Co-designing climate-smart farming systems with local stakeholders: A methodological framework for achieving large-scale change

The literature is increasing on how to prioritize climate-smart options with stakeholders but relatively few examples exist on how to co-design climate-smart farming systems with them, in particular with smallholder farmers. This article presents a methodological framework to co-design climate-smart farming systems with local stakeholders (farmers, scientists, NGOs) so that large-scale change can be achieved. This framework is based on the lessons learned during a research project conducted in Honduras and Colombia from 2015 to 2017. Seven phases are suggested to engage a process of co-conception of climate-smart farming systems that might enable implementation at scale: (1) “exploration of the initial situation,” which identifies local stakeholders potentially interested in being involved in the process, existing farming systems, and specific constraints to the implementation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA); (2) “co-definition of an innovation platform,” which defines the structure and the rules of functioning for a platform favoring the involvement of local stakeholders in the process; (3) “shared diagnosis,” which defines the main challenges to be solved by the innovation platform; (4) “identification and ex ante assessment of new farming systems,” which assess the potential performances of solutions prioritized by the members of the innovation platform under CSA pillars; (5) “experimentation,” which tests the prioritized solutions on-farm; (6) “assessment of the co-design process of climate-smart farming systems,” which validates the ability of the process to reach its initial objectives, particularly in terms of new farming systems but also in terms of capacity building; and (7) “definition of strategies for scaling up/out,” which addresses the scaling of the co-design process. For each phase, specific tools or methodologies are used: focus groups, social network analysis, theory of change, life-cycle assessment, and on-farm experiments. Each phase is illustrated with results obtained in Colombia or Honduras

Options for Climate-Smart Agriculture at Kaptumo Site in Kenya

This report identifies and assesses climate-smart agricultural practices through participatory appraisal tools with experts and farmers, as part of the MICCA pilot project in Kaptumo, Kenya. The aim is to highlight and add climate-smart practices within the ongoing development programme which aims to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation with improving livelihoods and productivity of the dairy farming system

Demand for agricultural credit by rural households: Findings from a climate-smart agriculture (CSA) survey in the Nyando Basin, Kenya

This Info Note summarizes the findings of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) interventions in Nyando Climate-Smart Village (CSV) targeting smallholder farmers with climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approaches to help them better manage their farms, and to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change. The work was done by University of Nairobi Masters and PhD students as part of a financial diaries study involving two counties in Kenya and 122 sampled households. The project specifically focused on adoption and cross breeding of Galla goats as a scalable intervention, agroforestry, water catchments and the introduction of learning sites for greenhouse and fish farming to help farmers diversify their farming activities and sources of income. This study’s objective was to assess the borrowing behavior of farm households in the CSVs of Nyando

Participatory identification of climate-smart agriculture priorities

With the concept climate-smart agriculture (CSA) being relatively new, there is a need to test and develop practical and systematic methodologies and approaches for documenting and evaluating CSA practices in the field. The implementation of CCAFS’ Climate-Smart Villages (CSV) involves identifying, assessing and selecting climate-smart farming practices. This report contains three sections: (i) a framework for identifying and assessing CSA in the field with a long list of CSA indicators in identifying and monitoring CSA interventions; (ii) cost-benefit analysis of some selected climate-smart farming systems; and (iii) the participatory process of prioritizing CSA options with the villagers. The work builds on our experiences from the My Loi CSV and its scaling domains in Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province, in the north-central region of Viet Nam. English version: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/75542/Participatory%20CSA_ICRAF_Final.pd

Participatory identification of climate-smart agriculture priorities

With the concept climate-smart agriculture (CSA) being relatively new, there is a need to test and develop practical and systematic methodologies and approaches for documenting and evaluating CSA practices in the field. The implementation of CCAFS’ Climate-Smart Villages (CSV) involves identifying, assessing and selecting climate-smart farming practices. This report contains three sections: (i) a framework for identifying and assessing CSA in the field with a long list of CSA indicators in identifying and monitoring CSA interventions; (ii) cost-benefit analysis of some selected climate-smart farming systems; and (iii) the participatory process of prioritizing CSA options with the villagers. The work builds on our experiences from the My Loi CSV and its scaling domains in Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province, in the north-central region of Viet Nam

Strengthening education, extension and training to accelerate climate resilience and low carbon development in the agriculture sector

The dynamic nature of climate and its impacts on agriculture is rendering most of the existing adaptation and coping strategies unsupportive in many regions. Recent studies on economic sectors (including agriculture) across institutions and 24 counties have established the following: a widened gap between skills possessed by youth and those required by the job market; inadequate technical skills and knowledge on climate change and climate-smart technologies by the extension service providers; climate change has not been adequately integrated into Kenya’s formal agricultural education, extension and training systems such as the Kenya School of Agriculture (KSA), Agricultural Technology Development Centres (ATDCs), Agricultural Training Centres (ATCs) and Agriculture Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET); the existing policies and strategies for capacity building for the agriculture sector have limited provisions for promoting climate resilient and low carbon development solutions. These calls for integration of climate change into the formal education, extension and training systems; equipping the training institutions to facilitate adoption of climate-smart innovations; capacity building of the extension service providers to enhance utilization and adaptation of the appropriate support agricultural technologies, innovations and climate-smart farming practices

Climate Smart Farming for Women in East Africa

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 60% of East Africans live as subsistence farmers. This population is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change which has increased the duration and intensity of droughts and floods. Droughts and floods can destroy an entire season’s harvest, causing sustenance farmers and their families to struggle for food until the next season. In an attempt to mitigate the severe effects of climate change on these farmers and reduce food insecurity in East Africa, the team has designed a small-scale aquaponic farming system that simultaneously grows fish and vegetables. This system is founded on sustainability, as aquaponics uses significantly less water to grow crops than traditional farming, making it more resilient to both severe droughts and floods, the system also does not rely on external fertilizers, and it uses recycled materials as often as possible. This aquaponic system was designed for women’s collectives in East Africa who requested help in building a portfolio of projects that they can teach to women in rural East Africa. These women’s organizations work in rural villages throughout Uganda and Kenya to help local women and their families adapt to the changing climate. Currently, their efforts have been focused on improving the quality and supply of water in the villages by constructing latrines, water filters, and rainwater catchment systems. During the 2017-2018 academic year, team members designed and built the aquaponic system in Santa Clara, California, then deployed the first prototype in Kampala, Uganda, and trained several of the collective’s leaders how to build and operate the system

How can we make sense of smart technologies for sustainable agriculture? - A discussion paper

This paper discusses the challenges of assessing the benefits and risks of new digital technologies, so-called ‘smart technologies’ for sustainable agri-food systems. It builds on the results of a literature review that was embedded in a wider study on future options for (sustainable) farming systems in Germany. Following the concepts of Actor-Network-Theory, we can conceive of smart technologies in agriculture as networks that can only be understood in their entirety when considering the relationships with all actors involved: technology developers, users (farmers, consumers and others), data analysts, legal regulators, policy makers, and potential others. Furthermore, interaction of the technology and its implementers with nature, such as plants, entire landscapes, and animals, need to be taken into consideration. As a consequence, we have to deal with a highly complex system when assessing the technology – at a time where many of the relevant questions have not been sufficiently researched yet. Building on the FAO’s SAFA guidelines, the paper outlines criteria against which smart technologies could be assessed for their potential to contribute to a sustainable development of agri-food systems. These include aspects of governance, ecology, economy and social issues. We draw some tentative conclusions on the required framework conditions for implementation of digital technology, in particular from the perspective of sustainable agriculture. These are aimed at fuelling further discussion about the potentials and risks of the technology

Smart Computing and Sensing Technologies for Animal Welfare: A Systematic Review

Animals play a profoundly important and intricate role in our lives today. Dogs have been human companions for thousands of years, but they now work closely with us to assist the disabled, and in combat and search and rescue situations. Farm animals are a critical part of the global food supply chain, and there is increasing consumer interest in organically fed and humanely raised livestock, and how it impacts our health and environmental footprint. Wild animals are threatened with extinction by human induced factors, and shrinking and compromised habitat. This review sets the goal to systematically survey the existing literature in smart computing and sensing technologies for domestic, farm and wild animal welfare. We use the notion of \emph{animal welfare} in broad terms, to review the technologies for assessing whether animals are healthy, free of pain and suffering, and also positively stimulated in their environment. Also the notion of \emph{smart computing and sensing} is used in broad terms, to refer to computing and sensing systems that are not isolated but interconnected with communication networks, and capable of remote data collection, processing, exchange and analysis. We review smart technologies for domestic animals, indoor and outdoor animal farming, as well as animals in the wild and zoos. The findings of this review are expected to motivate future research and contribute to data, information and communication management as well as policy for animal welfare

Diversification of livelihoods among small-scale farmers in the Nyando Basin, Kenya: Findings from a climate-smart agriculture baseline survey

This brief summarizes findings of a climate-smart agriculture (CSA) research project led by the Amsterdam Center for World Food Studies (ACWFS) with the participation of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in East Africa, University of Nairobi (School of Economics) and Wageningen Economic Research. It is based on baseline data collected as part of an ongoing survey of 122 households located in the Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) and non-CSVs villages of Nyando Basin in Kisumu and Kericho Counties. It discusses diversification of livelihood sources