Promoting and scaling Agro-Climatic Bulletins (ACB) for smallholder farmers in Vietnam

CGIAR Initiative on Asian Mega Deltas participated in the MARD-CGIAR co-hosted forum on 28 November 2022 held in Hanoi, Vietnam. AMD-Focus Area 3 and building on the agro-climatic bulletin (ACB) process and its journey towards scaling in the Mekong River Delta was presented highlighting lessons learned through this presentation

DeRisking coffee in Vietnem: Piloting a Coffee Climate Protection Insurance scheme to enhance the capacity of smallholders and agribusinesses in coping with climate variability and change

While the Central Highlands in Vietnam are the largest production hub for coffee in the country and the largest Robusta coffee producer in the world, the region remains the second poorest region in the country. This makes it even more difficult for local smallholder farmers to build resilience against the increasing impacts of climate change. With the aim of reducing their vulnerability, the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT together with partner organizations is piloting a Coffee Climate Protection Insurance (CCPI) scheme to enhance the capacity of smallholders and agribusinesses to cope with climate variability and change. The scheme incorporates the use of forecasts into agro-advisories, and an integrated index insurance approach for drought, excessive rainfall and temperature for coffee farmers to reduce risks and encourage good farm-management practices

Mekong River Delta crop decision tree for rice

Crop decision tree is a systematic tool for the development of climate risk responses based on sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts. This generates tailored agricultural advisories to farmers to cope with occurring climate risks taking location and crop growth stage into account. This document is the drafted decision trees for Mekong Delta region for rice crop

Integrated termite management in degraded crop land in Diga District, Ethiopia

Termites are a major pest in the semi-arid and sub-humid tropics. They pose a serious threat to agricultural crops, forestry seedlings, rangelands and wooden structures. In Ethiopia the problem is particularly serious in the western part of the country, specifically in Wollega Zones of Oromia Region. In the past, several attempts were made to reduce damage caused by termites, including extensive termite mound poisoning campaigns. These interventions not only had a negative effect on the environment, but were also largely ineffective. Based on previous work in Uganda showing that adding organic matter to the soil diverts termites from the plant and functions as alternative feed source, a project was commenced by the Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF). In partnership with IWMI and Makerere University, ILRI and Wollega University took the lead in working with local stakeholders to identify sustainable solutions to address the termite problem in Diga, Ethiopia. The research consisted of two major activities; 1) a baseline study to better understand the relation between land use, water, termites and local institutions; and 2) the design and testing of identified interventions. The baseline findings indicated that termite damage depends on various biophysical and socio-institutional factors, which requires an integrated, but also targeted, termite management approach; two termite species are locally recognized, but level of knowledge highly varies among farmers within and between kebeles. Various trials were designed for on-farm experimentation using cattle manure and crop residues as alternative feed source for termites in combination with other cultivation techniques. The result obtained indicated that application of cattle manure and crop residues increases the organic matter content of the soil by 24.5 and 13.9%—grain yield of maize by 38.8 and 16.7% and reduces termite count per plant by 29.6 and 21.6% as compared to the control treatment, respectively. The results are in line with farmers’ own evaluation of the trials. Results and implications are discussed

Improving agricultural water productivity through integrated termite management

Termite infestation is symptomatic of severe land degradation in many semi-arid regions of the Nile Basin. One characteristic of land degradation is low organic matter (OM) reserves in vegetative biomass and soil. One consequence is excessive rainwater depletion through non-productive evaporation and runoff leading to low agricultural water productivity and diminished livelihoods. CPWF research demonstrated that rapid restoration of pasture production is possible by providing manure through night corralling of cattle prior to re-seeding termite affected rangeland in Uganda. In degraded Ethiopian and Ugandan croplands, preliminary results also suggest that application of maize or sorghum stover to growing maize crops reduces termite damage and associate yield losses. Termites appear to prefer feeding on litter, manure and stover rather than on living plant material. We hypothesize that sustainable crop and livestock production requires a minimum threshold of available dry-season ‘litter’ to avoid termite-driven destruction. We propose an integrated termite management (ITM) approach that involves establishment of sufficient OM reserves to sustain termites and other ecosystems services. One anticipated consequence is enabling termites to resume their beneficial roles in promoting nutrient recycling, infiltration and aeration of soil. In this context, ITM requires an appropriate mix of relevant bio-physical and socio-economic interventions. Besides providing water for animal and crop production, the process of rebuilding OM reserves on degraded termite affected rainfed agricultural land requires additional water. We anticipate that the long-term results of increasing OM reserves will be higher agricultural water productivity, increased crop and animal production and improved livelihoods