Strengthening Adaptive Capacity of Extensive Livestock Systems for Food and Nutrition Security and Low-emissions Development in Eastern and Southern Africa: Regional Planning Workshop Report

Livestock production is a major economic activity in Africa, contributing significantly to food security, income generation, and employment. Extensive livestock systems support most of Africa’s livestock population, with 63%, 82%, and 70% of the continent’s cattle, sheep, and goats, respectively, raised in arid and semi-arid areas. Despite having one-third of the world’s livestock population, the sector faces several challenges, including low productivity, disease, and poor marketing infrastructure, often exacerbated by climate variability and change

Monitoring biophysical and socioeconomic impacts of CSA practices at Doyogena and Basona Climate-Smart Landscapes, Ethiopia

This activity was conducted to determine climate-smart agricultural practices’ biophysical and socioeconomic impacts over the last 12 months, using the Doyogena (Southern Ethiopia) and Basona (North Ethiopia) climate-smart landscapes as a case study. More specifically, this activity addressed if CSA practices (i) guarantee farmers resilience to climate change; (ii) increase food productivity and household income; and (iii) prevent gender-related bias (i.e., improving women’s participation in decisions, access/control over resources). From each site, 200 adopters (i.e., farmers who practice the above-mentioned practices) and 200 non-adopters (i.e., farmers` as usual practices) were selected randomly. Hence, 800 households were surveyed from six villages from Doyogena and 25 villages from Basona sites. The activity was conducted between 21 December 2020 to 05 January 2021 at Doyogena and between February 01 - 16, 2021 at Basona climate-smart landscapes. Twelve enumerators for Doyogena and fifteen for Basona sites were selected, trained for three days, and performed pre-testing with 8 – 10 farmers before data collection. At Doyogena, a portfolio of eleven promising CSA options was evaluated, namely, (i) terraces coupled with Desho grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum); (ii) controlled grazing; (iii) improved wheat seeds (high yielding, disease-resistant & early maturing); (iv) improved bean seeds (high yielding); (v) improved potato seeds (high yielding, bigger tuber size); (vi) cereal/potatolegume crop rotation (N fixing & non-N fixing); (vii) residue incorporation of wheat or barley; (viii) green manure: vetch and/or lupin during the off-season (N fixing in time); (ix) improved breeds for small ruminants; (x) agroforestry (woody perennials and crops); and (xi) cut and carry for animal feed. At Basona, on the other hand, the impact of seven CSA options was evaluated, namely, (i) terrace (soil bunds); (ii) terraces coupled with phalaris and tree lucerne); (iii) trenches; (iv) enclosure; (v) percolation pits; (vi) check-dams; and (vii) gully rehabilitation

Monitoring socioeconomic impacts of climate-smart agricultural practices at Doyogena and Basona Worena climate-smart landscapes, Ethiopia

To achieve food security and agricultural development goals, adaptation to climate change and lower emission intensities per output will be necessary. This transformation must be accomplished without depletion of the natural resource base. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to managing landscapes such as cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. CSA aims to simultaneously achieve increased productivity, enhanced resilience and reduced emissions. In Ethiopia, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in East Africa has established two climate-smart landscapes: one in southern Ethiopia in Doyogena district and the second one in central Ethiopia in Basona Worena district. In these sites, locally appropriate CSA practices are being tested and promoted by the European Union and International Fund for Agricultural Development (EU-IFAD) funded project "Building livelihoods and resilience to climate change in East & West Africa" that is supporting large-scale adoption of CSA technologies and practices. Although evidence from some East African countries suggests that the introduction of CSA practices among farmers contributes to the potential of agriculture to adapt to a changing climate, the impact of these CSA practices on food security and livelihoods of Ethiopian farmers is not well understood and documented. Therefore, this activity report is the result of the data collection process that was conducted to assess the impacts of CSA practices on agricultural production, income and household food security in Doyogena and Basona Worena Climate Smart Villages (CSVs). Based on the information gathered in the two CSVs, the socio-economic impacts of these practices will be estimated and documented to help donors and decision makers to justify funding and guide priorities in scaling up the adoption of CSA technologies and practices

Activity Report: Implementation of the CSA Monitoring framework in Doyogena Climate-Smart Landscape, Ethiopia

Following up the workshop training held in Doyogena (Ethiopia), the implementation and data collection associated with the climate smart agriculture (CSA) monitoring was carried out between November 2-10, 2019 by a team of 7 enumerators and a supervisor. The main objective of this monitoring was to assess farmers’ adoption/implementation of CSA practices and technologies over the last 12 months and the perceived effects of their implementation on: food security, crops productivity and income, adaptive capacity and gender aspects (labour, participation in decision making, access/control over generated resources). Eleven promising CSA options targeting the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes and ecosystems, and the enhancement of farmer resilience were addressed: Terraces with Desho grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum) a soil and water conservation measure; Controlled grazing; Improved wheat seeds (high yielding, disease resistant & early maturing); Improved bean seeds (high yielding); Improved potato seeds (high yielding, bigger tuber size); Cereal/potato-legume crop rotation (N fixing & non-N fixing); Residue incorporation of wheat or barley; Green manure: vetch and/or lupin during off-season (N fixing in time); Improved breeds for small ruminants; Agroforestry (woody perennials and crops) and Cut and carry for animal feed. The CSA monitoring targeted two persons of opposite sex involved in on-farm activities from a sample of household located in seven villages within the Doyogena Climate-Smart site area. Those included: Tula (01), Suticho (02), Gewada (03), Cholola2 (04), Tachignaw Genjo (05), Duna (06), Gatame 1(07). The households in the first 6 villages were direct beneficiaries of the CCAFS project whereas the ones visited in Gatame1 were non-beneficiaries or “additionals” (potentially non–adopters). Between November 2-10, 2019 a total of 140 households (227 individual farmers: 137 male and 140 females) were surveyed

Gender assessment for women’s economic empowerment in Doyogena climate-smart landscape in Southern Ethiopia

Agricultural production systems in Ethiopia depend on seasonal rains, which are increasingly becoming variable, affecting the livelihoods of many farmers. Women in rural areas are more vulnerable to climate change and climaterelated risks due to existing social norms and gender inequalities (limited ownership and control over productive assets/resources, decision-making power, access to information, extension services, market etc.) and multidimensional social factors. These gender inequalities affect the ability of women to adapt to climate change. On the other hand, women have unique knowledge and skills that can help create effective and sustainable responses to climate change (Habtezion 2013)

Training of ag-extension agents and farmers on validated best-bet CSA packages for crop, forage, and small ruminant value chains to manage climate and non-climate risks in Southern and Central Highlands of Ethiopia

The CGIAR research program on climate change, Agriculture and food security (CCAFS) organized training on validated best-bet CSA packages for crop, forage, and small ruminant value chains to manage climate and non-climate risks in collaboration with The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Africa RISING, ICARDA, Inter Aide, Debre Berhan University, Areka Agricultural Research Center, and Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). The training was carried out between July 15-20, 2021 in Basona Werana and July 31 – August 11, 2021, in Doyogena climate smart landscapes. The training targeted smallholder farmers, and early career experts (i.e. technicians and development agents) from the national partners including district agricultural offices, Areka agricultural research center, Debre Birhan University, and Inter Aide. A total of 443 farmers (87 female and 356 male) and 64 early career experts (8 females and 56 males) were included in the training in both climate smart landscapes. For farmers, the training was given in the local languages. The training covered the following topics: climate change and its risk and impact on agriculture, restoring Agroecology and sustainable benefits, adaptation and mitigation strategies, including soil and water management interventions, on-farm integration of highvalue agroforestry trees, animal feed/fodder, reforestation at a larger landscape scale, nutrient management, and small scale solar-based irrigation. In addition, the sustainable benefits of Agroecology and the concept of community-based breeding programs to improve small ruminant genetics were covered. Training on the use of calculators to estimate greenhouse gas emissions is given to the technicians. Farmers and technicians, development agents, and experts were trained on how to collect data within CBBP cooperatives, evaluation of cooperative breeding sires, pregnancy test, mass synchronization, artificial insemination, principle, and method of breeding ram selection, ranking, and certification, utilization of forage legumes, use of alternative feed resources, ewe flushing, fattening and on the characteristics and controlling methods of small ruminant pests and diseases

Assessment of agricultural emissions, climate change mitigation and adaptation practices in Ethiopia

Acknowledgements The CCAFS Mitigation Options Tool (MOT) was developed by the University of Aberdeen and the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) with support from CCAFS, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United States Development of Agriculture (USDA). The Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Programme is carried out with support from CGIAR Trust Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors. The views expressed in this document cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of these organisations.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Piloting an ICT-based App for providing weather forecasts, agroadvisory and market information to smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

Agriculture is the core sector of the Ethiopian economy (Bekabil 2014). However, smallholder farmers that dominate the sector practice rain-fed mixed farming by using unimproved practices leading to low agricultural productivity (Welteji 2018). Ethiopian agriculture is also vulnerable to climate-related risks such as more frequent droughts and flooding, rainfall variability, and heatwaves (high temperatures) (Amsalu 2009). The impacts of hazards related to current weather variability and climate extremes have already been felt in the country. It is projected that by the year 2050, the negative impacts of climate change, under an extreme scenario of higher temperatures and increased intensity and frequency of extreme events, could cost Ethiopia 8-10% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Robinson et. al. 2013)

Satisfaction with the Accessibility and Usefulness of Bundled CSA Practices for Rehabilitation of Degraded Landscapes

In Africa, particularly East Africa, more than 80% of the population depends on agriculture and the income generated from the sector that contributes about 30-40% to the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Adesina, 2019). Ethiopia is the second most populated country in Africa with 80% of them are living in rural areas (Sakketa, 2022). Studies showed that many families in Ethiopia are unable to produce the necessary amount of food and generate income for their own subsistence and food security (Devereux and Sussex, 2000). The high levels of poverty coupled with the high population pressure, land degradation, and water scarcity are increasing the vulnerability of the country to climate change (Tadesse et al, 2021). Ethiopia is among one of the countries in East Africa at disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences of climate change (Zermoglio et. al., N.A). The country is extremely vulnerable to various climate change events, and it is considered a climate hotspot where climate change poses grave threats to human well-being and natural environments (Aid, 2018). Climate variability and change are having significant direct and indirect impacts on agricultural production, agricultural value chains, food, and nutrition security as well as the overall sustainable growth of the sector in Ethiopia (Gitz et. al., 2016). The number of rainy days in the country has decreased perceptibly, which increases dry spells by 0.8 days per decade, causing crop moisture stress during the growing season. The mean annual temperature has been warming at a rate of 0.12 to 0.54 oC per decade and it is expected to rise by 1.4 to 4.1 oC by 2080. Average annual temperatures nationwide are expected to rise 3.1°C by 2060, and 5.1°C by 2090 (Rovin et al, 2013)

Streamlining climate change, climate risk management in Agriculture, climate information services, and climate-smart agriculture innovations into undergraduate university curriculum modules in Ethiopia

Ethiopia, as is the case for other African countries, is a disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences of climate change. The country has a high risk of hydrometeorological hazards and natural disasters. Its vulnerability is further exacerbated due to the high poverty level and its dependence on key sectors most likely affected by climate change: agriculture, water, tourism, and forestry. The country is considered a climate hotspot where climate change poses grave threats to human well-being and natural environments. The accelerating pace of climate change in the region is invariably being felt through increased extreme weather and variability, which affects the frequency, intensity, spatial distribution, duration and timing of severe weather and climate events. The changes in the frequency and severity of extreme climate events and the increasing variability of weather patterns result in substantial challenges for both human and natural systems. The major and almost exclusive livelihood activities of rural Ethiopia are crop production, livestock production, natural resource extraction, and only less than a small percentage engaged in off-farm activities