Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) member countries are gathered in Nairobi to validate the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Scaling Strategy.
The CSA Strategy is designed to scale tested and proven CSA technologies, innovations, management practices and services (TIMPS) in the mandate area of ASARECA
The strategy will be a roadmap to catalyze systemic transformation in agriculture, food security, and rural livelihoods in East and Central Africa (ECA) and also guide national governments, national research institutes, farmers, the private sector, and partners in scaling up for climate-resilient agricultural transformation across the 15 member countries.
Speaking during a Stakeholder Consultation and Validation Workshop, the Executive Director of ASARECA Dr. Sylvester Baguma said the strategy would help in identifying and scaling out technologies and innovations in the various countries that could help the farmers to be resilient in terms of the changes in climate and to produce sufficient crops, but in a sustainable way.
“Climate change is here for us, it’s here to stay for a long time, and not unless we get solutions that help us to be resilient, is when we can manage,” he said, adding that the views from the strategy would seek ownership from all member countries once it’s developed.
Dr. Baguma urged all the countries to ensure they implement the strategy once complete, since each country would find context that is relevant and help its farmers know the sort of technology that is appropriate for them.
“We are trying to scale up, scale out, and scale deep the various technologies that are related to Climate Smart Agriculture, so that the farmers are able to produce more, not only increase productivity, but also have surplus for sale,” he added.
Dr. Baguma said the SCA strategy would further see stakeholders along the commodity value chain be able to benefit from the proven technologies and innovations amidst the climate change, especially when one considers that countries want to see their citizens’ food secure, eating nutritionally dense foods, and fighting hidden hunger.
Dr. John Recha, a research scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and part of the team that works on climate-smart agriculture in the Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa region, said that the scaling strategy is one that ends up guiding them based on their climate change challenges, given that each country has its own geographical setting.
He explained that the strategy lays out the available options for climate-smart agriculture practices for crop and livestock production, as well as soil and water management, and all the way to marketing.
“Because climate-smart agriculture is not one-size-fits-all, it is a practice that differs depending on the geographical area, depending on the altitude, and depending on the kind of food that people eat in that community.
It is very important to be able to undertake any strategy, especially scaling,” Dr. Recha said.
Julian Barungi, Programme Officer for Policy at ASARECA and Manager of the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project, said that with the emergence of climate change, the effects are undermining agricultural productivity and food security within the region.
She added that despite scientists’ innovations and development of climate-smart agriculture technologies, many of the farmers have not adopted these technologies for various reasons, such as awareness, affordability, and even access to these technologies.
“The CSA scaling strategy will put in place a guiding framework that systematically guide and ensure that the technologies and innovations are widespread among the majority of the farmers within Eastern and Central Africa,” Barungi said.
The strategy focuses on how we can scale technologies in various agroecological zones in Eastern and Central Africa, whether they are highlands or lowlands, arid or semi-arid areas or the coastal plains, and provides strategies and solutions tailored to these specific agroecological zones, she added.
“There will be need for deliberate efforts within the key institutions, like the Ministries of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Research Institutes to mainstream climate-smart agriculture within their institutional policies and most importantly, the national agricultural policy frameworks,” Barungi added,
“The CSA scaling strategy spans over a period of 10 years and provides a guiding framework up to 2035,” Barungi said, adding that once validated, they would be looking at the end of October this year to finalize it and then launch it before the end of the year.
“We shall work together and ensure that we enhance the capacities of the farmers to be more resilient to the effects of climate change as they increase their agricultural productivity and get more income and ultimately improve their livelihoods. We will also ensure that the policy makers provide an enabling environment for the generation and uptake of these climate-smart agriculture technologies, but also for the scientists to have incentives to develop these technologies and all the stakeholders to work together and support the scaling of these technologies,” Barungi explained.
ASARECA was established in 1994 to support and improve the effectiveness of agricultural research in the Eastern and Central African region.
The organization was created through cooperation among the national agricultural research institutes of the member countries to address shared agricultural concerns.
By Wangari Ndirangu
