Use of climate resilience platform by PepsiCo leadership led to climate-resilient planning and adaptation investment for its potato program covering 1.8 million tons across 8 countries.

Based on extensive grower data from PepsiCo, we built climate-yield models specifically for it and came up with results about climate risks and opportunities for its potato production. The results were then translated into actionable insights to incorporate into its sustainability roadmaps. PepsiCo used the Climate Resilience Platform, an online website developed from this project, to identify future climate risks and to better prioritize adaptation practices, thereby increasing its supply chain resilience across 10 countries of its potato program

CSA Practices for Sustainable Cocoa Farming Systems

Climate change will shape the future production of cocoa and requires mutual cooperation amongst sector stakeholders to tailor responses to its differentiated impacts. Identifying and prioritizing climate smart agriculture (CSA) responses requires integration of multiple objectives and managing trade-offs between food security, adaptation and mitigation. Impact of future climates on growing regions is needed to select locally appropriate CSA practices. Zones of adaptation needs in Indonesia are identified and the ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ of tailored CSA practices are illustrated in an accessible guidebook format

Carbon assessment for cocoa cropping systems in Lampung, Indonesia

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) production plays a key role in the economics of Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest cocoa bean producing country. With more than 1.6 million hectares of land planted with cocoa, small improvements in emissions efficiencies or carbon sequestration opportunities can have a relatively large mitigating effect on emissions from agroforestry and land use. The carbon assessment in Lampung, Sumatra was done to evaluate environmental impacts of cocoa as a commodity through estimation of carbon stock and carbon footprint, GHG emissions during the cultivation of cocoa in different cropping systems. Segmentation of cropping systems along density of intercropping, inputs use intensity and residue management practices identify opportunities for climate smart practices tailored to each segment

Carbon assessment for Robusta coffee production systems in Vietnam: a case study in Dak Lak

Carbon assessments have proliferated to identify climate friendly practices in Arabica producing systems, though little attention is given to Robusta. In this study, we evaluated the climate impact of Robusta production via quantification of carbon stock and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the intensive shaded and unshaded coffee farms of the world’s largest Robusta producing region, Vietnam’s Central Highlands. We find due to the linear relationship between fertilizer use and yields, emissions from input use on a per unit product basis are not significantly different between the intensive and less intensive systems. However, when accounting for carbon sequestered in shade and coffee trees, the less intensive systems are carbon positive (sequestering more than they emit) per unit of green coffee bean produced

One Size Does Not Fit All: Private-Sector Perspectives on Climate Change, Agriculture and Adaptation

Smallholder farmers around the globe are facing unstable productivity due to changing climate and weather patterns. The ways in which the private sector supports these farmers to build resilience to and/or engage in efforts to mitigate climate change can have significant impact on farmer livelihoods, security of supply of smallholder crops, and the reputation of the private sector actors drawing loyalty of end consumers and investors (Campbell (2013) Feed the future learning agenda literature review: expanded markets, value chains, and increased investment. Rockville, MD: Westat. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00JP6B.pdf. Accessed 29 March 2018). This paper assesses how private-sector actors across the supply chain manage climate smart agriculture (CSA, with an eye on how civil society can better engage companies in promoting CSA practices. Drawing on dialogue with 42 private firms working in coffee, cocoa and other commodity crops, we found that companies used a variety of climate information depending on their proximity to farm level, drivers for decision-making, and motivations for investing in climate smart practices. In order to successfully approach companies, tool/resource developers need to understand the role of climate smart agriculture within each company’s business model and sustainability strategy (Vorley et al. (2009) Business models that are inclusive of small farmers. Agro-industries for Development. Wallingford, CABI for FAO and UNIDO, p 186–222). By providing granular data to assist in risk management of specific supply chains, tailoring tools and resources to the companies’ needs, and making the business case for CSA investment, those promoting CSA practices can better engage the private sector to invest in climate resilience

Assessment of climate change impacts and issues to support the making of new Nông Thôn Mới (Vietnam’s National Target Program on New Rural Development) criteria for the 2021-2030 Strategy

This report showcases the results of the assessment conducted by the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development. The assessment aims to create new sets of criteria for the Nông Thôn Mới (NTM) program of Vietnam by investigating the impacts and issues brought by climate change. This is a part of the task, “Investigation and improvement of the national NTM criteria for rural development at all levels (commune, district, province) according to titles (standard, advanced, demonstration) in the period of 2021-2025.

Scaling of Climate-Smart Agriculture via Climate-Smart Villages in Southeast Asia: Insights and Lessons from Vietnam, Laos, Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar

This strong correlation between agriculture and climate change has led to the emergence of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) that seeks to balance agricultural productivity within the bounds of our climate. The CSV approach is participatory research for development approach that serve as testing ground for best context-specific CSA technologies and practices. International organizations have identified scaling of agricultural innovations as a priority agenda. In 2015, CGIAR-CCAFS began expanding the CSV approach in Southeast Asia with the establishment of seven CSVs in the region. Through the efforts of various partners, these CSVs have grown to 90 CSVs. This paper is presented as synthesis of the diverse experiences of the CSVs in Southeast Asia. The authors have reviewed key publications generated since 2015 in order to draw highlights and key lessons on scaling CSA via the CSV approach. The pathways of scaling can be through knowledge transfer, policy incidence and commercialization. Scaling can also be technology-driven and institution-driven processes. In the experience of the CSVs in Southeast Asia, a combination of various approaches was implemented to achieve scaling of CSA via CSVs. The CSVs have leveraged knowledge transfer activities via farmer-farmer to engagements and roving workshops. The CSVs also maximized the opportunities in national policies where it can mainstream CSA and CSVs. Policies such as Vietnam’s Nong Thon Moi national rural development program, Myanmar’s Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy and the Philippine Department of Agriculture systemwide program called Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture, are all significant policy drivers of scaling CSA via CSVs in these countries. Albeit, on its early stages, the CSV in the Philippines and the work of IIRR in Cambodia have also utilized an economic, market-driven approach to scaling specific CSA options for these communities

Terra-i+ webtool: Simplifying agroforestry sustainability monitoring

In an ever-evolving landscape of regulations and commitments to net-zero emission commodity chains, Terra-i+ offers a satellite-based solution for agroforestry supply chain sustainability management. At its core, Terra-i+ functions as an integrated platform to access critical information about the sustainability status of coffee supply chains. With Terra-i+, stakeholders gain access to essential metrics and insights, empowering them to make informed decisions that drive adoption of sustainable practices

Supply chain risk assessment and management toolkit

The Supply Chain Risk Assessment and Management Toolkit, developed by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in collaboration with FMO and Mercon Coffee Group, has the objective of helping companies assess the risks of engaging with or endorsing unlawful/unethical practices in their agricultural supply chains, and defining adequate measures to prevent, minimize and mitigate their impacts. The toolkit groups risks in three major Areas: Labor, Human Rights, and Environment, which are further disaggregated in Sub-Areas and Components. The analysis is carried out at a Macro and Micro level, providing companies a contextualized, nuanced, and granular understanding of the challenges they (may) face, which will guide the development of tailored risk management strategies. The toolkit is comprised of four different tools: i) Macro Risk Assessment, ii) Supply Chain Mapping Tool iii) Micro Risk Assessment and iv) Prioritization and Action Planning. i. Macro Risk Assessment: This tool assesses the risk exposure of engaging with or endorsing unlawful/unethical practices in agricultural supply chains at a national level. The result of the assessment is a relative rating of risk exposure in the three risk areas, based on national statistics and other publicly available databases, indexes, reports, news, and similar sources. ii. Supply Chain Mapping Tool: This tool is designed to help collect and organize data on the company's in-country operations along its supply chain, as well as the importance of the target origin for the company's overall business. This information is useful in considering risk mitigation strategies as well as for prioritizing among countries/origins. iii. Micro Risk Assessment: This tool assesses the risk exposure of engaging with or endorsing unlawful/unethical practices in agricultural supply chains at a local level. The result of the assessment is a relative rating of risk exposure in the three risk areas, based on information available from visits to randomly selected farms coupled with interviews with farmers, workers, company personnel, civil society representatives and other local key informants. iv. Prioritization and Action Planning: This tool supports the process of prioritization and action planning for minimizing the risk exposure of engaging with or endorsing unlawful/unethical practices in agricultural supply chains, by providing guidelines and resources for facilitating relevant discussions among company personnel. It combines the results from the Macro and Micro Risk Assessments with discussions of potential consequences of risks, and the efficacy of current mitigation strategies, for estimating a relative rating of risk exposure in the three risk areas. This information is used to guide the development of recommendations and action planning to prevent, minimize and mitigate risks. Each tool contains specific instructions and is accompanied by relevant supplementary materials, including data collection instruments and templates designed to streamline the process of inputting and analyzing data. All tools have been designed using generic terms to accommodate different commodities and countries. The toolkit includes an introductory file with general information to understand and navigate through the different tools and supplementary files

Can remote sensing enable a Biomass Climate Adaptation Index for agricultural systems?

IFPRI Project: Digital Innovation Initiative/204025.000.400Systematic tools and approaches for measuring climate change adaptation at multiple scales of spatial resolution are lacking, limiting measurement of progress toward the adaptation goals of the Paris Agreement. In particular, there is a lack of adaptation measurement or tracking systems that are coherent (measuring adaptation itself), comparable (allowing comparisons across geographies and systems), and comprehensive (are supported by the necessary data). In addition, most adaptation measurement efforts lack an appropriate counterfactual baseline to assess the effectiveness of adaptation-related interventions. To address this, we are developing a “Biomass Climate Adaptation Index” (Biomass CAI) for agricultural systems, where climate adaptation progress across multiple scales can be measured by satellite remote sensing. The Biomass CAI can be used at global, national, landscape and farm-level to remotely monitor agri-biomass productivity associated with adaptation interventions, and to facilitate more tailored “precision adaptation”. The Biomass CAI places focus on decision-support for end-users to ensure that the most effective climate change adaptation investments and interventions can be made in agricultural and food systems