Partnering to scale-up climate-smart agriculture in Africa
Blog originally published on the website of the CGIAR Research Program for Climate Change and Food Security (CCAFS)
New white pea bean varieties developed by researchers at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in Ethiopia and CIAT are more drought-resilient, pest and disease resilient than previous varieties. Photo credit: Georgina Smith/CIAT
Coordinated by the World Farmers’ Organisation in collaboration with the UNFCCC Secretariat, Farmers Day marked on 2 December 2015 brought together farming groups, researchers, civil society, and other advocates to share perspectives on agriculture in light of the United Nation climate change negotiation (Paris COP21).
Over 80% of people in Africa rely on agriculture for their livelihood. They are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as they often lack the means to protect themselves from shocks.
Climate-smart agriculture, a practice that sustainably increases productivity and system resilience while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, addresses interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.
The success of climate-smart agriculture as a strategy to helping vulnerable smallholders cope with the impacts of climate change relies actions from a range of partners from the science, policy and development sectors.
A session on Farmers Day titled “Partnering to scale up climate-smart agriculture in Africa: from policy to tangible impact” explored innovative partnership approaches and shared experiences from the Africa Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance.
Read more about the session from on the blog written by Vivian Atakos of CCAFS titled Innovative climate change partnerships bring hope for smallholder farmers in Africa
