Blog

ghana

Blind vegetable farming: One calabash at a time

Submitted by Cecilia on 11th March 2013
Tags:

by Yemi Ademiluyi

I tagged along with Jessica Thorn when she went out into the field in search of dry season farms. Jessica, a researcher from Oxford University, is working on mapping project sites in Lawra-Jirapa in Northern Ghana as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

In the field Jess is using a combination of quantitative ecological field-testing techniques with qualitative sociological methods. These surveys are used to assess the relationship between ecosystem processes, goods, services and human well being in a changing climate. Read more »

A partnership network - what does it mean in practice?

Submitted by Cecilia on 1st November 2012
Tags:
What does it mean to actually build a local network of partners?

By Caity Peterson

To adapt communities and local agriculture to the impacts of climate change, organizations can’t maintain an individualistic outlook, said Jesse Naab of CSIR-Ghana in a session on Partnerships for Environmental Resilience and Climate Change, day 2 of the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD2). Instead, they must strive to collaborate and be on the lookout for ways to build capacity-enabling networks.

But tell us, Dr. Naab, how does that actually work? Read more »

National Workshops To Support Climate Change Policy in Agriculture

Submitted by Cecilia on 5th September 2011
Tags:

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 »

Farmers do not need to imagine a warmer world... it's already arrived - New photofilms

Submitted by Vanessa on 5th December 2010
Tags:


Feeding people in today’s world is already a considerable challenge. According to scientists, two-degree Celsius temperature increase could have a devastating effect on global food production. And concern is now growing that climate change and climate variability will compound the challenges facing the world’s poor, particularly those in vulnerable areas.
Essentially, the geography of agriculture is likely to change significantly due to climate change. Where you grow some crops today may not be the same areas in the future. In temperate regions like the Andes in Latin America, climate change means that crops will move up to higher and cooler elevations. In Africa, climate change could trigger massive human migration from areas that have turned from breadbaskets to dust bowls.

To illustrate the impact of a 2-degree temperature change, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), in collaboration with CCAFS, documented the impact of a two-degree rise on coffee production in Colombian Andes, a crucial cash crop for small-scale Andean farmers who supply the multi-billion dollar gourmet coffee market.



The Ghana case study highlights the displacement of African farmers who will be forced to abandon semi-arid, dry areas that can no longer support food production.



While decision makers in Cancun negotiate the latest high-level climate deals, the stories and testimonies featured in Two Degrees Up give a glimpse of what life is like on the ground, and emphasize the importance of finding sustainable, scientific solutions to enable small farmers around the world to adapt to the challenge of climate change.

Two Degrees Up is a joint production of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme of the CGIAR-ESSP. The stories are produced by Neil Palmer, CIAT, who also took the photos.

Syndicate content