NAIROBI– Detailed guides on the status of and opportunities for investment in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in 14 African countries have been officially launched by scientists from the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) during the African Climate-Smart Agriculture Summit being held in Nairobi this week.
The profiles provide, for the first time, a scientific framework to guide future CSA financing in Africa and de-risk investment in the sector. Impacts from climate change on people in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to be some of the greatest compared with other regions by 2100, yet the continent currently only receives 5.0 per cent of climate funding.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices seek to help farmers adapt to changing weather patterns, while reducing emissions and boosting food security. Yet funding, particularly in Africa, is severely lacking.
For many large donors, private sector companies and African governments, investing in African agriculture is still extremely risky, commented Evan Girvetz, a senior scientist at the CIAT who leads the CSA profiles project.
Our data and evidence-based reports aim to reduce that risk, by providing a detailed analysis of the most effective approaches to the sustained adoption of climate-smart agriculture from a local to a national level.
The CSA profile concept was originally designed to guide large-scale agricultural investments, such as the 250 million US dollars World Bank-funded Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project, with research focused on Africa beginning in 2016.
Profiles have since been produced for 14 African countries, which were launched Wednesday at a session entitled: Profiling Climate Risk and CSA Opportunities to De-risk Agriculture. The countries are Senegal, Rwanda, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, CAte D’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Benin, Niger and Mali.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK