Mainstreaming Climate Smart Agriculture into African National and Regional Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans

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1 Mainstreaming Climate Smart Agriculture into African National and Regional Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans Feed the Future, the U.S. Government s global hunger and food security initiative, has promoted a model for inclusive agriculture-led economic growth called sustainable intensification (SI) integrating advanced technologies and management practices for genetic-, ecological-, and socioeconomic intensification with local agro-ecological systems to produce more and better food for growing populations, stimulate economic growth, and build resilience - all while using land, water, chemicals, and other natural resources more efficiently. Building on sustainable intensification, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in the context of African nations aims to achieve triple wins by simultaneously: a) boosting productivity, sustainable yields, and incomes of small farmers by SI; b) improving vulnerable populations adaptation and capacity for resilience to the effects of climate change and other stresses that cannot be avoided; and c) reducing net greenhouse gas emissions and capturing carbon, where conditions allow and compatible with (a) and (b) [so less adaptation will be needed down the road]. Alternatively, the new African CSA Alliance expresses this as: a) enhanced food security by sustainably increasing the reliability and productivity of agricultural livelihood activities; b) increased smallholder resilience and adaptation to the likely effects of climate change; and, c) where appropriate, and in the interest of smallholder farmers, reduced greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and improved carbon sequestration. We agree with the African perception of these goals, in their context, as a hierarchy of needs, in the above order. But none of them can be pursued in isolation from the other. Climate-blind agricultural investments are doomed to be inefficient if not disastrous for food security and nutrition, Feed the Future s top-line objectives. To achieve these joint goals, Feed the Future works with smallholder farmers and global, regional and national research partners to identify and adapt promising strategies and technologies for local farming systems, in order to efficiently intensify and diversify major production systems where the poor and undernourished are concentrated. These include, but are not limited to, approaches such as: 1. improved crop, livestock, and aquaculture varieties for tolerance of heat, drought, flood, salt, pest, disease, and/or acidity [including conservation of historical diversity for use in generating varieties that are both more resilient and productive] 2. conservation agriculture [or its components of low-till, soil cover, and crop rotation], especially with legumes 3. agro-forestry, especially with legumes 4. fertilizer efficiency technologies and integrated soil fertility management [see #s 2-3] 1

2 5. irrigation efficiency technologies, water capture and storage, integrated water resources and watershed management 6. alternate wet-and-dry rice production, combined with fertilizer efficiency technologies 7. farmer- and herder-managed natural regeneration of dryland ecosystems productivity [trees, grass, soils] 8. accelerated offtake of livestock from drought-prone drylands 9. integrated agro-silvi-pastoral farming systems 10. integrated pest management 11. weather prediction and information services for farmers (in combination with market information via cellphone technology) 12. weather-indexed crop and livestock insurance 13. improved connectivity to markets, food processing, and enhanced storage facilities to reduce post-harvest losses 14. commodity-based trade standards for processing-based approaches to meat safety rather than geographic, fence-based approaches, to better enable diversified economic strategies for sustainable economic development in increasingly arid areas under climate change, by allowing co-existence of livestock and wildlife for tourism. Feed the Future is already supporting CSA technologies and practices in Africa As suggested above, integrated packages combining two or more of these approaches can often optimize synergies and trade-offs. Feed the Future is working in concert with the U.S. Global Climate Change Initiative to develop strategies, practices and to help actors throughout the food system both reduce unnecessary emissions and adapt to climate change so that food security can be increased despite changing climate patterns. The USG s FY2014 Budget Request included $105 million for resilience activities which are targeted to rural communities in areas with high concentrations of chronic hunger, and which face serious climate change impacts. Additionally, approximately $96 million of the total $160 million in agricultural research and development requested in the FY 2014 budget for FTF will be spent in sub-saharan Africa to improve climate resilience and productivity, and to integrate adaptive technologies and practices in the production of various crops. Examples of how these resources translate to country assistance programs include: Since 2006, U.S.-supported programs have contributed to the release of 140 droughttolerant maize varieties in 13 African countries. Building on this work, Feed the Future strengthens public and private sector seed systems to ensure that new varieties can reach smallholders at scale. In Senegal, Feed the Future s Yaajeende program promotes rain-indexed insurance, use of short-cycle seeds, and other technologies helping farmers adapt to changing rainfall patterns. Improved maize seed helped double yields over three years to a national average of 2.8 tons per hectare. Women farmers are also now practicing conservation agriculture and water harvesting techniques to restore degraded lands to productivity. Feed the Future is also working with coastal communities to improve fisheries and mangrove ecosystem management, increasing productivity and resilience while reducing emissions. 2

3 Feed the Future has also trained West African hydrological and agro-meteorological service staffs to develop seasonal forecasts to help farmers anticipate and prepare for wet or dry years. In southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, Feed the Future s Pastoralist Areas Resilience program increases livestock productivity and access to markets, enhancing communities ability to adapt to more frequent drought and market shocks. Some pastoralists now have access to weather-indexed livestock insurance. Some leading pastoral communities in Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are also restoring degraded rangeland productivity through improved grazing and land management practices. Through the Resilience In the Sahel Enhanced (RISE) Initiative in Niger and Burkina Faso, the Resilience and Economic Growth in the Arid Lands (REGAL) programs in Kenya, and a new program in Mali, the USG is working to increase the resiliency of local populations and national governments to climate change by improving local governance and natural resource management structures to avoid conflicts over declining natural resources, increase the provision of accurate climate, weather, and early warning information to improve decision making in the face of growing uncertainty, and promote climate smart agriculture practices. In Zambia, FTF is working on improving farming systems to increase resilience to climate change. Activities targets improvements in agricultural productivity and diversification with conservation farming, drought-tolerant maize varieties, improved groundnut varieties, sustainably intensify maize-legume production systems, and innovations to control climate-induced expansion of aflatoxin. In Mali, Feed the Future is supporting an aggressive agroforestry program in Sikasso, Mopti, and Timbuktu. The approach increases fruit, fodder, and fuelwood production for both household use and income generation, using the Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration method already proven on 5 million hectares in Niger and 500,000 hectares in Burkina Faso. Because trees can tap deeper sources of moisture and nutrients than annual crops, together with integrated soil and water conservation practices, this also improves resilience (adaptation), and reverses land degradation, while sequestering more carbon in trees and soils. Also, in Mali, Feed the Future is introducing fertilizer deep placement [FDP, and other micro-dosing/fertilizer efficiency practices?], which maintain or increase production while reducing nitrous oxide emissions by about 30% and also reducing water pollution impacts on fisheries productivity. In Tanzania and Mali, the alternate wet and dry (AWD) rice irrigation method reduces methane emissions from rice. National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans Currently about 32 African countries have National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans (NAFSIPs, aka NAIPs), and the Regional Economic Commissions have regional versions of these (RAFSIPs). An evaluation of their consistency with CSA was done by FAO (2012). 3

4 USAID supported a technical workshop on CSA for COMESA to work on NAFSIPS in 2011, and has been supporting 15 ECOWAS countries in a consultative process of integrating CSA into their NAFSIPs in the past year. Some of the existing investment plans will also need to be renewed in the next year, so there is a general desire to upgrade the approach taken for the next phase of investment plans, covering , as per the Malabo Declaration. There is a need to bring increased attention and quality control to mainstreaming CSA into that process, to then trigger financing and support, including countries own domestic resources, to ensure ownership and sustainability. We see five key components that are necessary for success, which need to be integrated into country CADDP processes: 1. Climate Change vulnerability assessments to support priority setting. 2. Country stocktaking and profiling of what s currently taking place. 3. Assessments of technical options & technologies for CSA; tools and instruments for their promotion. 4. Training to expose people to analytical approaches and planning tools, to reach 30 countries. 5. Coordination efforts with other ministries and technical players. 1. Climate change vulnerability assessments The U.S. Government is using the best available science to help identify climate-related risks in both the short-term and the longterm. This includes modeling of regional climate trends and analysis of the impacts on and risks they pose to food security. African nations need access to these models and analyses. Agro-ecosystem vulnerability mapping may also be a useful analytic approach. The approach should also emphasize identifying climate stresses along the entire food value chain including not only production, but also post-harvest storage, transportation, processing, and marketing. This will help countries identify priorities for investments to build the resilience of the agricultural sector and ensure that the response addresses the most pressing climate challenges. 2. Country stocktaking and profiling includes dialog with national focal points for climate adaptation and mitigation, water resources management, infrastructure, and/or low emissions development strategies (LEDS) to crosswalk plans for ideas and compatibility. It also means reviewing and coordinating with the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and the other analogous plans under the various UN Conventions, like those under the UNCCD plans addressing desertification, sustainable land management and resilience of arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, not to mention the Convention on Biological Diversity. It requires assessment of the policy readiness and enabling conditions for CSA in each country. As proposed by CCAFS, a CSA Readiness Assessment Tool would be useful to support NAFSIP enhancement with critical information on institutions, policies, and finance, to identify both opportunities and barriers to CSA implementation and scaling, so they can be addressed in plans. 3. Assessment of technologies and practices reducing risks CCAFS (the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security program) has already compiled a CSA Compendium of practices and technologies. However this needs to be updated with evidence for the results and cost-effectiveness of each when used in African contexts, preferably using data collected from FARA, NARS, universities, and other African sources, so that technologies and 4

5 practices can be ranked and prioritized on cost-effectiveness for productivity, adaptation/resilience, scalability, and carbon sequestration or GHG emissions efficiency. Agro-ecosystem suitability mapping for different crop and land management regimes (soil types and fertility potential, water, crop suitability under changing conditions) may also be a useful tool (see figure). 4. Capacity building The familiarity and facility of country agricultural planners and stakeholders in using the tools and techniques above are crucial not just to their ability to understand the results of such analyses, but also to own them and use them to test different scenarios. A learn-by-doing approach is essential. 5. Coordination - Considerable coordination will be needed, across ministries (e.g. Agriculture, Finance, Water, Environment), RECs and CAADP (including its joint accountability review processes), research and other organizations, donors, etc. Map of Faidherbia suitability in Tanzania (ICRAF). 5