Projects

Partnerships for Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture (P4S)

Current
© G. Smith (CIAT)
Collaboration with the private sector can support the development of best bet options for resilient food systems.

Project description

Partnerships for Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture (P4S)­ seeks to address gaps in data availability and adequacy for decision-making. Many agricultural management options are available, leading to an equally rich set of possible outcomes. For project planners, investors and policymakers, this creates challenges in identifying in a cost- and time-effective manner what will work where and the associated costs. Moreover, scientific data is usually published in outlets that require long processes before the information can be used in decision-making (journal review speed is traditionally low). The research then gets filed—oftentimes with restricted access—and becomes unavailable for use by non-technical audiences.

Evidence for Resilient Agriculture (ERA), previously known as the Climate-Smart Agriculture Compendium, disrupts this routine and supports decision-makers by giving them access to already-published data, which is packaged into ready-to-use, actionable information. The expansion of ERA's database and use cases, such as the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) investment cases, is currently being supported through the project Building livelihoods and resilience to climate change in East and West Africa. ERA's data portal allows users to select and analyze relevant topics and then, through analytical and data visualization tools, translates the relevant scientific information into actionable information.

Activities

Identification of climate-smart business models and finance mechanisms:

  • Assess the impact of current business models and financing mechanisms on productivity and resilience on smallholder farmers.
  • Integrate risk profiling into large investments and financial services (e.g. development banks, private sector, etc.) to identify the risks and opportunities for building resilience across agricultural value chains and helping to allow for more appropriate and affordably priced financial products and services.
  • Establish best bets for how the private sector can engage to help scale up CSA.

Scaling up the use of evidence in projects, policies and the private sector:

  • Strengthen and expand ERA on the impact of farm management on productivity, resilience and greenhouse gas emissions beyond the existing 1,500 studies conducted. 
  • Use new analytical and data visualization tools and translate the ERA web application into a series of ready-to-use data products.
  • Provide technical support to non-governmental organizations, government representatives and private sector actors to modify service design and delivery processes and tailor implementation to locations.
  • Bring lessons to national and regional science-policy processes to stimulate policy development, improved prioritization and enhanced investment. This will also include South-South learning.

expected outcomes

Engage in the ongoing development and private sector initiatives to assist in the prioritization of best-bet options and policy development. This will be implemented through five best-fit investment options for programs and policies in East and West Africa, and best-bet CSA options and information to support these investments for target geographies and beneficiaries.

Specific outcomes include:

  • Numbers of farmers with climate-informed advisories on specific CSA options through extension services, radio and other information and communications technology (ICT) mechanisms

  • Numbers of farm households receiving incentives (training, financial, programmatic, policy-related) for adopting CSA related practices and technologies that potentially reduce production risks

  • Numbers of policy decisions in as many countries taken (in part) based on engagement and information dissemination by CCAFS

  • Numbers of major subnational public/private initiatives providing access to novel financial services and supporting innovative CSA business models

  • Amount (€) of new investment by countries and development agencies in climate-related development initiatives informed by CCAFS research and partnerships

Partners

  • World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
  • Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
  • Partnerships for Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture (P4S)
  • Evidence for Resilient Agriculture (ERA)

More information

For more information, please contact project leader Todd Rosenstock, ICRAF (t.rosenstock@cgiar.org).

Funding for this project is provided by: