Agriculture News South Africa

Scaling up climate-smart agriculture solutions for Southern African farmers

14 September 2016 will see the inception of meeting and working sessions for a new flagship project "Scaling-Up Climate-Smart Agricultural Solutions for Cereals and Livestock Farmers in Southern Africa" - a collaboration between the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)and the Southern Africa Confederation of Agricultural Union (SACAU), the International Maize and Wheat Centre (CIMMYT/CCAFS) and several other partners. The launch will be followed by working sessions for the remainder of the week at the Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Scaling up climate-smart agriculture solutions for Southern African farmers
©chris willemsen via 123RF

This flagship project will be implemented in a selected number of SACAU member countries and it aims to promote information and access to specific climate solutions for cereals and livestock farmers, with the intention to increase household food security, nutrition and incomes for smallholder farmers through four key areas namely: drought-tolerant germplasms, the provision of climate information services, weather-based insurance as well as diversification of options for livestock farmers.

Forty participants have been invited from various organisations which are active in the area of climate change management and climate-smart agriculture and to participate and contribute to the working sessions. The meeting aims to build partnerships and synergies with stakeholders in the implementation of the flagship project and for technical validation of the proposed scaling-up strategy.

CTA commissioned a number of studies in the region which will be presented in order to paint a backdrop of the status of climate-smart solutions in the region, namely a synthesis of the use of ICT to promote information on agriculture and climate-smart agriculture at country level as well as a business case for engaging the private sector in climate-smart solutions in an attempt to unlock shared value for the sector.

This is expected to be a highly valuable, interactive and exciting event which will provide much-needed clarity on the future of climate-smart agriculture in Southern Africa and through the involved partners, SACAU looks forward to co-hosting the meeting and working sessions with CTA and showcasing this work at the launch on 14 September 2016.

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