Making climate smart agriculture happen

Originally posted on the FAO Climate blog. Also published on the agricultureday.org blog.

FAO led a learning event looking at what tools and policies are required to bring food security, adaptation and mitigation together at the Agriculture and Rural Development Day taking place in Durban, South Africa on the sidelines of UN climate change talks COP17.

The impact of best practices were shared among some 60 participants attending the session looking at several examples:

1. Drought-resistant varieties using local biodiversity, leading to increased productivity and reduced risk  in Mali.
2. Community seed enterprises developed, leading to availability of suitable seeds for local farming communities  in Cameroon.
3. With urea deep placement technique improved fertilizer management was reached, wasting less resources (25% decrease in urea use). It also showed a 25% increase in crop yields; and increased opportunities for income. In Bangladesh some 2,500 urea making pellets created, mainly run by women in Bangladesh.