September 2011

In a recent opinion piece, Lloyd Le Page, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, draws attention to the drought in East Africa, and how agricultural research can help prevent a similar crisis in the future:

“Focusing our efforts on long-term solutions via research and innovation would not only enhance our understanding of extreme weather events like drought, but also provide vital knowledge and technologies that farmers, herders, aid workers and policymakers can use to inform decisions on how to cope with them.”

Guest Blog by: Chase Sova, visiting researcher on 'Adaptive Capacity under Progressive Climate Change', CCAFS. 

Choosing the best climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in agriculture can be a challenging task for decision makers and farmers alike. Given the many options available, it is important that scarce resources are used to support measures that are both cost effective and reflect the needs of communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In July, the CGIAR Climate program (CCAFS) joined forces with Oxford University and ViAgroforestry to pilot a new way of identifying community appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies and determining their associated costs and benefits. The approach is built on a novel cost-benefit framework called Social Return on Investment (SROI). Read more »

Guest blog by Wiebke Foerch, Science Officer for Theme 4.2 Data and Tools.

What questions should we be asking of smallholder farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia if we want to better understand where we stand now with respect to farming practices and knowledge that will allow them to feed, educate and take care of their families — as they face even greater climate-related challenges than ever before? This was the challenge that faced us as we designed what is called a ‘baseline survey’ for the new CCAFS program. And it took the thoughtfulness of many researchers with experience in these incredibly diverse places, along with considerable statistical expertise, to design and implement such a process. Read more »

Guest blog by Lini Wollenberg, Theme Leader for theme 'Pro-poor Climate Change Mitigation' and Chase Sova, visiting researcher on 'Adaptive Capacity under Progressive Climate Change', CCAFS.

Representatives from government agencies, research institutes, development organizations and civil society came together in June and July to discuss the current status of climate change policy in agriculture and identify research priorities in each of four countries: Ghana, Mali, Kenya and Ethiopia. CCAFS organized the national workshops respectively with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Ghana, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Mali, the Tegemeo Institute in Kenya and the Climate Change Forum in Ethiopia. Read more »