1 2013

Bringing climate-smart agriculture to scale: Examples and factors of success

Robert Zougmoré, RPL-CCAFS West Africa Sonja Vermeulen, Head of Research, CCAFS

Institutions and policies for scaling-out climate smart agriculture, Hotel Hilton, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2-3 December 2013

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Food security

Adaptation Environmental footprint

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5

10

15

20

25

US Malawi

GHG CO2-eq tonne per capita

What is “climate-smart agriculture”?

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http://www.climatesmartagriculture.org

FAO (2010). CSA is ‘agriculture that

sustainably increases productivity,

resilience (adaptation),

reduces/removes GHGs (mitigation),

and enhances achievement of

national food security and

development goals.’

Guidance on CSA principles and practices

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Farm and community: climate-smart practices, institutions

Global: climate models, international agreements, finance

Climate-smart agriculture happens at multiple levels

National and regional: enabling policies, extension, support, research, finance

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Examples of Successful CSA

Bringing back the Sahel’s

‘underground forest’

o 1980’s loss of trees led to severe soil

infertility, crop failure, famine.

o Land restored through farmer-managed

natural regeneration (FMNR).

o FMNR encourages farmers to regrow

indigenous trees.

Success at scale

o 5 million ha of land restored, over 200

million trees re-established.

o FMNR spreading across southern Niger,

Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

additional half a million tonnes of grain per year.

improved food security of 2.5 million people.

yields of millet from 150 kg/ha to 500 kg/ha.

o Adaptation :

improved structure and fertility of the soil.

water more accessible.

o Mitigation:

sequestration of carbon in soil, tree roots and wood.

Herbicide-tolerant crops

contribute to climate change

resilience and mitigation

o Herbicide-tolerant (HT) and pest-resistant crops

reduce need for ploughing, fuel consumption,

and pesticides.

o Improves soil quality.

Success at scale

o Reduced fuel consumption.

o Reduced use of pesticides.

o Higher yields, lower costs, greater returns for

farmers.

o HT canola – grown under reduced tillage in Canada.

Reducing fuel use by 31,000 tonnes per year, and

sequestering 1 million tonnes of carbon in soil.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

higher yields.

o Adaptation:

increasing resilience of farming systems.

reducing vulnerability to wind and water erosion.

o Mitigation:

reduced fuel and pesticide usage.

build up of organic matter in soil leading to

carbon being sequestered.

Weather-based insurance helps

farmers evade the poverty trap

o Smallholder farmers trapped in poverty – no

resources to invest in inputs to generate surplus.

o 2003 Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme

(WBCIS) – uses a weather index, pay-outs

triggered automatically.

Success at scale

o 12 million farmers insured.

o More small-scale farmers taking out insurance.

o Reduces the risks farmers take in investing in

inputs.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation, mitigation

o Food production:

– allows farmers to access fertilizer and better seed.

– raising productivity of cropland.

o Adaptation:

– allows farmers to take risks with new farming methods.

o Mitigation:

– reduces pressure to bring more land under cultivation.

Paying for ecosystem services is good

for the environment and people

o By 2009, 38% of China’s total land area

considered badly eroded.

o 2 billion tonnes of silt entering the Yangtze and

Yellow rivers each year.

o ‘Grain for Green’ programme designed to

reduce erosion in river catchments and

alleviate poverty.

o Farmers paid to set aside land and plant trees.

Success at scale

o 2.5 million households participated.

o Converted 2 million ha of cropped hillside

to forest or grassland.

o Sequestered over 700,000 tonnes of

carbon.

o Soil erosion reduced by 26%.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

farmers able to increase yields on

remaining fields.

o Adaptation:

adapting cropped hillside to forest –

reducing erosion.

o Mitigation:

carbon production and soil erosion

decreased.

Water harvesting boosts

yields in the Sahel

o Sahel – Droughts common and farming

difficult with sparse rainfall.

o Changes in land management – stone

bunds and zai pits.

Success at scale

o Contour bunds established on

200,000 to 300,000 ha.

o Yields double those on unimproved

land.

o Tree cover and diversity increased.

o Groundwater levels rising.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

predicted that the improved land will

produce enough to feed 500,000 to 750,000

people.

increased diversity of food, health benefits.

o Adaptation:

contour bunds able to cope with changing

weather.

o Mitigation:

land management prevents further

worsening of soil quality.

Safety net programmes boost

food security and climate

change resilience

o Increasing frequency of drought depleting

asset base of smallholder farmers.

o 2005 Productive Safety Net Programme

(PSNP).

o Household Asset Building Program

(HABP).

Success at scale

o Both programmes reduce the ‘hunger gap’.

o Child nutrition and food security increased.

o Increase in livestock holdings.

o Those enrolled in both programmes

produced 147 kg more grain.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation, mitigation

o Food production:

improved the immediate food security of

households.

o Adaptation:

strengthened resilience to droughts and floods.

increased ability to adapt to longer-term climate

change.

o Mitigation:

adopted agricultural practices likely to increase

carbon sequestration.

Reducing Danish agriculture’s

contribution to climate change

o Denmark agricultural sector contributes

17% of emissions.

o 2009 Agreement on Green Growth.

o Measures to promote organic farming, re-

establish wetlands, reduce pesticides.

o Efficiency in resource and energy use.

Success at scale

o 1990 – 2009 emissions declined by 28%.

o 31% reduction in nitrous oxide emissions –

improved use of manure, 40% reduction in use

of inorganic fertilizer.

o Emissions could be cut by a further 50-70%.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

emissions cut without reducing food production.

o Adaptation:

adapting agricultural practices to become more

energy efficient.

o Mitigation:

target to use half of all manure produced to

create biogas by 2020.

will reduce methane production from manure

and reduce dependence on fossil fuel.

Persuading Brazil’s farmers to

adopt low-carbon agriculture

o Agriculture second largest source of greenhouse

gases.

o 2010 Low-Carbon Agriculture (ABC) Plan – aims to

promote sustainable agriculture while increasing

efficiency.

o Provides low-interest loans for sustainable

agricultural practices.

Success at scale

o Ambitious goals.

o 2011 – 2000 projects approved, total value

US$ 251 million.

o Uptake constrained by a number of factors.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

restoration of pastures could increase beef

yields six fold.

o Adaptation:

promotes sustainable agricultural systems.

o Mitigation:

reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

increase carbon sequestration.

prevent further expansion into the Amazon

region.

Kenyan farmers sell carbon

credits to BioCarbon Fund

o 2010 – Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project (KACP).

o Helping farmers adopt sustainable agricultural land

management.

o World Bank’s ‘Adoption of Sustainable Land

Management’ methodology.

o Bottom-up approach to monitoring.

Success at scale

o 15,000 farmers and 800 farmer groups

have adopted sustainable practices,

applied to 12,000 ha of degraded land.

o Target – to enrol 60,000 farmers on 45,000

ha by 2016.

o Would result in reducing greenhouse gas

emissions by over 60,000 tonnes.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

Improved land management.

Increasing crop yields.

o Adaptation:

reducing vulnerability of farmers to

climate change.

o Mitigation:

restoring degraded land.

‘Plan Maroc Vert’ gets climate

change makeover

o 2008 ‘Plan Maroc Vert’.

o 2011 ‘Integrating Climate Change in the

Implementation of the Plan Maroc Vert’

project.

o Measures proposed could reduce emissions

by 63.5 million tonnes over 20 years.

Success at scale

o Increased production – citrus production

20% increase, cereal 52%, dates 45%, red

meat 45%.

o Could further reduce greenhouse gas

emissions.

Benefits for food production,

adaptation and mitigation

o Food production:

increased agricultural yields.

o Adaptation:

financing climate change adaption

measures.

o Mitigation:

could reduce emissions through

sequestration of carbon in soil.

LESSONS LEARNT

Five key lessons for future interventions and global negotiations:

1. Trade-offs between CSA aligned initiatives and current food security and development priorities can be avoided, at least in the near-term and over limited spatial scale

2. Cost-effective and comparable indices for measuring GHG fluxes and adaptive impacts realized through CSA

3. Strong government support is crucial for large-scale success, both from a policy perspective as well as in elaborating scaling up frameworks that most effectively utilize the comparative advantages of the local partners involved

4. Upfront costs are usually substantial in such large initiatives, but can be met from multiple sources

5. An iterative learning approach in large-scale initiatives with investment in capacity strengthening of the partners involved is critical

CONCLUSIONS

• Case studies demonstrate the

potential of agriculture to adapt to a

changing climate.

• Cases meet the three-part goal.

• Challenge to promote widespread

adoption of climate-smart agricultural

interventions around the world.

38 2013

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