Bioversity International’s contributions to the implementation of article 6 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

In the last 20 years, Bioversity International has coordinated or has been involved in a number of initiatives, projects and activities that contribute to the implementation of Article 6 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). In this note, we summarize how Bioversity International’s work has contributed to each of the measures indicated in Article 6.2 from a) to g) and present examples of projects that are aligned with these measures. This summary was prepared as a contribution to the Third Meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources, Vienna, October 2016

Caficultura y cambio climático en Nicaragua: Refexiones sobre el papel de las políticas públicas y las cooperativas

En el marco de un proyecto denominado “Planes de Inversión en Agricultura Sostenible Adaptada al Clima” implementado por CEDECO, HIVOS, Bioversity Internacional, el Centro Mundial de Agroforestería (ICRAF) y la Universidad de Vermont, Bioversity International llevó a cabo un estudio sobre el marco político e institucional que rodea la producción del café por pequeños productores en Nicaragua. Los objetivos del mismo fueron entender y documentar cómo las políticas públicas que regulan la caficultura en Nicaragua así como el modo de funcionar de las cooperativas agrícolas influyen en las prácticas agrícolas de los pequeños productores de café en Nicaragua, y en particular su capacidad para adoptar medidas que les permitan adaptar la producción cafetalera a los efectos del cambio climático

Influence of social networks on the adoption of climate smart technologies in East Africa: Findings from two surveys and participatory exercises with farmers and local experts

As part of the Policy Action for Climate Change Adaptation (PACCA) project, this info note summarizes findings of a project activity entitled “Influencing and linking policies and institutions from national to local level for the development and adoption of climate‐resilient food systems in East Africa” undertaken by researchers from Bioversity International and Arizona State University. By conducting a network analysis and participatory exercises with district officials and farmers in Lushoto (Tanzania) and Rakai (Uganda), the study assesses the extent to which farmers are adopting agricultural practices and correlates the findings about the size and “make up” of the networks in which the farmers are embedded

Adoption of climate smart technologies in East Africa: Findings from two surveys and participatory exercises with farmers and local experts

As part of the “Policy Action for Climate Change Adaptation” (PACCA) project this info note summarizes findings of a project activity entitled “Influencing and linking policies and institutions from national to local level for the development and adoption of climate‐resilient food systems in East Africa” undertaken by researchers from Bioversity International and Arizona State University. By conducting a network analysis and participatory exercises with district officials and farmers, the study assesses the extent to which farmers are adopting agricultural practices and correlates the findings about the size and “make up” of the networks in which the farmers are embedded

Caficultura y cambio climático en Nicaragua: Refexiones sobre el papel de las políticas públicas y las cooperativas

En Nicaragua el café ocupa el tercer lugar de la superficie cultivada (11%) y, después del maíz y del frijol, es el rubro agrícola que más contribuye al PIB (10%). El 96% de las fincas cafetaleras están en manos de pequeños productores (menos de 20 manzanas1), los cuales representan un 50% del área cultivada del café. Alrededor del 95% del café en Nicaragua se produce bajo sombra y utiliza diversas variedades como Caturra, Borbón, Maragogipe, Catimor, Típica y Cautilla. El café es una fuente muy importante de empleo en el sector rural. Se estima que esta actividad genera un 53% del empleo agrícola y el 14% del total de todo el país. Alrededor del 85% de la producción total de café se vende en el mercado externo y un 15% se consume localmente. Una gran parte de la exportación se realiza a través de intermediarios: solo un 46% de la producción exportable viene directamente del pequeño productor. Existen grandes inequidades dentro del sector del café en Nicaragua, donde grandes empresas concentran gran parte de los ingresos. Nicaragua cuenta con 44.000 productores que cultivan café como rubro principal como parte de un sistema integrado. Esto quiere decir que además de café, cultivan maíz, frijol, hortalizas y musáceas, cítricos, y raíces como la malanga. De ellos, unos 30.000 son pequeños productores que cultivan áreas de entre tan solo 0.5 y 5 manzanas y a los que les resulta muy difícil acceder al financiamiento, tecnologías y apoyo técnico necesarios para modernizar su producción. Los productores medianos y grandes, por otro lado, tienen acceso o al menos cuentan con los recursos suficientes para poder pagar los servicios que les facilitan mejorar su producción

Common Bean Genetics, Breeding, and Genomics for Adaptation to Changing to New Agri-environmental Conditions

[EN] Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) has become, over the last 20 years, a competitive crop in national, regional, and international markets. This situation presents a dynamic environment for producers and researchers of this crop and requires a rethinking of current strategies against research and production needs, the opportunities and challenges of the future, and adaptation to changing agri-environmental conditions. Improvement of the common bean means possessing indepth knowledge of its genetic diversity, the genome and gene functions, to enable the analysis of pathways and networks in response to fluctuating environmental conditions. An important long-term challenge is the discovery of the gene(s) that control important production traits such as pest and disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance,andbiologicalfixationofnitrogen.Thiswillneedtobeacooperativeworldwide effort that involves breeders, geneticists, and genomic and bioinformatics experts. Currently, newtechnologiesbuiltaroundtherecentlyreleasedcommonbeangenome sequence arenowbeingdeveloped,andvariousgenomicresourcesforcommonbean are available and include physical maps, bacterial artificial chromosome libraries, anchored physical and genetic maps, and expressed sequence tags. However, these approaches require precise phenotypic data. Complex interactions between the commonbeancropgenotype,environmentalfactorsincombinationwithplantpopulation dynamics and crop management greatly affect plant phenotypes in field experiments and are the key for the expansion of the productivity of this crop in traditional and nontraditional growing area

Agricultural biodiversity in climate change adaptation planning: An analysis of the National Adaptation Programmes of Action

To guide climate adaptation policies and investments, the majority of least developed countries (LDCs) have developed National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs). Agricultural biodiversity is an important, but often overlooked, element in climate adaptation; new crop varieties, cropping and farming systems will be important under future climates. This paper analyzes the extent to which agricultural biological diversity is included as part of national adaptation planning in the 50 NAPAs developed by LDCs as of December 2014. The paper presents an analytical framework that was used for the analysis of the NAPAs. It identifies 48 activities included in the NAPAs that do (or at least could) increase biodiversity in agricultural production systems or in research and development chains as part of strategies to adapt to climate change. These activities are clustered, first, by sectors (crops/forages, livestock, fisheries, forestry, agroforestry and natural resources) and then by biodiversity levels (genetic/intra-species, species and ecosystems). The highest concentration of activities was found in the combined crops/forages sector and at the ecosystem level. The analysis highlights that agricultural biodiversity is not incorporated within and across the NAPAs in a comprehensive manner, demonstrating that there is not a commonly adopted approach to integrating agricultural biodiversity into strategic planning. In light of these findings, one of the paper’s conclusions is that country teams developing national adaptation plans (NAPs) in the future would benefit from the guidelines for integrating genetic diversity considerations into climate change adaptation planning being considered by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture during its fifteenth session in January 2015. Lessons learned from the NAPA development process are potentially valuable to countries that will be developing NAPs in the years to come. This publication is limited access: to access it please email Ana Bedmar Villanueva <[email protected]

Perceptions of resilience, collective action and natural resources management in socio-ecological production landscapes in East Africa

If properly managed, socio-ecological production landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide can contribute to the well-being of local communities, as well as to the achievement of the global conservation agenda and of other relevant development policies at the national level. However, many of these landscapes worldwide are often highly insecure due to unsupportive government policies, agencies, and lack of local collective action. By conducting a network analysis and participatory exercises with district officials and farmers in two communities from Rakai (Uganda) and Lushoto (Tanzania) districts, we studied local perceptions regarding (a) the contribution of natural resources to local farmers’ livelihoods, and how these farmers, in turn, contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of these natural resources, (b) landscape threats and resilience, and (c) major causes of the identified and possible local solutions for mitigating them. The study shows that in the four communities there was very little communication among farmers and that the cooperation between farmers and local and district stakeholders was rather limited. Farmers did not seek much information concerning conservation and use of natural resources and very few of them were aware of the existence of government programs regulating natural resources management. In addition, the study sites were found to be experiencing a progressive degradation of their natural resources. We, therefore, conclude that the creation of spaces for informed, public discussion aimed at making the institutional context more favourable for the creation and coordination of community groups and at enhancing their interaction, would contribute to a wider movement of knowledge and social exchange. This, in turn, could ultimately result in the creation of local initiatives aimed at the conservation of natural resources