A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published last month, entitled “Identifying opportunities for climate-smart agriculture investments in Africa” looks at how CSA is being applied to Africa. Africa’s population has just passed 1 billion and is due to double by 2050. As a consequence, the FAO has estimated that Africa will need to provide adequate food supplies for over 20 million additional people each year and improve the nutritional status of  more than 239 million people. Increasing food production in Africa is essential, but are current farming processes in Africa climate smart?

The governments of 14 African countries (Benin, Ethopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda) have put into place “National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans” (NAFSIPs) in order to adapt to slow-onset climatic change and extreme events, and mitigate climate change. The report has assessed these plans to identify investment needs and options for climate-smart agriculture financing in Africa.

Key findings of the report:

Of the National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans in African countries examined…

• 60 percent are expected to generate climate benefits in terms of slow-onset climate change

• 18 percent are expected to generate climate benefits in terms of adaptation to extreme events

• 19 percent are expected to generate climate benefits in terms of climate change mitigation

Gambia and Malawi lead the African countries in terms of number of projects that address slow onset climate change as well as climate change mitigation, whereas Liberia and Niger ranked higher in terms of number of projects that address adaptation to extreme events.

In an assessment of the potential for quick deployment of climate-smart agricultural practices, Ghana and Kenya were both ranked as having a high potential, whereas Senegal, and Benin were ranked as low.

The results of the analysis highlight that NAFSIPs already include many climate-smart activities, however there is the need to consolidate and integrate these findings by providing country-specific inputs such as:

• analyzing the most promising CSA agricultural investment options and estimating their cost-effectiveness also considering the expected climate benefits
• outlining investments needed to transform ongoing and planned programmes, activities and  projects into proper climate-smart interventions, also identifying the corresponding (public and private) financing sources
• analyzing the profitability of the investments in order to determine the type of finance required
• leveraging existing financing instruments in agriculture with innovative climate financing mechanisms
• designing result-based monitoring and accounting procedures and national registries related to identified financing option

To read the full report click here

Find out more about Farming First’s principles on climate change

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The agreed focus is to be on “Growth with Resilience”, and central to this agenda will be the publication of a report, due in late February 2012, which aims to inform discussions related to key policy events. It will look broadly at agriculture’s role in supporting green growth, food and nutrition security, ecosystem services and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Sir Gordon Conway, Chair of the Montpellier Panel, said:

“Agriculture is back high on the political agenda, as more leaders are recognizing the key role which it can play in addressing many of the world’s most pressing challenges. Policies and funding now need to better reflect African national and regional priorities, and build resilient agricultural programmes that fulfill the strong growth potential of the sector. The Montpellier Panel work will also suggest more and better ways for translating these discussions into meaningful interventions on the ground.”

The Montpellier Panel consists of a group of ten experts from the fields of agriculture, sustainable development, trade, policy, and global development. It first convened at the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) in Montpellier in March 2010.

Montpellier Panel members include:

• Sir Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development, Imperial College London (Chair)
• Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chief Executive, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
• Ramadjita Tabo, Deputy Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
• David Radcliffe, Senior Policy Advisor, Directorate-General, Development and Cooperation, European Commission
• Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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The report argues that although irrigation in Africa has the potential to boost agricultural productivities by at least 50 per cent, food production is almost entirely sustained through rainwater, with only six per cent of the total cultivated area equipped for irrigation.

Over 70 per cent of Africa’s poor live in rural areas, and most of these people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Therefore, the report says, agriculture has a key role to play in tackling poverty on the continent.

To help increase agricultural production and decrease poverty, many development agencies have recently proposed to substantially increase investments in irrigation in Africa. But, as the report claims, the potential for irrigation investments in the region is highly dependent on geographic, hydrologic, agronomic and economic factors that must be taken into account when the viability of projects is assessed.

The report analyses irrigation investment potential in Africa, and concludes that there is “significant profitable irrigation potential for both small-scale and large-scale systems”.

Farming First think that water use efficiency is important as water is a precious resource. By 2050, the proportion of the population facing stressed water supplies is expected to increase by 500% and the number facing full water scarcity is expected to increase by 800%.

We believe that research, innovation, and access to improved technologies, seeds, and improved irrigation techniques are essential to increasing the efficiency of water use, and that agriculture needs to be part of watershed management.

Click here to go to our water page, where you can download our position paper and read about our six-point action plan.

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The report, titled Major River Basins Have Enough Water to Sustainably Double Food Production in the Coming Decades, says that whilst water-related conflicts and shortages abound around the globe, there is sufficient water to sustain food, energy, industrial and environmental needs during the 21st century.

The reports author’s claim that the biggest challenge facing water is not scarcity, but the inefficient use and inequitable distribution of the water flowing through key river basins such as the Nile, Ganges, Andes, Yellow, Niger and Volta.

Alain Vidal, the director of the CPWF, said:

“…the problem overall is a failure to make efficient and fair use of the water available in these river basins. This is ultimately a political challenge, not a resource concern.”

Researchers identified large areas of arable land in Asia and Latin America where production could potentially rise by at least 10 per cent.

Dr. Simon Cook, the leader of the CPWF’s Basin Focal Research Project, said:

“…there are relatively straightforward opportunities to satisfy our development needs and alleviate poverty for millions of people without exhausting our most precious natural resource… With a major push to intensify rainfed agriculture, we could feed the world without increasing the strain on river basins systems.”

The report states that if donors and government ministries put more emphasis on supporting rain-fed agriculture, food production could increase rapidly and sustainably.

The authors of the report also note that policies often ignore the role of livestock and fisheries in local livelihoods and diets, which play a vital role in certain communities, such as the 40 million in the Mekong who depend on fisheries for at least half the year.

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The report explores the need for policy coherence to make sure that policies for development do not contradict one another but rather complement each other, creating synergies. This is importnant, the report says, as:

“In the absence of clear guildelines, policies and programmes proliferate. Some potentially compete, duplicate and overlap one another, leading to waste and loss. This is exacerbated by the tendency for new policies and programmes to emerge while older ones are not always clearly retired.”

Within the report, the authors talk about the particular challenges of ensuring policy coherence for ARD. They highlight three aspects that distinguish ARD:

-       Agriculture and most rural enterprises are carried out by private enterprises, most of which are small and dispersed over large areas, sometimes with little access to ports and cities. This means more technical uncertainly than other sectors, and a higher risk of market failures when interacting with others in the supply chain

-       A wide range of objectives are commonly invested in ARD – economic growth; export earnings; poverty; employment; gender equality; food and nutrition security; conservation; and regional equity

-       Political support for agriculture is often weak and unfocussed. Responsibilities for providing the public goods and services to support agriculture tend to be spread over several ministries and agencies, and may well not be providing the more important and costly public goods such as rural roads, education, and clean water.

As well as the three challenges highlighted above, the authors say that there is the expectation that ARD policy will serve multiple objectives. Factoring in limited administrative capacity in many developing countries leaves us with inconsistent and contradictory policy, which will need sustained interest and effort in order to be aligned and coherent.

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The report’s authors found that increases in income earned from farming contributed more to poverty reduction than increased earnings from non-farm occupations.

The report also found that agricultural growth was pro-poor for all the variants of data used, but that this uniformity of growth was not present in non-agricultural sectors – in fact, the report’s findings show that isolated growth in a non-agricultural sector could have no effect, or even increase net poverty. The report’s authors noted that within poorer countries, estimated poverty elasticity for agriculture was significantly higher.

The report saw the countries posting the fastest progress in reducing poverty also reporting the greatest improvements in basic aspects of human development, particularly in education.

Lastly, the report argued that agricultural progress in the study countries seems in most part to the success of macroeconomic, trade and socioeconomic policies in fostering balanced economic growth.

The report’s authors conclude that in general when economies grow, incomes earned by those who farm for a living rise faster than other sectors.

To find out more or to read the report in full, please go to:

http://www.oecd.org/document/29/0,3746,en_2649_37401_48473309_1_1_1_37401,00.html

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Designating food security as one of the top priorities for development aid in 2010, the Forum affirmed their commitment to seeing through the promises made in 2009, including: 

• The L’Aquila pledge made by G8 leaders of $20 billion to boost food supplies to poorer nations, and help countries develop their own agriculture.
• Continued support to CAADP, to boost agricultural productivity in Africa, through land and water management, market access, food supply and research. 
• The Maputo agreement made by African leaders to allocate 10% of their national budgets to agriculture.

Combating climate change, the Forum agreed, was critical to achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction, and in particular for resolving the current food insecurity issues. Looking ahead to 2010, the Forum reiterated the actions agreed upon at Copenhagen, including:

• A reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 to prevent global temperatures increasing by more than 2 degrees Celsius.
• Advancements in technological transfers and capacity-building.
• Immediate disbursement of short-term funding of $30 billion and further work undertaken to secure long-term funding of $100 billion a year.

The Forum also addressed development finance and healthcare in Africa, as key areas that have been greatly affected by the financial crisis.  Advocating for a sustained political effort during 2010, the Forum stressed the need to readdress policies for development finance over the next five years. With regards to healthcare, they proposed an increase in investment in Africa’s health systems. Finally, the Forum finalised the AU/NEPAD Africa Action Plan, which aims to maximise the investment in African development from 2010-2015, in an effort to help Africa get back on track to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

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IFDC – an International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development – is a public international organization addressing critical issues such as international food security, the alleviation of global poverty, environmental protection and the promotion of economic development and self-sufficiency. IFDC is helping to enrich and sustain the lives and livelihoods of people around the world.

IFDC is the only non-profit, science-based organization meeting the integrated soil nutrient management needs associated with a sustainable global food supply. IFDC was established in 1974 in response to the twin crises of food insecurity and rising energy prices. These parallel crises now threaten the world again.

IFDC has helped increase sustainable agricultural productivity in more than 130 nations through the development and transfer of effective and environmentally sound plant nutrient technology and agricultural marketing expertise. IFDC has also contributed to the development of institutional capacity-building in 150 countries through nearly 1,000 training programs, primarily as part of IFDC’s long-term agricultural development projects. These collaborative partnerships combine cutting-edge research and development with on-site training and education. Currently IFDC staff members are serving in more than 20 nations throughout Africa, the Near East and the Far East.

In February, Dr. Marjatta Eilitta, Director for IFDC’s North and West Africa Division, spoke at a Farming First conference held during the UN Commission on Sustainable Development preliminary session in New York.  You can watch a video of her presentation here.

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Research has shown that regions with zinc-deficient soils often produce poor crop yields and widespread zinc deficiency in humans. This was the case in Central Anatolia in Turkey. In 1993, a research project found that yields could be increased by 6 to 8-fold and children nutrition dramatically increased through zinc fertilization.

Through a partnership with Cukurova University, the state and the private company TOROS Agri Industry Group, zinc was added to fertilizers. While the product was initially made available at the same cost, the results were so convincing that Turkish farmers significantly increased the use of the zinc-fortified fertilizer (1 per cent of zinc) within a few short years, despite the repricing of the products to reflect the added value of the content.

Today, nearly 10 years after the identification of the zinc deficiency problem, the total amount of zinc-containing compound fertilizers produced and applied in Turkey reached a record level of 300,000 tonnes per annum. It is estimated that the economic benefits associated with the application of Zn-fertilizers on Zn deficient soils in Turkey is around US$ 100 million per year. Zinc deficiency in children has been dramatically reduced.

Such a policy could be easily replicated around the world in the many zinc-deficient countries. In fact, one-third of the world population is at risk of zinc deficiency, which affects physical growth, the functioning of the immune system, reproductive health and neurobehavioral development, among others.

Preventive zinc supplements are important in reducing infant morbidity from diarrhea and pneumonia. Zinc fertilization is now recognized as a promising strategy to address zinc deficiencies in humans.

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