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Addressing practical needs for securing land productivity during an era of climate vulnerability
By Rudo E. Makunike, NEPAD Secretariat. rudom@nepad.org
At the April 2009 Ministers of Agriculture and Livestock Summit on "Investing in Agriculture for economic growth and food security", the African Union adopted climate change decisions to enhance investments and growth in agriculture.
In response to this, NEPAD-TerrAfrica hosted a special workshop on 30 May 2009 to develop an agriculture climate change adaptation framework. This workshop also came on the heels of the Africa Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) special segment on climate change, in which NEPAD-TerrAfrica was also involved in advocacy on sustainable land management.
The workshop was meant to subject the ministers' recommendations to more non-state stakeholder input. The Workshop particularly focused on elaborating the implementation dimensions and to offer suggestions to deal with these issues within the context of enhancing Africa's capacities.
The output of this workshop informed part of AUC-NEPAD's strategy for implementation of the ministers' decisions on climate change. In this regard, the TerrAfrica partnership made critical contributions that the ministers later recommended to the Africa Union Heads of States summit held in July 2009. These recommendations were made in line with one of the Ministers' Summit sub-themes on Climate Change: opportunities for enhanced investments and growth of African agriculture.
The workshop was attended by representatives of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), USAID, FARA, African Conservation Tillage Network, Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, FAO, Stockholm Environment Institute, ICRAF, Africa Union Commission, Sub-Saharan countries, specialized regional organizations and academia active in CAADP and TerrAfrica. A workshop report is available from the TerrAfrica Secretariat. |
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 Food Security and Land Degradation in Southern Africa: Scaling up conservation agriculture
FAO Southern Africa: Contacts Martin Ager Martin.Ager@fao.org and Lewis Hove Lewis.Hove@fao.org
Food security and land degradation are critical issues in Southern Africa, where 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, but yields are low and stagnant, climate change and variability has a major impact and most rural households are affected by HIV/AIDS.
An ongoing initiative in Southern Africa aims to change the farming practices of farmers in this drought-prone sub-region with conservation agriculture (CA), a proven sustainable farming system with potential to improve food security and guard against environmental degradation amid climate change and variation. Increasing crop productivity requires better soil conservation and more water use efficiency while saving on labor and other agricultural inputs.
FAO and NEPAD-TerrAfrica are collaborating with the Ministries of Agriculture, NGOs and other local institutions in Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe to promote conservation agriculture as a tool to empower 23,700 vulnerable smallholder farmers to deal with climate change variation, land degradation and ultimately food security. Project activities started in September 2008 and will run through to August 2010.
The project will train 1,480 extension staff and 2,370 lead farmers who will in turn provide training and extension support to the 23,700 beneficiary farmers. Part of the initiative will be to support knowledge sharing among stakeholders while raising awareness about the benefits of CA among policymakers. This knowledge will then be shared across the southern Africa region and through the TerrAfrica network, reaching into other parts of Africa.
FAO is providing technical and operational support for the project, while NEPAD is providing political and policy advice to ensure the project is aligned with regional priorities in food security and natural resource management. Norway is providing financial support for the project, which complements other regional CA projects being implemented by FAO and others in southern Africa.
As of September 2009, 102% of the extension staff and 68% of the lead farmers had been trained. The training of the remainder of the lead farmers and the beneficiary farmers will be the key project activities until the end of 2009, in preparation for the 2009/10 production season. The project has also increased awareness and facilitated knowledge sharing events at the regional level and in all the project countries. These activities, aimed at policy makers, extension and research staff as well as farmers, have enhanced government political support, which is vital for sustaining project impacts.
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 Nigeria kicks off phased approach to scale up Sustainable Land Management
Nigeria has kicked off its Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Investment Framework preparations after two years of open national consultations involving ministries, producer organizations and other Nigerian stakeholders, as well as international partners.
Given Nigeria's size and federal system, the country opted for a phased approach, starting with the Cross River State and gradually adding other states. At present, all the 36 states of Nigeria have been sensitized on the programmatic approach to SLM and the formulation of the Nigeria Country Strategic Investment Framework. The framework was laid down by Nigeria's technical and steering level national SLM committees, which are building a national investment coalition on land management along the NEPAD-TerrAfrica programmatic approach and country SLM Investment Framework. This is consistent with and expected to integrate into the country CAADP process. The committees consist of technical and ministerial level representatives from agriculture, finance, environment, and planning ministries, among others.
As the alliance grows, it is increasingly attracting state level actors and other stakeholders, while the national technical SLM committee currently is moving to scale up SLM in every state. The Investment Framework is their flagship. |
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| Africa's Agriculture-Climate Change Adaptation Framework
In recognition of the increasing effect of climate change on agriculture productivity the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit (1st - 3rd August 2009, Sirte, Libya) charged AUC and NEPAD to lead the process to develop an Agriculture-Climate change adaptation framework. The Framework, a component of NEPAD's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture development Programme (CAADP), will provide critical tools to support a coherent effort addressing the effects of climate change and variability on agricultural productivity. By rallying expert knowledge, information, analytical skills, technical best practices and investment resources, the framework aims to scale up sustainable land and water management at the country and regional level. The overall effort is a key element in addressing land and environmental degradation while responding to climate change and its threat to agriculture productivity and food security.
The NEPAD Secretariat, in liaison with ICRAF within NEPAD Pillar 1 and TerrAfrica Partnership framework is facilitating the initiative involving various other partners including Regional Economic Communities and Pillar 1 institutions to develop the Agriculture-Climate change adaptation Framework.
The 5th TerrAfrica Executive Committee Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2009 reviewed progress on development of the Framework and determined specific TerrAfrica contributions and responsibilities in developing and operationalising the Framework.
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Sustainable Land and Water Management Framework: A pillar of support
By Dr. Elijah Phiri, University of Zambia. ephiri@unza.zm
Charged with extending the area under Sustainable Land and Water Management (SLWM), the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)'s Pillar 1 framework builds directly upon practical tools and knowledge products that TerrAfrica partners have developed cooperatively over the past several years. CAADP is a continent-wide strategic framework for the development of Africa's agriculture in supporting the economic growth agenda. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to reducing poverty and hunger, and ensuring environmental sustainability, serve as critical guide-posts for CAADP investment activities. The SLWM Framework brings together three key elements to the CAADP regional and country roundtable process (articulation of agricultural investment priorities), namely (i) sustainable land management, (ii) agricultural water management and (iii) land policy and administration.
Land and water are the primary natural resources necessary for agricultural production and rural development in most African countries. If these resources are utilized under proper management and tapping the potential, continental agricultural production can outpace the growing demand despite the declining availability of per capita land and water resources.
The CAADP Pillar 1 framework has received significant inputs from TerrAfrica partners. Key entry points in the elaboration and development process of the framework include:
- Public review - feedback was solicited from key stakeholders, research/training institutions and NEPAD's members and partners, including from throughout the TerrAfrica network;
- Specialized expert review - a multi-disciplinary Expert Reference Group began their work in Lusaka, Zambia, in April 2009 and edited the framework in Nairobi in May 2009, drawing directly upon TerrAfrica's core regional tools and analyses;
- Stakeholder workshop - major players will carry out a validation process in Bamako by December 2009.
This African-led process has yielded a framework that reflects the various ambitions of the different stakeholders with regard to sustainable land and water management for the purpose of increasing agricultural productivity.
As things move forward, the FAO has a special role for quality assurance support and TerrAfrica's knowledge products linkage to the framework document. The real proof of progress will come as increased agricultural productivity and improved natural resource management are validated in follow-up studies and country-level SLWM articulation in agricultural investment programmes.
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| Knowledge Management News |
 New products bolster awareness of Sustainable Land Management's role in fighting climate change
Among a suite of new knowledge products in development this year, TerrAfrica is highlighting several that explore links between sustainable land management and climate change related issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These TerrAfrica Knowledge Products aim to educate policy makers and development practitioners about the role sustainable land management plays in combating the effects of climate change.
In particular, TerrAfrica partners showcased two issue papers and two climate briefs at the African Union (AU) Ministers of Agriculture, Livestock and Land meeting in Addis Ababa (23-25 April) and the Africa Ministers of Environment Special Session on Climate Change in Nairobi (25 to 29 May).
Developed with Ecoagriculture Partners, the climate briefs provide basic but accurate and updated information, facts and key messages on the issues and challenges related to the land and climate nexus. The issue papers explore the linkages SLM shares with climate change, land degradation and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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| TerrAfrica Executive Committee News |
| New CSO and African government representatives join the TerrAfrica family
During the last TerrAfrica Executive Committee (TAEC) meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina (26-27 September 2009), new representatives from the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and African governments joined the TAEC. The new African country representatives are Ethiopia and Niger, which replaced Chad and South Africa. The CSOs PELUM Lesotho and CONGAD were replaced by the National NGOs-CBOs Coordination Committee on Desertification in Kenya and Phytosalus in Burkina Faso. The CSOs representatives were nominated on an interim basis until the CSOs hold elections next year in 2010. The Secretariat takes this opportunity to welcome the new TAEC members to the TerrAfrica family.
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| Key Meetings and Events |
 UNCCD COP 9
The TerrAfrica Executive Committee met in the margins of the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Buenos Aires, Argentina (21 Sept - 2 Oct 2009).
Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change: An Interactive Discussion
This interactive event, which ran parallel to the UNCCD COP 9:
- Provided an opportunity for conference participants, stakeholders and the general public to contribute ideas for how SLM can help to alleviate the challenge of climate change.
- Helped strengthen understanding of the potential of SLM to achieve climate adaptation and mitigation objectives in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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| Editors |
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Editor in Chief: Martin Bwalya
Contributing Editors: Dr. Andrew Kanyegirire, Rudo E. Makunike, Florence Richard, Dr. Elijah Phiri |
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 TerrAfrica is nationally driven and depends on the leadership and commitments of Sub-Saharan African countries. The Executive Committee consists of Sub-Saharan African governments, NEPAD, the UNCCD Secretariat, the UNCCD's GM, the FAO, IFAD, UNDP, UNEP, the AfDB, the European Commission, bilateral donors, civil society representatives, and the World Bank.
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Copyright © 2009 TerrAfrica | All rights reserved. |
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