CTA commits to climate smart agriculture at CWA2014

The high level workshop on “Improving climate change resilience for agriculture in the Caribbean” launched at the CWA2014, in Paramaribo, Suriname, is part of the initiatives taken by CTA to tackle the impact of climate change on small-scale producers and promote climate smart agriculture as a way of ensuring food security and resilience of agricultural systems. 

Just two weeks after signing The Global Alliance on Climate Smart Agriculture, in New York in September 2014, CTA commits to promote knowledge sharing on successful climate smart agriculture practices across Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean regions (ACP) at the two-day workshop aimed at bringing upfront the most vulnerable small-scale producers in the Caribbean. 

“The small island states are particularly vulnerable. In some cases, extreme weather events can wipe out agriculture in a very short space of time. Grenada lost 70% of its agriculture in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan,” declared CTA Director Michael Hailu at the opening of the workshop. “For some time now, CTA has been supporting institutions in the region in building resilience to climate change and its effect on agriculture, and this initiative will help to voice farmers’ concerns and explore some of the options for helping them. Partnership is critical, and we hope that we can further engage farmers’ organisations, institutions such as CARDI and other stakeholders, including the private sector. ”

Listening to farmers and fishers, the frontline in the fight against climate change, proved to be a main focus during the workshop. CTA sponsored 40 delegates: members of farmers’ and fishers’ organizations, women’s groups, scientists, legislators and policy shapers to explore where there are opportunities to lessen the impact of climate change. Also, it sought to identify farming innovations and best practices in order to build upon them a solid foundation for agriculture in the region.

Other CTA initiatives on climate change and CSA include:

• ♣A programme to support African farmers’ organisations, helping them to articulate their policy positions and offering training in climate change,
• ♣with a special focus on women and youth;
• ♣A seminar on six key policy issues on climate change and food security, to be held at the Conference of Parties (COP20), in Lima, Peru in December
• ♣2014 co-organised with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and CARE International;
• ♣A publication on successful climate adaptation techniques being used by farmers in Africa co-published with CCAFS;
• ♣Investigating and documenting CSA farmer innovations in adapting to climate change in the Sahel.

Source: http://bit.ly/1rrQBLM