Adaptive Capacity for

Resilience and Equity in

Smallholder Agriculture

prepared by Karl Deering and Stefan Mielke

The challenge

“Feeding and nourishing a growing population in the face of climate change and other threats will be one of the defining challenges of the 21st century.”

CI Discussion Paper “Climate Change, Smallholder Agriculture and Food Security”May 2013

Our world and its food and nutrition security

• Causes of hunger and malnutrition are many; but increases in output are required (demographic/dietary change)

• Increased production required without bringing new land into agriculture; with climate change, land-use conversion to agriculture is a major source of emissions and loss of biodiversity

• Increasing stability of agricultural production systems requires much greater attention to building ecosystem services to increase resilience

• To increase yields sustainably, we must harness knowledge from all current systems of agricultural production, including those based on conservation agriculture principles, local indigenous knowledge, etc.

• Smallholder systems are a key part of the solution• Women underpin smallholder farming, but face many obstacles with

insufficient support

Our world in a changing climate

4

• BUT rising temperatures, reduced and erratic rainfall, increased flooding undermining farming, especially rain-fed agriculture

ACRES - Adaptive Capacity for Resilience and Equity in Smallholder Agriculture

• ACRES established to address thematic pillar on food security, agriculture and climate change in the CI CC strategy.

• Coordinated effort between the CI Poverty, Environment and Climate Change Network (PECCN) and the CI Food and Nutrition Security Steering Committee

• ACRES is not a strategy but a workstream based on existing corporate strategies

• It has a ToR, budget, workplan, coordinator and structured communications, policy and fundraising support from the PECCN Secretariat

• Cross-thematic links are key - water team also directly engaged

ACRES – background

• 2012 – scoping exercise under CC strategy development process; political economy research and technical workshop

• 2013 – discussion paper, positioning, programme design process, team established

• 2014 – knowledge exchange workshop, work-planning and outreach

• 2015 – the road to Paris – UNFCCC CoP

ACRES – planning (under development)

1 Building our Programme Portfolio and Resource Base • Engaging in Africa CSA Alliance, sharing donor intelligence, TA to

COs on the development of proposals/concept notes; developing marketing and fundraising products (focus on gender/CCAFS r/ship)

2 Knowledge Management and Learning • Establish baseline of understanding on the issues/approaches

and improve transfer of technical/programmatic/policy knowledge• Finalise Position Paper; develop/share learning and practice

papers and agree learning agenda • More capacity building through practical, technical knowledge

exchange events (e.g. Mozambique in Aug., Ethiopia in Sep.)  

ACRES – planning cont.

3 Strategic Partnership• Building new and enhancing existing strategic partnerships, such as

with the CARE-WWF Alliance and CCAFS

4 Policy and Advocacy Work• Build on Position Paper and develop new and cutting edge policy

briefs for strategic purposes in CFS/UNFCCC• Production of robust, technical and programme-based evidence

papers

5 Internal Communications• Ensure internal information transfer and awareness levels are

established and maintained and that maximum coherence is sough with all initiatives across CC and F+NS strategies 

To be sustainable and just, a food system must not only provide sufficient food, but also ensure food and nutrition security, promote equity and resilience, and make sustainable use of natural resources and environmental services

The emerging ACRES Approach

CARE thus wants to promote smallholder agriculture that is

• Sustainable• Productive• Equitable• Resilient

SuPER smallholder agriculture