Summary of Baseline Household Survey Results: Vaishali Site, Bihar State (Northeast India)

This report summarizes the results of a household survey of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) carried out in the Vaishali sampling frame of Bihar, northeast India, with an objective to better understand the baseline characteristics of farm families, changes in farming practices over the last 10 years, household livelihood sources, and household food security and asset profiles, among others

Understanding Adaptive Capacity: Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security in Coastal Bangladesh

This paper analyses data from a household-level survey of 980 agricultural and fishing households in seven sites across southern Bangladesh. We examine the relationship between assets, livelihood strategies, food security and farming practice changes. These households are coping with huge demographic, economic, and environmental changes. The results suggest that the least food secure households are also the least adaptive, and are making few, if any changes, in their agricultural practices. They have relatively few assets, and are producing and selling fewer types of agricultural products than more food secure households. The importance of diversification as a strategy to deal with change is evident - households making more farming practice changes are more diversified in terms of the number of different agricultural outputs produced and sold. Market-related factors are more frequently given as reasons for changes in practices than climate-related factors. We also see a strong relationship between education and adaptability. Households with more educated members are likelier to be introducing new agricultural practices. The often unrecognized, but important role that women play in agricultural production and livelihood strategies in Bangladesh is also evident. This rich dataset (freely available at: www.ccafs.cgiar.org/resources/baseline-surveys) provides insights into the relationship between household food security and the agricultural livelihood changes being made by rural households in southern Bangladesh. The analysis provides relatively rare empirical evidence supporting the use of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) as a conceptual approach for understanding household food security as well as adaptation of agriculture to climate change. This information is critical and timely for ongoing dialogues on appropriate ‘climate-resilient’ strategies and policies for increasing the adaptive capacity of households under climate change, and enhancing food security at both household and national levels

Estimating global warming potential for agricultural landscapes with minimal field data and cost

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture comprise 10-12% of anthropocentric global emissions; and 76% of the agricultural emissions are generated in the developing world. Landscape GHG accounting is an effective way to efficiently develop baseline emissions and appropriate mitigation approaches. In a 9,736-hectare case study area dominated by rice and wheat in the Karnal district of Haryana state, India, the authors used a low-cost landscape agricultural GHG accounting method with limited fieldwork, remote sensing, and biogeochemical modeling. We used the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model software to simulate crop growth and carbon and nitrogen cycling to estimate net GHG emissions, with information based on the mapping of cropping patterns over time using multi- resolution and multi-temporal optical remote sensing imagery. We estimated a mean net emission of 78,620 tCO2e/yr (tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year) with a 95% confidence interval of 51,212-106,028 tCO2e/yr based on uncertainties in our crop mapping and soil data. A modeling sensitivity analysis showed soil clay fraction, soil organic carbon fraction, soil density, and nitrogen amendments to be among the most sensitive factors, and therefore critical to capture in field surveys. We recommend a multi-phase approach to increase efficiency and reduce cost in GHG accounting. Field campaigns and aspects of remote sensing image characteristics can be optimized for targeted landscapes through solid background research. An appropriate modeling approach can be selected based on crop and soil characteristics. Soil data in developing world landscapes remain a significant source of uncertainty for studies like these and should remain a key research and data development effort

CCAFS site atlas – Mid-Western Terrai / Rupandehi

CCAFS site atlas for Mid-Western Terrai / Rupandehi, Nepal

Knowledge: its role in hunger, nutrition and climate justice

Climate change will change conditions for food and farming beyond all previous human experience. We need a new era of innovation, in which farmers and communities participate in learning networks, drawing on science and on others’ experiences to complement their local knowledge

CCAFS site atlas – Khulna / Morrelganj

CCAFS site atlas for Khulna / Morrelganj, Bangladesh

CCAFS site atlas – Bihar / Vaishali

CCAFS site atlas for Bihar / Vaishali, India

CCAFS Site Portfolio: Core Sites in the CCAFS Regions: East Africa, West Africa and South Asia

The CGIAR Research Program Climate Change, Agriculture, Food Security (CCAFS) is a 10-year research initiative launched by CGIAR and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). CCAFS seeks to overcome the threats to agriculture and food security in a changing climate, exploring new ways of helping vulnerable rural communities adjust to global changes in climate. CCAFS brings together the world’s best researchers in agricultural science, development research, climate science, and Earth System science to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and trade- offs between climate change, agriculture and food security. CCAFS also involves farmers, policy makers, donors, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to integrate their knowledge and needs into the tools and approaches that are being developed. The overall goal of CCAFS is to overcome the additional threats posed by a changing climate to achieving food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving environmental management. In 2010/2011, CCAFS initially focused on three regions: East Africa (EA), West Africa (WA) and South Asia (SA). Two additional target regions (Southeast Asia and Latin America) were added in late 2012. This report outlines the site selection process of current and future sites and provides a brief overview of the initially selected CCAFS sites

Gender, climate change, agriculture, and food security: a CCAFS training-of-trainers (TOT) manual to prepare South Asian rural women to adapt to climate change

This training-of-trainers manual is designed to train you to be able to deliver a capacity enhancement workshop (CEW) to rural women on climate change and gender. It has been designed by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and is appropriate to the South Asian context