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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Currently, over 1 billion people – about 15 percent of the world – are hungry. Smallholder farmers are unable to produce enough food to feed their families and lack the support to work themselves out of poverty. In his letter, Gates highlights the responsibility developed countries have to not only invest in agricultural aid, but in agricultural research. Between 1987 and 2006, agricultural aid fell from rich countries from 17 percent to just 4 percent.

At the same time, demand for food is increasing because of population growth and economic development, with the world’s population set to hit 9 billion in 2050. Supply growth has not kept up, leading to higher food prices and climate change threatens farmers’ ability to produce enough food to meet the growing demand.

Agricultural innovation, Gates argues, is a vital way forward. During the ‘Green Revolution’ of the 1960s and 1970s, new seed varieties for rice, wheat, and maize were developed that helped many farmers greatly improve their yields. In some places, such as East Asia, food intake went up by as much as 50 percent. Globally, the price of wheat dropped by two-thirds. The same process can happen again:

We can be more innovative about delivering solutions that already exist to the farmers who need them. Knowledge about managing soil and tools like drip irrigation can help poor farmers grow more food today. We can also discover new approaches and create new tools to fundamentally transform farmers’ lives. But we won’t advance if we don’t continue to fund agricultural innovation, and I am very worried about where those funds will come from in the current economic and political climate.

He also stated that agricultural research is ‘chronically underfunded’.  Climate change is becoming an increasing threat; studies show that the rise in global temperature alone could reduce the productivity of the main crops by over 25 percent. Climate change will also increase the number of droughts and floods that can wipe out an entire season of crops. Increased investment in agricultural research can unveil new seed varieties that can survive extreme weather conditions, as well as combat plant diseases that destroy crops.

Click here to read Bill Gate’s 2012 Annual Letter letter in full. Follow the debate on Twitter with the hashtag #BillsLetter.

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As global demand for food is expected to double by 2050, agricultural productivity will need to increase significantly. Climate change presents a further challenge as more frequent and extreme weather events affect our food supply, our infrastructure and our livelihoods. The report explains how scientific innovation offers the best solution to increase agricultural productivity:

Modern, science‐driven farming including genetically modified crops represents our best chance of generating the increases in agricultural productivity necessary to feed our future.

The paper explores agricultural productivity strategies in the past, present and future as well as detailing the wealth of technological advancements available to combat world hunger, which are deemed “critical” by editor Calestous Juma, Director of the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School.

It also outlines the challenges science-based approaches to global agriculture face, most notably the lack of universal acceptance of genetically modified crops and the precautionary regulatory regimes in both Europe and low-income, developing countries that are inhibiting the research, development, and use of genetically modified crops.

The report argues that the challenge to food security can be met by enhanced agricultural productivity, provided there is greater investment in agricultural research, more innovation and investment friendly regulatory regimes, and enhanced global and regional networks for knowledge and technology transfer.

Read the full report

Read more about Farming First’s views on the responsible use of science and technology for improved productivity

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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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The summary includes seven key recommendations to policy makers that, if actioned, the authors believe would bring us closer to a global sustainable food system in the face of climate change.

The key message from the summary is that the global food system faces pressure. This is due to a range of factors, including the shift in diets towards higher consumption of calories, fats and animal products and the growing, increasingly urban, population.

Further pressure is added to the food system through inefficiency – an estimated 12 million hectares of agricultural land are lost to land degradation each year, and around a third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted across the global food system.

Moreover, although sustainable agriculture can be a powerful mitigating factor in tackling the effects of climate change, many current farming practices – including land clearing and inefficient use of fertilizers and organic residues – mean that agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gasses (accounting for up to 30 percent of global emissions).

This is problematic as the authors argue that ever-higher temperatures are exacerbating the above issues, and that global climate change will have an adverse effect on agricultural production, bringing us toward critical thresholds in many regions.

The authors argue that:

“Business as usual in our globally interconnected food system will not bring us food security and environmental stability.”

In order to make the vital transition to a global sustainable food system, CCAFS have proposed seven evidence-based actions to achieve food security in the face of climate change. These are:

1. Integrate food security and sustainable agriculture into global and national policies.
2. Significantly raise the level of global investment in sustainable agriculture and food systems in the next decade.
3. Sustainably intensify agricultural production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other negative environmental impacts of agriculture.
4. Develop specific programmes and policies to assist populations and sectors that are most vulnerable to climate change and food insecurity.
5. Reshape food access and consumption patterns to ensure basic nutritional needs are met and to foster healthy and sustainable eating patterns worldwide.
6. Reduce loss and waste in food systems, targeting infrastructure, farming practices, processing, distribution and household habits.
7. Create comprehensive, shared, integrated information systems that encompass human and ecological dimensions.

Farming First has written a policy paper on climate change, and has a range of resources on the role of agriculture in creating a global green economy.

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As we have previously written, the Water, Energy and Food nexus refers to the interlinked risks of water security, food security and energy security. With the current combined challenges of degraded ecosystems, a rapidly increasing demand for resources, climate change, growing urbanization and globalization, there is a threat that social-ecological systems at all levels will be driven across critical thresholds.

This new paper presents initial evidence for how a nexus approach can enhance water, energy and food security by increasing efficiency, reducing trade-offs, building synergies and improving governance across sectors.

The paper claims that:

“A nexus approach can support a transition to sustainability, by reducing trade-offs and generating additional benefits that outweigh the transaction costs associated with stronger integration across sectors.”

The authors argue that a nexus approach can create a number of opportunities, including:

-       Increased productivity of resources. The nexus focus is on system efficiency rather than on the productivity of isolated sectors.

-       Waste as a resource in muti-use systems. Cross-sectoral management can boost overall resource use efficiency. Waste can be turned into a resource for other products.

-       Stimulating development through economic incentives. A nexus approach can help to avoid investments that lock development into non-sustainable pathways.

-       Governance, institutions and policy coherence. Enabling conditions for horizontal and vertical policy coherence include institutional capacity building, political will, change agents and capacity building.

-       Benefiting from productive ecosystems. Green agriculture can provide benefits such as carbon sequestration and resilience to climate risks while improving food security.

-       Integrated poverty alleviation and green growth. Green agriculture can generate more rural jobs and increase diversity and resilience of production systems.

-       Capacity building and awareness raising. This can help to deal with the complexity of cross-sectoral approaches, and to promote sustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns.

-       Moving towards a green economy. As the green economy approach seeks “to unite under a single banner the entire suite of economic policies of relevance to sustainable development”, it is the nexus approach par excellence.

You can read the paper in full here:

http://www.water-energy-food.org/en/bonn_2011_process/show__50_understanding_the_nexus.html

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To read more about Farming First’s position on the green economy, watch our animated video or view our infographic please see the page on our website on agriculture and the green economy.

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Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) can be defined as:

“…agriculture that sustainably increases productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes greenhouse gases (mitigation), and enhances achievement of national food security and development goals.” (FAO)

As the world leaders prepare for the  COP17 which will be held in Durban in December – the first time the COP will be held in Africa – there is a need for increased recognition that sustainable agriculture can be a solution to climate change.

What is Climate Smart Agriculture?

As agriculture accounts for 70 percent of water use globally, is a major user of fossil fuels and accounts for 17-30 percent of global greenhouse gases, CSA has tended to be seen as part of the problem of climate change rather than part of the solution. CSA seeks to reverse this pattern and position agriculture as vital in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

New Agriculturalist asked the Farming First coalition how CSA worked. We answered:

“By promoting agricultural best practices, particularly Integrated Crop Management, conservation agriculture, intercropping, improved seeds and fertilizer management practices, as well as supporting increased investment in agricultural research, CSA encourages the use of all available and applicable climate change solutions in a pragmatic and impact-focused manner. Resilience will be key, but ‘climate smart’ is broader and underscores the need for innovation and proactive changes in the way farming is done to not only adapt but also mitigate and increase productivity sustainably.”

Is Climate Smart Agriculture of global importance?

The emphasis on CSA varies according to the level of agricultural development in different countries. For example, developing countries might focus on adapting their agricultural systems to meet the challenges posed by changing climate conditions, whereas developed countries may focus on reducing energy inputs and emissions, or look at carbon trading.

The Farming First coalition said:

“With a predicted 9 billion people by 2050, agricultural production will need to increase by 70 per cent to meet new demands for food, feed, fuel and fibre. As agriculture accounts for up to 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it’s crucial that Climate Smart Agriculture is developed to achieve future food security and climate change goals.”

Alberto Sandoval from the FAO said:

“CSA is about increasing productivity and income in a changing environment… It’s an opportunity to improve livelihoods while enhancing all types of agriculture in different countries all over the world.”

What is new?

Given the current insecurity around climate change and the need to feed an ever-growing population in a sustainable manner, CSA means having to adapt from ‘traditional’ agricultural practices.

Ademola Braimoh from the World Bank said:

“There is a great value addition in integrating adaptation and mitigation because both share the ultimate goal of reducing the undesirable impacts of climate on human livelihoods.”

Alberto Sandoval from the FAO said:

“CSA practices propose a transformation of agriculture, in the way we grow food and treat the environment in a changing climate. It outlines ways to preserve and enhance food security by changing policy and agricultural production systems.”

Will Climate Smart Agriculture be of interest to farmers?

For CSA practices to work, they need buy in from farmers around the globe.

Sir Gordon Conway from Agriculture for Impact said:

“Climate Smart Agriculture will only be attractive to farmers if its adoption is incentivised either in terms of high-level financial incentives or in terms of significant gains in productivity.”

George Jacob from Self Help Africa said:

“Smallholder farmers cannot invest heavily in their land, but new methods of farming which are low-input, and yet which result in increased outputs, are particularly attractive.”

Climate Smart Agriculture – who pays?

The Farming First coalition said:

“Ultimately climate smart pays for itself. The benefits in terms of food security and sustainability are far greater than the cost of supporting farmers, or the costs of inaction, in terms of human, social and environmental as well as financial costs.”

Bruce Campbell from the CGIAR said:

“In a developing country context, major public investment may be needed to kick start some CSA technologies and practices. If farmers are going to incur costs in putting carbon into the soil, those costs will need to be recouped somehow.”

Scaling up Climate Smart Agriculture

In terms of scaling up CSA, the Farming First coalition believe immediate priorities should include:

-       The realisation of the G8 funding commitments made in L’Aquila;

-       National government commitment to earmark specific funding to re-establish and improve extension services;

-        Strong and global commitment to supporting public-private partnerships as a means to advance research and the adoption of new practices and technologies;

-       Specific commitments to research funding in key crops and on key issues, such as water use.

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To read the full article on New Agriculturalist, please see:

http://www.new-ag.info/en/pov/views.php?a=2297

To read more about how the Farming First principles can be applied to climate change, please visit:

http://www.farmingfirst.org/climate/

To read more about Farming First’s view on building a global green economy and to watch our animated video, please visit:

http://www.farmingfirst.org/green-economy/

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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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This prestigious event, titled “Food Security 2011: Transforming the Production System” will be held at Chatham House on December 14-15 2011, and includes renowned speakers such as:

-       Sir Professor Gordon Conway, Chair in International Development, Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London

-       Dr David Nabarro, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Food Security and Nutrition

-       Dr Shenggen Fan, Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

This event will examine how to transform the agricultural system towards one that is more productive, efficient, resilient, and environmentally sustainable.

Questions to be discussed include “How do agricultural practices, value chains and trade need to be transformed?”, “What transformative business models and partnerships between the public and private sectors work?” and “How can political and economic barriers to much needed changes be overcome?”.

Find out more information or register your place for the event here.

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As part of the conference, participants were invited to discuss the six Farming First principles as an approach to sustainable agriculture in the future. The six principles are designed to be farmer-centric, knowledge-based and dynamic so that continual progress can be made in achieving food security in a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner.

The three-day conference addressed the four basic dimensions of food security: availability, physical access, economic access and utilisation. Topics discussed in sessions included sustainable growth in agricultural production, resilient food supply chains, the impacts of trade policies, and humanitarian food aid strategies.

With the IFAD reporting that 60.5 per cent of rural Asians living in poverty, hundreds of experts have stressed the importance of increasing food production in a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner in Asia, calling for a ‘doubly green revolution’.

And as rice yields in Asia are expected to fall between 17-20 per cent by 2050 due to rising temperatures, policymakers need to ensure that the world’s farmers have access to the appropriate mix of tools, knowledge and technologies they need to boost productivity and maintain viable rural livelihoods. Singapore has already announced funding of US$8.2 million for research into new rice varieties.

Siang Hee Tan, Farming First spokesperson  and Executive Director of CropLife Asia, said:

“Asia’s farmers are small-scale entrepreneurs in the making. If they are equipped and supported to adapt to meet the world’s food demands, they can boost their own livelihoods while driving broader economic development.”

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