The call to action was announced at this year’s annual Agriculture and Rural Development Day, which took place on Saturday 3^rd December in Durban in parallel with the COP17 climate change negotiations. The all-day event brought together more than 500 agricultural experts, including policymakers and negotiators, journalists, farmers and scientists to discuss priorities to boost agricultural production while supporting adaptation and mitigation to climate change.

Dr. Bruce Campbell, Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) said:

It is astonishing that agriculture remains excluded from a global agreement on climate change.  This year’s conference offers a unique opportunity for this omission to be addressed.

Professor Sir John Beddington, Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, outlined a seven-point plan for urgent action for achieving food security in the face of climate change in his keynote presentation. These included integrating food security and sustainable agriculture into global and national policies, raising the level of investment in sustainable agriculture and food systems over the next decade and sustainably intensifying agricultural production whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A number of key learning events took place during the day, which looked at the successes in agricultural adaptation and mitigation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) led a learning event that looked at the tools and policies required to bring food security, adaptation, and mitigation together and shared best practice. At the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) learning event on building the resilience of African smallholder farmers in a changing climate, Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chief Executive of FANRPAN highlighted the importance of research, technology and mobilisation of funding for smallholder farmers in Swaziland, and other regions across Africa. Many other side events on the day provided agricultural organisations with the opportunity to share knowledge on examples of best practice in early action on agricultural adaptation and mitigation that deliver economic and livelihood benefits  – the triple wins we need for climate smart agriculture.

Other high-level speakers at the event included, Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank and Chair of the CGIAR Fund Council, Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Mary Robinson, Chair of the The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice (MRFCJ) and Former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner and Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of South Africa

In the afternoon, there was a high level panel discussion, facilitated by Laurie Goering, Editor of Reuters Alertnet Climate, and included prominent participants such as Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). As the panel discussed taking agricultural productivity and food security into a new era, Spelman put forward the UK’s position on climate-smart agriculture saying:

Coping with climate change is a matter of extreme urgency. There are no simple, one-size-fits-all solutions but rather a rich diversity of approaches used around the world. Climate-smart solutions require smart finance.

Agriculture possesses huge uptapped potential to reduce poverty, bolster food security, adapt to climate change, reduce pressure on natural resources, and in many places lower greenhouse gas emissions. To realise this potential, farmers, fishers, and pastoralists must urgently become “climate-smart”, especially in the developed world, which is being hit hardest by climate change impacts. As the open letter endorsed by the 19 agricultural organisations reads:

Whilst agriculture is a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it has significant potential to be part of the solution to climate change. Preserving and enhancing food security requires increasing agricultural productivity whilst at the time adapting to and mitigating climate change. It also requires a shift towards building farmers’ and vulnerable communities’ resilience to climate shocks, and related food price volatility.

You can read more about the open letter in our previous blog: “Agriculture: A call to action for COP17 climate negotiators”.

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In his interview, he stressed that we will have to figure out how to reduce the impact of producing food, such as deforestation and water consumption.

In his recent article in Nature, Dr. Clay identified eight steps that, if they were all implemented, could enable farming to feed ten billion people in a sustainable manner. In his article, he talks about eight ‘wedges’, which need to be overcome to ensure maximum efficiency, and applies these to Africa.

These ‘wedges’ are:

-       Genetics. Ten crops account for 70-80 per cent of all calories consumed globally. Dr. Clay is “convinced that to increase production, we can’t afford to ignore genetics” and believes that the genomes of staple African crops, such as yams and cassava, should be mapped as a first step to doubling or tripling their productivity.

-       Better practices. For every crop, the best producers globally are 100 times more productive than the worst. Dr. Clay stresses that it takes too long for better practices to be passed along within the farming community in Africa. Technology such as mobile phones can help farmers connect to shared information hubs.

-       Efficiency through technology. Dr. Clay says we need to double the efficiency of every agricultural input, including water, pesticides and energy. There are technologies which can do this, but in Africa, many technologies are two or three generations behind those used elsewhere.

-       Degraded land. Rather than concentrating on farming in new areas, Dr. Clay says that we need to rehabilitate degraded, abandoned or underperforming lands; we should be rehabilitating 100 million hectares by 2030. Most farmland in Africa has been degraded over the past century, but this can be reversed through planting trees and grasses.

-       Property rights. Dr. Clay stresses that the lack of clear property rights is a significant barrier to food security in Africa; how many farmers will invest in land they don’t own? By 2020, according to Dr. Clay we should be aiming for fifty per cent of African households to have a title to the lands they cultivate.

-       Waste. Globally, we waste 30-40 per cent of all food produced, or one in three calories. Dr. Clay claims that if we could eliminate waste, we would halve the amount of new food needed by 2050. In rich nations individuals and institutions waste food, but in countries such as Africa most food waste results from post-harvest losses and lack of infrastructure. The goal in Africa should be to halve post-harvest waste in half by 2030.

-       Consumption. One billion people globally don’t have enough food, yet one billion eat too much. Both of these figures need to be halved by 2030, according to Dr. Clay, with the most urgent focus on those with not enough to eat.

-       Carbon. Soil carbon, or organic matter, is key to conserving farmland for future generations. The single best measure of rehabilitated soil is increasing organic matter from less than 0.5 per cent to two per cent or more; however, half of the world’s top soil (in which the most carbon resides) has been lost in the last 150 years. Carbon markets for agriculture need to be introduced, with a goal of food producers selling 1 billion metric tonnes per year by 2030.

In his article, Dr. Clay says that developing regions will bear the heaviest burden if these steps are not implemented; therefore it is in these regions that solutions should be applied first.

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The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has identified areas where food supplies could be worst hit by climate change. These “hotspots” are located in Africa and South Asia, but may also be in China and Latin America as well.

In fewer than 40 years, CGIAR predicts, the prospect of shorter, hotter or drier growing seasons could imperil hundreds of millions of already-impoverished people. In the map above, the red areas are food-insecure regions that are highly exposed to a potential five percent or greater reduction in the length of the growing season.

Polly Ericksen, a senior scientist at the CGIAR’s International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya and the study’s lead author, said,

These are areas highly exposed to climate shifts, where survival is strongly linked to the fate of regional crop and livestock yields, and where chronic food problems indicate that farmers are already struggling and they lack the capacity to adapt to new weather patterns.

This report is the first of CCAFS’s to use global climate models to pinpoint regions most affected by rising temperatures. The researchers identified where populations are suffering food shortages, and then used data from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to locate which of these food-insecure regions were most likely to experience the greatest shifts in temperature and precipitation.

The findings give a picture of where the most vulnerable populations are, to be able to prioritise areas for adaptation projects.

Patti Kristjanson, a research theme leader at CCAFS said,

We are starting to see much more clearly where the effect of climate change on agriculture could intensify hunger and poverty, but only if we fail to pursue appropriate adaptation strategies.

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This is the agricultural multiplier effect. A new graphic by Good and One/Living Proof shows that investment in agriculture is one of the most effective ways of reducing poverty.  Productivity and environmental sustainability lead to better family nutrition, health and income, offering economic prosperity and a pathway out of poverty, leading profits to be reinvested in agriculture.

Click on the graphic below or visit the site to view the full chain of events.

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In the wake of global food security concerns, over 50 national farmers’ and agricultural cooperative organisations from all over the world met today to create the World Farmers Organisation and issue a declaration setting out its objectives. The Organisation represents the united voice of world farmers and cooperatives.

Chairing the meeting last Tuesday on behalf of the African delegation, Mr Taylor – Freeme said “Today marks an historic occasion. In view of increasing concerns over market volatility and food security, this Organisation will bring together farmers and cooperatives from all over the world to exchange ideas and find common solutions.” He said it would “help world food security by facilitating cooperation between organisations” and that given world food demand “is expected to increase by at least 70% by 2050″, that “agricultural investment needs to be stepped up”.

European Board Representative Martin Haworth said: “The Organisation also aims to improve farmers’ livelihoods and the viability of rural communities around the world. Without farmers living and working in rural areas, many people would leave these regions. And yet farmers face more and more challenges, such as climate change, and are being confronted with high input costs. Their return from the market is also shrinking given the huge buying power of supermarkets. We need to improve farmers economic viability and positioning in the food chain in order to ensure a dynamic, competitive agriculture sector throughout the world.”

Another aim of the Organisation is to ensure coherence with other agriculture related activities, such as forestry, aquaculture, the environment, trade, research and education. There is a constant need for improved research to find for example how we can increase production at the same time as protecting the environment. The Organisation will meet again later this year to further develop these issues.

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Samson’s study shows that those must vulnerable to climate change live-in ‘low latitude, hot regions of the world’, in places like Central and South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. These regions are heavily reliant on farming for livelihoods, and are home to some of the world’s poorest people. This contrasted with the research team’s predictions that it would be those in the high-latitude regions that would be most vulnerable, where the temperature change is expected to be greater.

Samson’s findings also highlight the disparity between the countries that are the biggest contributors to climate change, and those that are most affected by it. While Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are typically home to countries that contribute the least to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, they are likely to be the most severely impacted by changes in temperature brought on by climate change. In contrast, the large industrial countries that are typically the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, are far less likely to be impacted by climate change impacts.

The study has important implications for policymakers, namely a) global indices of human vulnerability to climate change by region can indicate where to direct most attention and b) for the first time we have quantitative evidence that climate change will have greatest impact on the populations least responsible for causing the problem.

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Following on from Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, the Farming First coalition welcomes the commitment expressed by participants to achieving the ‘triple win’ of improving food security, addressing climate change and improving the lives and livelihoods of rural populations.

The Road Map for Action on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change summarises the discussions from the conference that took place on 31st October to 5th November, and identifies solutions to the key challenges faced. We as a coalition welcome the emphasis on increasing agricultural productivity and sustainable intensification and on prioritising agriculture as a means for economic growth and poverty reduction.

Farming First supports the recognition of the need for increased research and technology, especially the need to address the ‘uptake gap’ and the need to think about delivery of tools. Sustainable agriculture is knowledge intensive and agricultural policies need to be knowledge-based. We need a stronger commitment to restoring extension and training programmes for farmers, and concrete commitments in this area were not sufficiently articulated. Innovation will be essential to achieving the challenges of the future but much can also be done by improving the uptake of existing technologies through extension services and increased investment in farmer education. In particular, we recognise the need for building farmer knowledge in Integrated Crop Management (ICM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to enable farmers to tackle pest problems in a sustainable and efficient manner. In addition to training, improving access to information and advice through ICTs, improving availability of suitable storage, improved transport and market facilities, as well as, when needed, pesticides, is an important part of offering farmers a ‘toolkit’ to minimize pre- and post-harvest losses. In addition, we would suggest that women farmers should become specially targeted recipients of programmes and funding because of their vital roles in the agricultural workforce, household food procurement and preparation, and family unit support.

We also urge building effective local private sector networks of technology providers to improve farmer access to tools.  It is essential for sustainability and growth that government policies and development aid work to build the local private sector and not undermine or bypass it.

We agree on the importance of creating an enabling environment for farmers to invest in their farms and to attract private sector investment. This effort should be extended to all sectors that contribute to the distribution, sale and transport of agricultural inputs, outputs and tools. Encouraging the development of storage facilities, transport firms, processing facilities and agrodealers can help farmers be more efficient and build agriculture as a dynamic economic sector.

Finally, there is a need for greater coherence and transparency in terms of the pledges and realisation of pledges made by government on the issue of food security. In the UN system, the Secretary- General’s High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis (HLTF) represents an effort at giving an overarching direction but how non-UN efforts (such as the G8 and GAFSP) relate, for instance, to the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) developed by the HLTF, is not clear.

Farmers must be at the centre of our efforts to ensure that research programmes, as well as training and other services, are effective and respond to actual needs. The future will require a mosaic of solutions to be applied, and efforts in research, infrastructure and services must reflect the fact that viable long-term solutions must require collaboration between all groups involved and be localised and driven by farmers’ needs.

For a printer version of this statement click here.

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Food security is still only an aspiration in Africa. At the dialogue, the delegates discussed the potential solutions available, highlighting the need for increased funds, training, market access and continued research to help African farmers access the information and tools they need .

Climate change is exacerbating the problem of low agricultural productivity in Africa.  FANRPAN made clear the need for effective evidence-based policies to help tackle the challenges.

The theme for this year’s dialogue was livestock and fisheries the face of climate change.

FANRPAN also accepted the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the 14^th country node within the network, and it announced that its remit will be extended to become Africa-wide, rather than just focused on sub-Saharan Africa.

This year’s FANRPAN Food Security Policy Leadership Award was presented to the President of Namibia, H.E. Hifikepunya Lucas Pohamba as recognition of his country’s achievement in creating responsible fisheries policies in Namibia, which have already been commended by the UN FAO in 2009.

At the dialogue, BBC World Service’s Focus on Africa radio show interviewed two participants along with FANRPAN’s CEO, Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda. Klaus Shade is an Economic Analyst and Research Associate at the Institute of Public Policy Research and Gerald Nelson is a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

You can listen to the interviews here:

Resilience to climate change means different varieties of animals, maybe even changes in species that we grow and certainly more storage of grains to deal with the changes in the climate patterns that we can see coming forward even if we cannot predict where or when. – Gerald Nelson

We know the answers: it’s all about technology. And how do we get these technologies to be affordable accessible to the majority of farmers. In most cases the technologies are there, but they are not affordable. – Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda

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Here is the text of his speech:

UN HIGH-LEVEL PLENARY SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Roundtable 1
Intervention by IFAP Secretary General, David King
on behalf of President Ajay Vashee

September 20, 2010

United National Headquarters

Mr. President, Excellencies, Delegates and Observers,

It is an honour for me to present four key messages on poverty, food security and gender on behalf of the farm families represented by IFAP. I also bring apologies from the IFAP President, Ajay Vashee, who is unfortunately retained on his farm in Zambia.

1. Investing in small-holder agriculture is essential to reducing hunger and poverty, and underpins success with all the Millennium Development Goals, including those regarding health and well-being.
2. Funding agricultural development programs is critical to achieving the MDGs so we are counting on the G-8 countries to follow through on their L’Aquila funding commitments.
3. Programs are needed that are ‘Farmer-centred and knowledge-based’ so that the full potential of farmers, both men and women, including small-holder and commercial farmers, can be harnessed in making food security and sustainable development a reality.
4. Farmer organizations have a vital contribution to make to the development of agriculture and rural communities. Unless small-scale farmers are organized, they will remain politically powerless and economically disadvantaged. One of the keys to a successful fight against hunger and poverty is therefore having wellorganized partners to work with. Strengthening the institutional capacity of farmers’ organizations therefore needs to be a cornerstone of any strategy for reaching the rural poor.

Farmers’ organizations can contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in four ways:

1. Policy definition and implementation, e.g. in country strategies
2. Research: defining research priorities that meet the real needs of farmers, including the special needs of women farmers
3. Sharing knowledge and information among their members e.g. on prevention of HIV/AIDS, or on technology transfer
4. Strengthening the place of farmers in the market through farmer cooperatives and commodity associations

Since the world food price crisis of 2008, agriculture has become a priority for many national governments, donors and international institutions. However, in order to translate good intentions into real impacts on the ground, governments need to work with their farmer organisations as partners in a process of continual improvement of all agricultural systems, creating rural employment, protecting eco-systems, delivering fair prices for safe and nutritious food for consumers, and allowing farmers a fair return for their work. In this way, we are convinced that the MDGs can be achieved by 2015.

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At the FARA Science Week in Burkina Faso last month, a map was launched that details over 300 of the agricultural research programmes currently taking place in Africa.

‘CGMap Ongoing Research in Africa’ enables different research groups to learn about the challenges faced across the continent and also provides opportunities for collaboration.

The map lists information about research projects across Africa, including the project priorities, time frame, location, partners, funders and contact information. According to the map coordinator, Evelyn Katingi, the map represents an ‘86% coverage of information from all 15 centres of the CGIAR.’

According to the map, the focus areas of the projects are divided as follows:

• 21% focus on crops
• 14% focus on policy and institutions
• 10% focus on livestock
• 5% focus on land management
• 4% focus on soils
• 2% focus on fisheries

The majority of the projects are being conducted in East Africa: 120 in Kenya, 91 in Uganda and 87 in Tanzania.

The initiative was coordinated by two CGIAR programmes: Collective Action in Eastern and Southern Africa and ICT-KM (Information and Communication Technologies – Knowledge Management). ‘CGMap Ongoing Research in Africa’ is available to CGIAR staff, partners and other key stakeholders in African agricultural research.

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