household and pay tuition fees for their children.

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Uncovering gender perceptions and beliefs in the search for climate information“So, the men tell us that they weave baskets and ropes to sell?” The women of Lower Kamula village laugh and look at each other in amusement. “They do, but not for long. For us, it is our main source of income next to farming.”

By Cecilia Schubert

The day before we had had lenthy talks about income gen-erating activities based on gender with the men of Lower Kamula village. Then the men were then saying that they weaved and made rope just as regularly as the women.

This gender-difference in perceptions of roles and responsibilities did strike us as very interesting. It is hard however to tell which tale is the right one. What we do know is that for the women, this in-come generating activity is central to them. One woman farmer said that when the drought was at its worst, she kept weaving baskets and making ropes in order to pay for food for the household. This was not something we caught among the male participants.

Finding potential gender differences through participatory methodsThe “Socially Inclusive Participatory Research and Development for Climate Change and Food Security Guide” will be released later this year.

Led by CCAFS, it is the product of multiple partners, including CARE, WeEffect and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Tested in both Kenya and Ghana, it builds on a previous gender, agriculture and climate research manual released in 2012 by FAO and CCAFS.So how did these gender-based discussions around basket weaving and rope making come about?We, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is currently testing an upcoming Practitio-ner’s Guide for gender and social research in Western Kenya and in Ghana together with partner CARE.

The guide includes several participatory action research modules that will help researchers and development workers find and analyse gender and social differences in rural communities related to climate change and agriculture.

Are men and women experiencing climate change the same way?

The idea with this particular participatory session is to pick up on potential differences between men and women, regarding how they perceive changes in the climate.

The session also helps researchers find out how men and women are responding to these changes (by turning to alternative income generating activities like basket weaving), and if gender in some instances might be a hindernace to the adoption of new agricultural practices or other activities.

When we discussed how the weather has changed in the past 10 years, both the men and women in Lower Kamula village expe-rienced these changes fairly similar. Both groups said they had experienced a decrease in rain but a higher intensity when the rains did come. Crops had failed the year before and many expressed that they had had to sell livestock to provide food for the family.

In another village, a bit further up in the Kenyan mountains, again both men and women were experiencing the changes in the weath-er fairly similarly, but we did pick up on a few more gender-specific beliefs and perceptions on roles and responsibilities that we thought were interesting.

# 18


“There is just something about the woman’s biology that can make the crops rot“

In this village, the men decided on when and how to sell animals, whereas women could only make decisions on fodder and milking for example. Men would be the ones selling tobacco as an extra income generating activity, something that was not possible for women. Men and women could both engage in the same activities, such as sand harvesting, making gravel, selling vegetables and crops.

“For charcoal making, women are the ones collecting branches, but we do most of the cutting,” said the men in the group discussions.

Some crops were also reserved for men, like tomatoes. The women also said that the men had asked them to stay away from the toma-toes at some point.

“You know, there is just something about the female biology that destroys the tomatoes,” one male participant told. In the end, they were afraid that due to women’s biology the tomatoes would rot if they go too near them, destroying the whole harvest. A risk they didn’t want to take.

Due to this belief the men try to keep women from producing tomatoes. But seen as many women do grow and sell tomatoes in Western Kenya, it might be safe to say that they are not being very successful!

This is also an old belief. But despite it being old, the idea that women are unclean due to her biology, is still an idea that per-sists and is hampering progress around gender equality.

What are the benefits of this gender-based participatory ses-sion?

In the end, this exercise was about capturing gender differ-ences in how climate change is experienced, which alternative activities people are turning to, to meet the challenge and who in the household makes decisions related to which new farming practices to adopt.These methods can work both for gender-based research activities, but also for development practicioners searching for background information before they implement a new project.

The ambition of the session was also to generate a thought process about the challenges of adopting a number of other climate-smart practices and how they can be overcome. Many women and men want to change but some practices feel in-surmountable to them, like getting a hybrid goat, or having the courage to test new fast-maturing crops.

Linking participatory action research with traditional activities

This work forms a crucial linkage between more “traditional” scientific agricultural research, i.e. knowledge production and the work we do under Theme Linking Knowledge with Action, which is searching for ways to create change on the community level through communication, participation and partnerships.

The guide will asssit development practicioners and research-ers find ways to engage with community members and gather information, while in a participatory way create more in-depth discussions about goals, gender-norms and values, climate adaptation and much more.

As we are testing the manual we are also training partners, CARE and WeEffect in how to use it, thus building capacity and momentum for Participatory Action Research.

The testing was carried out by Taylor Spicer, Intern with Theme Link-ing Knowledge to Action, with support from Cecilia Schubert who works as a Communications officer for the same theme.This session will be modified based on experiences testing the par-ticipatory action guide in Western Kenya and Ghana.

Read additional story from testing the up-coming participatory guide: http://bit.ly/1qk7TjH

Field Updates

In our diary

July

13-142014

July

182014

July - August

28-32014

National training on use of analogue tools and climate scenarios in designing adaptation strategies to climate change.Venue: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Breakfast Briefing on Kenya’s Participation in COP 20 /CMP 10Venue: Nairobi, Kenya

Sep

1-42014

Knowledge Sharing at the Kisumu Agricultural Society of Kenya Fair Venue: Kisumu, Kenya.

July

21-252014

2nd African Continental briefing meeting on pro-moting inclusive finance models for farmers in AfricaVenue:Nairobi, Kenya.

Community Based Adap-tation and Resilience in East and Southern Africa’s DrylandsVenue: Addis Ababa

Sep

232014

UN Climate SummitVenue: New York, USA

Out & About

1. John Goopy, ILRI Research Scientist - Measurement and Mitigation, Livestock GHG Emissions- opening a new office for NECODEP Community Based Organization in Nyando. 2. Part of CCAFS communications team during the 40th Session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) in Bonn, Germany. 3. Sigowet Soin Member of Parliament Hon. Justice K. Kemei, exchanging greetings with Dr. John Recha from CCAFS EA, during the annual farmer learning event in Nyando. 4. BBC journalists filming one of the climate- smart farms in Nyando.

1

2

4

3

CCAFS EA in the media


CCAFS EA in the Media

Kenyan farmers earn carbon credits (The Star) http://bit.ly/UdoNBG

Kenya can lead on climate change adaptation (IRIN) http://bit.ly/1th1qSr

Coral reef restoration can save lives, livelihoods (IRIN) http://bit.ly/1zLhG4r

40

Further Reading and CCAFS Resources

Further Reading

CCAFS Latest Publications

Climate adaptation and agriculture: Solutions to successful national adaptation plans: bit.ly/1kO4IsU

Integrated national policy approaches to climate-smart agriculture. insights from Brazil, Ethiopia, and New Zealand: bit.ly/1r0s4iH

Climate change vulnerability and risk assessment of agriculture and food security in Ethiopia: which way forward? bit.ly/1lau71A

Climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives for agriculture in East Africa: bit.ly/1pBzJlF

Participatory approaches for gender-sensitive research design:bit.ly/1r0sqFX

A community of practice for African researchers and practitioners: bit.ly/1p9iLgw

Resources and Tools

CCAFS website and blog updated daily with news on policy and practice, research, events and downloadable publications from the CGIAR and partners.

Website: bit.ly/1gX2uKi Blog: bit.ly/Blogs_EastAfrica

Adaptation and Mitigation Knowledge Network (AMKN) is a map-based platform for sharing data and knowledge on agricultural adaptation and mitigation. bit.ly/AMKN_Maps

AgTrials Large public repository of agricultural trial data sets, with different crops, technologies and climates. bit.ly/AgTrials

Food Security CASE maps Map-based projections of crop area and yields, average calorie availability, and international trade flows across the world. bit.ly/Casemaps

MarkSim II Generator of future location-specific rainfall series, based on a choice of General Circulation Models. bit.ly/Mark-SimGCM

GCM data portal Set of downscaled climate data sets. bit.ly/Climate_Data

Dataverse Public portal for full CCAFS data sets such as the baseline surveys from CCAFS East Africa sites that include information on farmers’ current adaptive practices. bit.ly/Baseline-Surveys

Big Facts website Get all the links on climate change, agriculture and food security. bit.ly/1gYWjWt

Atlas of CCAFS sites Browse colourful maps of CCAFS research sites in three regions: East Africa, West Africa and South Asia. bit.ly/1iSfwHd

Core Sites in the CCAFS regions This portfolio includes brief descriptions of CCAFS core sites in East Africa, West Africa and South Asia, including coordinates of the sampling frames of the baseline surveys. bit.ly/1dKwrfG

Adaptation and Mitigation Knowledge Network is a map-based platform for sharing dataand knowledge on agricultural adaptation and mitigation. bit.ly/1kiEnng

Climate Analogues This is a tool that uses spatial and temporal variability in climate projections to identify and map sites with statis-tically similar climates across space and time. bit.ly/1pzmVhl

Led by: Strategic partner:

Research supported by:

Fund

Fund

CGIARClimate

@cgiarclimate_EA

CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), East Africa.P.O. Box 30709 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Phone: +254 20 422 3000 Fax: +254 20 422 3001Email:[email protected]: http://ccafs.cgiar.org/regions/east-africa

CCAFS East Africa is hosted by ILRI

Documents

SmartAG Partner April - June 2014