Access and use of weather and climate information by women and men farmers: Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture qualitative evaluation preliminary findings

The Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture project has sought to build capacity of the country’s national institutions to provide climate information tailored to the needs of the agriculture sector, deliver climate services to farmers across Rwanda’s 30 districts, and help them to effectively use the information to manage climate risk. Project interventions include: training Farmer Promoters, who are part of Rwanda’s national agricultural extension service, to guide farmers in the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) process (Dorward et al., 2015); and organizing farmers into Radio Listeners’ Clubs that meet weekly to participate in climate services radio programs and discuss management responses

Looking beyond loss and damage: Reframing insurance to promote adaptation and resilience

In much of the developing world, climate change is expected to increase the risk from extreme weather events, and scaling insurance is vital to enhance agricultural risk management and adaptation among the rural poor. Insurance program impacts however too often claim impacts based on the number of farmers insured, or total payouts made; instead of documenting livelihood impacts, and/or addressing key challenges that hamper impacts on resilience. A mix of stakeholder expertise is required to design, evaluate and scale insurance programs that have the potential to enhance resilience among the rural poor. We highlight the contribution that agricultural research-for-development (AR4D) can play to help strengthening scaling efforts and evaluating the impacts of insurance on resilience

Klimaverksted - klimaråd til bonden

Høsten 2016 arrangerte NORSØK et klimaverksted på Tingvoll gard i samarbeid med Møre og Romsdal Bondelag. Deltakerne kom fra Bondelaget, Bonde og Småbrukarlaget, Landbruksrådgivinga (med representanter fra NLR sentralt og Landbruk Nordvest regionalt) og Fylkesmannen. Formålet med klimaverkstedet var å utveksle kunnskap og erfaringer og diskutere klimaråd. Dagen starta med innlegg fra Møre og Romsdal Bondelag, Norsk Landbruksrådgiving (prosjektleder for prosjekt «klimarådgiving på gårdsnivå») og NORSØK. Resten av dagen ble brukt til meningsutveksling og diskusjon

Prospects for scaling up the contribution of index insurance to smallholder adaptation to climate risk

Climate change is expected to increase the risk from extreme climate events, such as drought, flooding and heat waves, in much of the developing world (IPCC 2012, 2014). Extreme events erode farmers’ livelihoods through loss of productive assets, while the uncertainty associated with climate variability is a disincentive to investing in agricultural innovation. The impacts of climate-related risk contribute to poverty traps that lock many farmers in climate-vulnerable livelihoods, impeding the kinds of transformation that smallholder agriculture needs in order to adapt to climate change. Index-based agricultural insurance is gaining increasing attention as a promising tool for adapting smallholder agriculture to climate risk. Although the promise is backed up by evidence in several contexts, several key challenges must be addressed to realize its potential at scale. New innovations and partnerships have great potential to overcome these challenges and elevate the role of index insurance in smallholder adaptation to a new level

New data on eudialyte decomposition minerals from kakortokites and associated pegmatites of the Ilimaussaq complex, South Greenland

A suite of samples with eudialyte and eudialyte decomposition minerals from the kakortokite and associated pegmatites of the Ilimaussaq complex in South Greenland has been investigated by electron microprobe analysis. Extensive decomposition of eudialyte has resulted in the formation of catapleiite as host for a number of rare and hitherto unknown REE minerals besides known minerals such as monazite and kainosite. Mineral A1 is present in very small amounts in nearly all eudialyte decomposition aggregates and comprises two varieties: Ca-rich A1 with composition HCa3REE6(SiO4)6(Fsquare) and presumed apatite structure, and Ca-poor A1 with composition (Fe,Mn,Ca)1.5REE6Si6FO22 and unknown structure. Mineral A2 with composition (Ca,Fe)1.2 REE4Si6O19-y(OH)2y.nH2O is indistinguishable from A1 in EMP-backscattered light and has only been found at a limited number of localities. Mineral A2 also occurs as a primary mineral at one locality. Additional rare and new REE-minerals are mineral A3 with composition Na0.2Ca0.6Fe0.2Mn0.5Al0.5REE2.8Si6F0.5O)18-y(OH)2y . nH2O; mineral Uk2 with composition REE2.00F1.50O2.25-y(OH)2y . nH2O; mineral Uk3 with composition CaREE4O7-yOH)2y . nH2O; and mineral Y1 with composition Na2Ca4Y2.7REE1.3F18 (OH)4. The Ce:(Y+La+Pr+Nd+Sm+Gd) molar ratio for A1, A2, A3, Uk2, Uk3 and monazite is close to 1:1. Characteristic for A1, A2 and monazite are substantial solid solutions between La and (Pr+Nd+Sm+Gd) with slowly increasing content of Ce as the content of La increases. A similar pattern does not exist for the REE in fresh eudialyte. Kainosite, identified in one decomposition aggregate, has not previously been found in the Il maussaq complex.</p

A roadmap for evidence-based insurance development for Nigeria’s farmers

In 2014, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) proposed a major expansion of agricultural insurance in the context of other reforms to the agricultural sector, and as part of the implementation of its National Agricultural Resilience Framework (NARF). This report is designed to inform development of inclusive insurance for Nigeria’s agriculture sector, and is offered as a contribution to the NARF. It is an outcome of a consultative process that began in September 2014 between FMARD and the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). By overcoming the problems of moral hazard, adverse selection, and resulting high transaction costs and processing delays that have plagued indemnity-based agricultural insurance, index-based insurance makes it feasible to insure millions of smallholder farmers. Well-designed index insurance can achieve specific risk objectives such as protecting farmers’ livelihoods in the face of major climate shocks, and promoting farmers’ livelihoods by overcoming barriers to adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices, and access to market opportunities. Reviews of index-based agricultural insurance initiatives have identified several success factors that are relevant to the situation in Nigeria. First, successful initiatives have been designed to unlock particular opportunities for farmers that were previously constrained by particular risks. Second, initiatives are most successful when they are driven by demand and responsive to farmer input. Third, successful initiatives have invested in the capacity of a range of local stakeholders. Fourth, investments in data systems, and in science-based index development, have helped address the challenges of data poverty and basis risk. Fifth, successful index insurance requires an enabling regulatory environment. Finally, successful initiatives involve multi-stakeholder partnerships, and often public-private partnerships. A strategy for expanding insurance for Nigeria’s smallholder farmers must address challenges that include: limited and asymmetric information; crowding out by post-disaster relief efforts; limited access to reinsurance markets; lack of insurance culture; and inadequate regulatory environments. The development of effective market-based agricultural insurance, requires government support in five key areas: data systems; awareness and capacity building; facilitating international risk pooling; “smart” subsidies; and an enabling policy environment. Three immediate priorities are identified: (a) creating a regulatory environment that makes it attractive for insurance companies to enter the market; (b) developing a public-private partnership that incentivizes and supports companies to develop innovative products and services for the agriculture sector; and (c) progressively expand implementation through well-designed pilots, evaluation and learning processes. The organizations that have been involved or consulted in the process leading to this report offer relevant expertise

Evaluation Framework for Water Quality Trading Programs in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Water quality trading programs are being proposed and implemented across the US in a variety of forms and with differing objectives. The programs being proposed and implemented in the Chesapeake Bay region are no exception. Against this background the Chesapeake Bay Program's Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee and the Mid-Atlantic Water Program requested a general framework to inform and guide the evaluation of the performance trading programs. This resulting report was developed by a workgroup comprised of ten individuals with extensive experience in the study, design, and evaluation of trading programs. While the impetus for this report was to improve evaluation of trading programs in the Chesapeake Bay region, the evaluation framework is broad enough to apply to trading programs in general

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