In just the few years since markets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions have been established, their combined value has increased to more than US$100 billion.

While agriculture accounts for an estimated 10 to 14 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, its role as a mitigating force is receiving increasing attention.

The report notes that whilst agriculture has a large potential in climate change mitigation, it has been largely excluded from both formal and informal carbon markets.

Reasons for this exclusion include the uncertainties regarding the amount of carbon that can be sequestered by agricultural soils, how long it can be stored for and the amount of reductions in emissions from agriculture. An additional concern is the transaction costs associated with monitoring, reporting and verifying changes in soil carbon and emissions.

The IFPRI paper describes the climate change mitigation potential of agriculture, noting the current regulatory and voluntary carbon markets under which agriculture mitigation could be rewarded and provides an overview of what options could be put in place for climate change mitigation strategies.

Many studies have noted the barriers that hinder farmers’ ability to take part in climate change mitigation and sustainable land management practices, notably a lack of knowledge, credit and access to functioning markets.  In carbon markets, barriers to smallholder participation include high transaction costs, uncertain revenue flows, a lack of clarity on ownership of carbon, as well as education and governance limitations.

The paper concludes by calling for the integration of smallholder farmers into carbon markets and for transformation of climate change policy into a pro-poor development strategy.

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We are quite happy with the outcome although more could have been achieved, though what is particularly pleasing is the fact that the leaders have been able to commit to an accountability framework.

This framework, the Muskoka Accountability Report, is the first of its sort and is a clear sign that leaders are opening up their negotiations to the outside world so that no longer are commitments made behind closed doors.

Whilst it was revealed at Muskoka that only US$6.5 billion of the US$22 billion pledged at L’Aquila last year has actually been dispersed to date, Dr. Sibanda said that it was encouraging that leaders had promised to ensure the full amount would be dispersed by 2012.

Dr. Sibanda noted that the majority of the US$6.5 billion that has been delivered has gone towards financing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).

Globally we now accept that Africa has a plan, Africa is committed to a plan it wants to implement and there is now coherence, slowly, in financing initiatives that are Africa-led.

The broadcast also addressed the growing crisis in the Sahel, in particularly in Chad and Niger.  To tackle this challenge, Dr Sibanda proposed starting with agricultural policy.

How do we get Africa to have and realise its own green revolution? How do we get Africa to improve productivity? Unless we realise the potential productivity by having good quality seed, by having the right fertilizer to improve productivity, by looking after our natural resources, making sure our soils are fertile enough to boost productivity, we will always be chasing the food that we cannot produce and grow on our own.

Listen to the interview here:

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Agricultural Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Developing Countries: Policy Options for Innovation and Technology Diffusion

This report highlights the technological and institutional innovations required to meet the challenges of food security, agricultural development and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Whilst new traits and varieties of crops are noted as important innovations, the paper puts equal emphasis on the need for relevant practice and technologies such as water management, post-harvest technologies, information services and forecasting, and farmer insurance.

The paper also explores the constraints to the development of innovations and their transfer and dissemination to farmers, and suggests ways to overcome such constraints. Those most significant barriers are named as poorly functioning input or output markets, weak local institutions and infrastructure, inadequate extension systems, and absent credit and insurance markets.

The authors propose six policy principles to aid farmers’ access to new technologies, which prioritise a globally-connected yet locally-relevant approach to climate change mitigation strategies.

Climate Change and China’s Agricultural Sector: An Overview of Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation

This paper examines the challenges facing China: economic development, eliminating poverty, ensuring long-term food security, adapting to climate change and mitigating the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. The report notes that Chinese farmers have been making progress in implementing adaptation strategies, which include changing cropping patterns, increasing investment in irrigation infrastructure, using water saving technologies and planting new crop varieties that are resistant to the effects of climate change.

The Chinese government have also been investing in important mitigation activities. The paper reports on a new technology that the government is promoting, that regulates fertilizer dosage according to soil type, to combat an overuse of fertilizer by many farmers. Additionally, the government is urging farmers to practice conservation tillage as a means to create carbon sinks.

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The conference also established the first-ever African Technology Development and Transfer Network, which aims “to generate economic and social value from research and development outputs, by facilitating technology adaptation and the commercialization of outputs”.

At the conference, delegates focused on how African countries should prioritise science and innovation as a means for accelerating their development agendas.  The ASTIF fund was one of the major outcomes of the conference.  Acknowledging the lack of adequate financial resources as one of the biggest hindrances to research and development in Africa, participants created the fund, calling on African business communities to get involved. Through supporting individuals as well as research and development centres, the ASTIF fund aims to “bridge the existing gap between researchers and the private sector”, helping bring research outputs to market more efficiently.

The recommendations also prioritised investing in educating women and young people in science and technology, and highlighted the need for reducing the costs involved in registering and commercializing innovation outputs.

The conference has made a request to the Network of African Science Academies to prepare a report on Science and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Africa by mid-July 2010.

The conference was organised by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) the African Union Commission (AUC), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Nearly five hundred scientists, engineers, technologists, inventors, entrepreneurs and policy makers attended the conference to help contribute towards the recommendations.

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Hans Joehr – Nestec

Nestle buys around $7 billion of agricultural commodities from emerging economies every year. This is around two-thirds of the company’s total expenditure on raw material – and nearly 40% goes towards three key commodities: milk, coffee and cocoa. Over half a million farmers (610,000) supply Nestle directly.

Each of the key regions from which Nestle sources its products has its own political, socio-economic and environmental conditions, but Nestle works to protect the security of its supply, the quality of the resources available, and rural employment and development. 

In Pakistan, Nestle invests more than $180 million a year in milk procurement and $3 million on milk-sourcing operations, agricultural and technical support, and training for farmers. Nestle Pakistan contributes to a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which is training 4000 women agricultural advisers. The project provides technical assistance and advice about animal health, breeding and fodder production to female dairy farmers in rural Pakistan them to raise the quality and value of the milk they supply, which in turn boosts the local economy.

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Anuj Shah – A to Z Textile Mills Ltd

For almost a decade, A to Z textiles has been involved in an innovative partnership with Sumitomo to develop long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets. Building on the experience with lessons learned through this first partnership, A to Z is now working to build a new partnership to apply a similar concept to help farmers in their fight against pests. The new venture will focus on the development of a bioactive net (i.e. insecticidal), which can be used to cover crops and protect them from pest damage.

The original mosquito net, a permethrin insecticide-impregnated net called Olyset Net, started out as a collaboration between two French institutes CIRAD and IRD, and the international R&D company Sumitomo Chemical.  It is the first ever to receive a full recommendation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the fight against malaria.

The technology behind the Olyset Net has proven extremely successful, showing that nets can retain their properties over long periods of time and provide effective protection. The A to Z team hopes to apply a similar method to create a cost-effective and sage method for protecting crops against major mite species and insects. Tests on cabbage crops in Benin found that using an insecticide-treated net once every three nights was more than twice as effective on the crop yield as the application of insecticides. This increased the value of their crop by an estimated 45%.

When used correctly, these agricultural nets should be able to last for five years (compared to the six-month lifespan of standard sprayed nets) and they leave no residue either on the plants or on the people who apply them. The cost of using the net is less than conventional pesticide use and requires fewer trips to market for purchase.

The success of this scheme will rely on the partnership upon which it is developed. Combining the tools of research institutions, the production capacities of local manufacturers, and the policy support and networks of public bodies, agricultural partnerships can help ensure hat they world’s farmers continue to be empowered to produce enough to feed the world sustainably.

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Lucy Muchoki – Pan-African Agribusiness Consortium

The Africa Seed Investment Fund is a $12 million investment facility that offers the opportunity to seed businesses to access the capital they require in order to increase seed production volumes, seed quality and take advantage of the opportunity to commercialise new improved seed varieties.

One of the key reasons for a non-competitive nature of agribusiness in Africa is due to the lack of access to quality and innovative inputs. One major shortcoming has been the empowering of the input suppliers who are in most cases small and medium enterprises. Since most of these businesses are undercapitalized and lacking in expertise and innovation, they have not been able to develop and make available high yielding seeds to meet the growing demand. The need for programs that strengthen the access and financing to small and medium seed companies is therefore an important step in improving this aspect of the value chain.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in partnership with the African Agricultural Capital (AAC) group, a venture capital based in Kampala, Uganda, and 20 seed companies launched a partnership to ensure availability and access of seed to these smaller businesses.

Alongside capital investment, the fund provides business development services, including continual advice on seed production, storage and distribution and seed company management. The distributors are also to be trained on the appropriate use of seeds and other inputs such as fertilizer, to ensure the most efficient, safe and environmentally sound use of all. The fund also implements a gender policy that works to involve women actively as entrepreneurs, workers and smallholder farmers. In addition to its larger loans to the 20 African seed companies, the project is also investing in about 10 early-stage businesses with big potential. These loans range from $50,000 to $1,500,000 each. The fund attracts a net return of 3% on its investment. To qualify, companies need to meet investment criteria in three main areas: enterprise, performance and development criteria. The latter includes measures such as overall job creation, skills development in rural communities and an environmentally benign footprint.

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Food security is an immediate and future priority for all countries worldwide. Since the food crisis erupted in 2008, a large number of global and regional food security initiatives have been launched or strengthened in response. While these developments are welcome, improving policy and implementation coherence is essential to ensure programmes have the desired impacts.

As we move towards action on these food security policies, Farming First urges policymakers to:

1. promote a clear joint focus on a common goal for food security at the global level through policy and operational coherence
2. encourage increased transparency on how much of pledged funding has been committed and to what types of programmes
3. engage a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that efforts are coordinated, clear, collaborative and ultimately successful.

Returning farmers to the centre of policy decisions is fundamental to sustainable development. Governments, businesses, scientists and civil society groups must focus attention on the source of our food security. Women farmers should become specially targeted recipients because of their vital roles in the agricultural workforce,
household food procurement and preparation, and family unit support.

Productivity levels in most developing countries have to be raised exponentially while considering environmental sustainability. Policies encouraging investment in developing countries’ agricultural sectors should be supported.

Governments should invest in their agricultural sectors and devise long-term agricultural development strategies supporting the development of local agricultural markets and farmers’ ability to answer market demands.

Local production should also be stimulated by providing farmers with the technology, the knowledge and the adequate financial services they need.

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Rémi Kahane – CIRAD and Global Horticulture Initiative (GlobalHort)

The case of horticulture is of special relevance to exemplify the key role of information in the development of public-private partnerships. Horticultural produce is highly perishable and needs careful and rapid handling after harvest. Access to focused and up-to-date technical and marketing information is crucial. Small-scale holders and entrepreneurs need to manage the risk, and information flow is one of the best management tools. However, horticulture is diverse, communities are fragmented, and information is not easy to access.

GlobalHort has initiated information management activities in the vegetable seed sector for several years already. In 2008 with the Asian-Pacific Seed Association it organized a round table on vegetable farming technology in tropical Asia. Representatives of seed companies and ministries of agriculture agreed upon an action plan to be followed up by APSA and GlobalHort to enable vegetable industry to develop at the regional level. Improved information flow was advocated on both parts.

The first requested flow of information will be focused on the needs of end users (producers) and beneficiaries (consumers). There is a clear task to establish terms of reference, to identify what is the challenge. These needs can address technical or organizational issues. If the challenge is only established by the private sector, it will sound like a marketing study. Such a phase implies close connection with those end users, which is something the industry rarely does. The next phase refers to capacities for translating the needs into technological and economical issues, to make the challenge realistic. This is the role of innovation partners, including research, development, expertise etc.; however, in a participatory approach where information is circulating. Whatever the relevance of an innovative concept, making it popular is crucial for its adoption; it is essential to convince NGOs, policy makers and international organizations. They will create an enabling environment, sometimes competing with purely financial interests.

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Scott Mall – International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)

The Cassava Plus project is a public-private partnership initiative helping farmers grow cassava for profit. The project is supported by Nigeria’s Taraba, Osun and Benue state governments, implemented by IFDC (a public international organization) and DADTCO (a Netherlands-based for-profit company) and funded by the Schokland Fund of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

With over 38 million metric tons of harvested fresh cassava roots per year, Nigeria is the largest cassava-producing nation in the world. An estimated seven to eight million Nigerian farm families grow cassava, which serves as an important staple food crop for both rural and urban populations in many countries in Africa. In addition to its role as a traditional subsistence crop that provides food security insurance, cassava has great market potential as a source of flour and thus can serve as a partial substitute for imported wheat flour.

IFDC will organize and link farmers to the downstream DADTCO value chain and develop the capacity of farmers, agro-input dealers and other market players. These actions will support commercial production, reduce the mining of soil nutrients and make cassava production environmentally and economically sustainable. The Cassava Plus project has the potential to help change cassava from a subsistence to a cash crop, helping farm families maximize their incomes while also improving agricultural practices and soil fertility.

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