Capacitating stakeholders to using Climate Information in West Africa: Achievements and lessons learned from the WAAPP-funded CaSCIERA-TA project

This Info note summarizes the achievements and lessons learned from the implementation of a 2-year project on ‘’Capacitating Stakeholders in Using Climate Information for Enhanced Resilience in the Agricultural Sector in West Africa (CaSCIERA-TA)’’, funded by Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricole (CORAF) under the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP)”. This project was implemented by a consortium of partners led by ICRAF Sahel Office and included CCAFS West Africa Program, AGRHYMET, INRAB-Benin, IRAG-Guinea, INRAN-Niger and ITRA-Togo. The project aimed at strengthening the capacity of the stakeholders of four WAAPP implementing countries to mainstream and implement Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) into their activities

Taking the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach to extension actors for strengthening resilience in Africa: five years’ experience in West Africa

In West Africa, about 70% of the population live in rural area and have livelihoods mostly based on rainfed agriculture (Connolly-Boutin and Smit 2016; Serdeczny et al. 2017). Despite the low input practices, agriculture contributes of 30-40% Gross Domestic Product (Jalloh et al. 2012; Nin-Prat et al. 2011). However, farmers in this region are exposed to various weather-related risks, chiefly climate variability as well as climate change inducing droughts, which combined with their low adaptive capacities makes them the most vulnerable in the world (Von Soest 2020). Moreover, the climate of West Africa is expected to become more arid due to increased temperature and uncertain rainfall regimes, while its population is expected to grow faster than the rest of the world (Mechiche-Alami and Abdi 2020). Climate smart agriculture aims at helping farmers cope with the negative impact of climate change and in line with this, accurate and timely climate information services are one of the major inputs for improving agricultural practices (FAO 2013, 2018; Hansen et al., 2011, 2019). Developed by the University of Reading, within the framework of a CCAFS (Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security research program) funded project and with initial support from Nuffield Africa, the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach is designed to help mallholder farmers to make plans and decisions for their individual contexts and that utilize climate and weather information together with participatory decision making tools. This approach is based on the analysis of livelihood activities by smallholder farmers in the light of climate information of their locality including historical weather data as well as seasonal and short-term forecasts, and helps farmers to make risk assessments and decisions to improve their production and meet their objectives (Dorward et al. 2015). Various participatory tools, including resource allocation maps, seasonal calendars, participatory budget analysis, C C A F S I N F O N O T E 2 are used for such analysis considering the specific context of each farmer as shown in the contextual framework in Figure 1. Two key principles of PICSA include ‘the farmer decides’ i.e. that farmers are best placed to make decisions about their agricultural practices, because they have detailed knowledge of their farm, system and environment, and they also face the consequences (whether favourable or unfavourable) of their decisions, and ‘options by context’ i.e. different farmers having different contexts. This includes differences in wealth, education, land, goals and attitudes to risk. Therefore, what works for one farmer might not work for another and farmers should thus make decisions that are right for their own contexts (see https://research.reading.ac.uk/picsa for full explanation and resources on PICSA)

Multi-Actors' Co-Implementation of Climate-Smart Village Approach in West Africa: Achievements and Lessons Learnt

Climate change and variability are significant challenges for the environment and food security worldwide. Development strategies focusing simultaneously on adaptive farming, productivity, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-known as climate-smart agriculture (CSA) strategies-are key to responding to these challenges. For almost a decade, within the framework of Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), World Agroforestry (ICRAF), and its partners have been using Participatory Action Research (PAR) to fully engage key stakeholders in co-creating such CSA development strategies. This includes the testing of Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) CSA scalability options. The multidisciplinary teams include the National Research and Extension Systems (NARES), national meteorological services (NMS), non-profit organizations (NGOs), and local radio programs, among others. The CCAFS-West Africa Program, World Agroforestry-West and Central Africa (ICRAF-WCA), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), University of Reading, and Centre Régional de Formation et d'Application en Agro-météorologie et Hydrologie Opérationnelle (AGRHYMET) provide technical backstopping to the national teams. Climate information (CI) was used as an entry point to inform the development of CSA technologies and practices within Climate-Smart Villages (CSV). This groundwork has led to a greater understanding of three critical factors for successful CSV implementation: (1) Building strong partnerships to co-design and develop agricultural systems that improve ecosystem and population resilience, (2) Key stakeholders (researchers, farmers, development agents, and students) capacity strengthening through vocational and academic training, and (3) Using CI for livelihood planning at all scales. These three factors support more effective identification and testing of agricultural technologies and practices addressing climate variability and change at plot, community, and landscape levels. This paper discusses the PAR-CSA methodology and parameters for evaluation, including biophysical and social change. Keys to success, including communication, knowledge sharing tools, and scalability are also discussed. Finally, future opportunities for improvement are presented, including knowledge product development, CSA policy and investment planning, capacity building, further engagement of the private sector, and additional research on existing practices and tools