Overcoming challenges and barriers in CSA implementation Alain Vidal, Director of Strategic Partnerships, CGIAR Consortium

2013

Why is CSA important? - Mitigation

“Business as usual” (BAU) agriculture emissions would comprise ~50% of allowable emissions to achieve a 2°C world

Gt CO2e per year

2010 2050 (Business as

usual)

2050 (2°C target)

9 11

40

74

Non-agricultural emissions

Agricultural and agriculture-driven land-use change emissions

~50%

49

85

22

CGIAR: the world’s leading agricultural research partnership, working towards a food secure future

At the UN SG Climate Summit in 2014, CGIAR committed to dedicate 60% of its 1b$ research for

development effort to climate-smart agriculture

CGIAR’s global research Centers

CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) portfolio

• Maize• Wheat • Rice• Roots, Tubers & Bananas• Dryland Cereals• Grain Legumes• Livestock and Fish

• Humid Tropics• Aquatic Agricultural Systems• Dryland Systems

• Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)• Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA)• Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

• CRP for Managing & Sustaining Crop Collections

• Policies, Institutions & Market

• Agriculture for Nutrition & Health

1. Climate-Smart technologies, practices, and portfolios

3. Low emissions development

4. Policies and institutions for climate-resilient food systems

2. Climate information services and climate-informed safety nets

How do we address challenges and barriers?

Challenge 1

Complexity of bringing the three CSA ‘pillars’ together

Keep flooded for first 15 days and at flowering

Irrigate when water drops to 15 cm below the surface

Summer/ Autumn

Winter/ Spring

30% less water

20-50% less GHG

Lower costsNo yield loss

Alternate-Wetting-and-Drying in rice in Asia (AWD)

Beware of the « wrapped chocolate »…

Source: World Bank, FAO

Food security ≠ Productivity !

Challenge 2: Integrating CSA to drive existing initiatives and programmes

Innovative approach involving:1. Situation Analysis2. Targeting, Prioritising and

Programming3. Monitoring and Evaluation 

CSA PLAN also helps understand implications of CSA across value chains (challenge 9)

Challenge 3: Defining the business case for farmers

• Preference to spend on a mix of ways to minimize climatic risks

• Buying special seeds or using special machines represent value for money

• Climate information and warning services expected

Challenge 4: Access to finance for smallholder farmers

• IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) – 300m$ to 8m farmers

• Unlocking carbon finance

• Weather index-based insurance in India, Nigeria, etc. including for African pastoralists

• Good target for impact investment e.g. Landscape Fund to mobilize investment for landscape-level programmes (Challenge 10)

Challenge 5: CSA knowledge exchange

• SHAMBA SHAPE UP reached 9m farmers in East Africa

• Seasonal weather forecasts in Senegal reaching 2m farmers through community-based radio

• Precision fertilizer application advice through mobile phone apps in East Asia

Challenge 6: Lack of data and advisory services

Challenge 7: Uncertainty relating to policy incentives

• Detailed future scenarios for 6 regions

• National policy makers reimagine future scenarios in the context of their own goals

• 7 countries using scenarios to test and revise major climate and agriculture initiatives

Challenge 8: Accessing, analysing and monitoring data in a cost-appropriate and efficient manner

• Small-Holder Agriculture Monitoring and Baseline Assessment (SHAMBA) tool for mitigation data

• IMPACTLite Tool for production systems data

• Gender and Inclusion Toolkit for gender and social inequality data

A few take home messages

The Smart Way Forward

• Go with the whole CSA chocolate box• Unwrap the food security chocolate before eating

• Start envisage CSA as a social business where Mitigation pays for adaptation

e.g. carbon finance Adaptation pays for mitigation e.g. index-based

insurance

• Integration is key…Come and visit our Climate Smart Villages

Key Interventions in a Climate-Smart Village

www.cgiar.orgwww.ccafs.cgiar.org Thank you