The Guardian has published a second article by Farming First’s Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, who is also CEO of the Food Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) based in southern Africa.

In the lead-up to an international climate change conference in Copenhagen  this December, Dr. Sibanda reveals how agriculture, forestry and other rural land use (AFOLU) projects have been neglected by policymakers as a tool for fighting climate change.  The current carbon trading scheme, established under the Kyoto Protocol, does not acknowledge the important role which agriculture and forestry improvements could make in reducing future carbon emissions and helping poor smallholder farmers cope with present-day changes:

If African farmers are supported in introducing modern methods for growing their crops, they can reduce their emissions while growing more to feed themselves and earn extra incomes. Techniques such as conservation agriculture require less tilling of the land and thus keep more carbon trapped in the soil. Helping farmers access the most up-to-date knowledge and tools can prevent the need for further clearing of natural habitats for agriculture and keep forests and grasslands in tact as vital carbon sinks.

Currently, 14% of carbon emissions are the reuslt of agricultural production while another 18-25% come from deforestation (much of which is to clear land to grow more crops).  Together, this means that one-third or more of emissions comes from these rural areas.

Dr. Sibanda’s first article in the Guardian (in April 2009) talked more generally about the role which agriculture can and should play in helping Africa meet the development benchmarks set forth by the Millennium Development Goals.