NEWSLETTER 01/2014 Adapting agriculture to climate change Developing promising strategies using Analogue Locations in Eastern and Southern Africa (CALESA) The CALESA final workshop Dear Reader, The final workshop of the CALESA project took place from 20th – 25th October 2013, in Nakuru (Kenya). It was organised as a special session under the 2013’s Africa Soil Science Society (ASSS) and the Soil Science Society of East Africa (SSSEA) Joint International Conference. The theme of this conference, which was opened by the representatives of the Kenyan authorities, was: “Transforming Rural Livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation?” Welcome to the first issue of the CALESA newsletter on 2014! In this issue, we would like to inform you about the final workshop of the CALESA project and its main outcomes. The main focus of this event was on “Adapting to climate change: Lessons learned and challenges ahead”. FIGURE 1: Attendants of the final conference of the CALESA project, in Nakuru (Kenya) from 20th – 25th October 2013 The conference attracted over 200 professionals and practitioners in agriculture and rural development, from Africa, United States, Australia, India, and Europe. Key focus areas of the conference were land and water Management (LWM) in the agricultural production value chains on one hand, and threats and opportunities associated with climate change on the other hand. Furthermore, a special emphasis was also exerted on the scaling-up of proven technologies and innovations for transformational impact on the livelihoods of African small-scale farmers. [continued on page 2] Announcement HAW Hamburg is preparing in cooperation with ICRISAT and KARI the publication of a scientific book under the framework of the CALESA project. The topic of the book focuses on “Adapting small-scale agriculture to climate change in Africa”. The book will be published by Springer, as part of the Climate Change Management Series. The final conference also marked the beginning of the final phase of the CALESA project. During this period, the activities and results during the lifetime of the project will be gathered and further analysed. The outputs of the CALESA project are expected to be of key value to the research community, rural communities and decision makers. The end of the CALESA project is planned to be on 30th April 2014. www.calesa-project.net FIGURE 2: Attendants of the final conference of the CALESA project during one of the poster sessions, in Nakuru (Kenya) from 20th – 25th October 2013 THE 2013’S AFRICA SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY (ASSS) AND THE SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF EAST AFRICA (SSSEA) JOINT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE The key sub-themes of the conference revolved around the following topics: • Scaling, socio-economic and policy options in land and water management • Lessons learned and challenges ahead with regard to climate change adaptation (CALESA’s special session) • Capacity-building in land and water management within the agricultural product value chains (APVC) approach • Enhancing applications of adaptation and mitigation to climate variability and change Overall, the conference served as a contribution towards: • Enhancing the status of human nutrition and food security in Africa through integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) and small scale irrigation • Exploring options for sustainable intensification and diversification of crop soil livestock systems • Land use planning for sustainable food security and climate change adaptation in Africa • Commercialization aspects in land and water management: Markets and private sector engagement • The strengthening of the role of land and water management, and soil quality preservation in national policies and development plans • The exploration of the potential for scaling climate-smart agricultural practices developed by scientific research community. This is meant contribute to increasing the adaptive capacity vulnerable populations and institutions • The engagement of focal stakeholder groups like local farmers up the to of ADAPTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE: LESSONS LEARNED AND CHALLENGES AHEAD The main focus of the CALESA final workshop was on lessons learned in the area of adapting smallholder agriculture to current climate variability and change in eastern Africa. This event aimed at providing an opportunity to scientists from the African region to share their experiences and knowledge on the one hand, and to identify gaps and priorities for future action and research on climate change adaptation on the other. The one-day workshop consisted of one plenary and three concurrent sessions, each dealing with one of the three key components of adaptation research: planning and preparing, managing risks and opportunities, and recovering from shocks and stresses. The main sponsors of this session were ICRISAT and Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg, Germany). The latter is the secretariat of the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP). Up-to-date information was shared among participants and mass media, including radio and television. The CALESA team members from Kenya and Zimbabwe presented ten papers including the key note address by Dr. K.P.C. Rao in the workshop. These papers covered the findings from household surveys, field experiments and the simulation analysis. The key note address by Dr Rao dealt with direct and indirect impacts of climate variability on the productivity of smallholder agricultural systems. It also highlighted the role of climate risk which acts as a major constraint in the adoption of improved production technologies. As a result of these factors, smallholder farmers continue to rely on traditional low risk management strategies such as diversification and limited use of costly inputs such as fertilizers. The presentation also highlighted potential options which may help farmers better prepare and better manage their farms using historical and real time climate information. The two PhD students supported by the CALESA project, Jokastah Kalungu and Kumbirai Musiyiwa, presented the findings from the household surveys and focus group discussions which were conducted at analogue sites in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The presentations highlighted the importance of mainstreaming gender sensitive options while developing adaptation strategies to climate variability and change. Significant differences were observed in the crop management strategies adopted, particularly between the dry analogue pair. These differences revolve around crops choices as well as soil and water management strategies. In drier areas, implications are for increased uptake of small grains. For wetter climates, soil and water management strategies are important options for smallholders. Gender issues for differently managed households seem to vary across the sites evaluated. At drier sites, gender issues include labour for production and processing of the small grains against a background of male labour migration. At wetter sites, access to draft power, labour, agricultural assets, and social and financial capital in differently managed households are important for increasing adoption of effective crop management strategies. Trends and uncertainty in projected future climates, which were based on the MarkSim-GCM downscaled location specific climate scenarios to mid and end century periods, were presented in a paper developed by Anthony Oyoo. In addition, the main results of an ex-ante analysis which assessed climate sensitivity of management practices adopted by farmers, was discussed in a paper presented by Lucy Wangui. FIGURE 3: Members of the CALESA project team during a partner project meeting prior to the CALESA workshop, in Naivasha (Kenya) from 16th – 18th October 2013 www.calesa-project.net The Partnership The CALESA project is implemented by ICRISAT in cooperation with the partners mentioned below. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Eastern and Southern Africa (Lead Partner) http://www.icrisat.org Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) http://www.kari.org Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) http://www.meteo.go.ke/ Zimbabwe Meteorological Department (ZMD) http://www.weather.co.zw Midlands State University (MSU), Zimbabwe http://www.msu.ac.zw/ Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HUAS), Germany http://www.haw-hamburg.de/ftz-als.html The CALESA Project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ, Germany) ICRISAT Lead Partner ICRISAT Nairobi (Regional hub ESA) Dr Dave Harris Principal Scientist (Agro-ecosystems /Climate Change) Contact us Nairobi PO Box 39063 Nairobi Kenya Kenya E-Mail: [email protected] CALESA’s international team is eager to exchange experiences with other climate change adaptation practitioners in the region and beyond. Discuss the relevance of this new methodology of analogue locations or simply stay informed about the project’s activities and outputs. Tel: +254 (0)20 7224556 Mob: +254 (0)725877145 For more information on the project, please visit the CALESA website at www.calesa-project.net and join the CALESA network to share your thoughts on climate change adaptation and get frequent news on the findings from the analogue locations research by subscribing to the project e-news. For further project information, please contact: [email protected] Website: www.calesa-project.net