In many sub-Saharan African countries that experience seasonal food deficits, one of the greatest challenges is how best to integrate environmental quality into food security initiatives. However, a number of agricultural production technologies exist that offer opportunities for achieving the two seemingly divergent goals because they simultaneously contribute to food production and generate environmental services. The field level uptake of such technologies is generally low due to policy and institutional constraints, among other reasons. This chapter draws upon natural resource economics and externality theories to conceptualize an environmental economic logic for enhancing the adoption of multi-output technologies through conditional incentive systems that reward farmers for the environmental services generated by their investments in such technologies. Using agroforestry-based soil fertility technology (“improved tree fallows”) as a case study of multi-output technologies, this chapter synthesizes studies that were carried out in southern Africa for over a decade. It then discusses how the potential impacts of technological advances attained in multi-output technologies are affected by policy and institutional constraints. The chapter concludes by identifying different options to address these constraints and facilitate uptake by farmers with a view to unlock their potential in order to satisfy both food production and global environmental services. These policy options at both national and regional levels are required to align smallholder farmers’ incentives with those of the society and encourage them to pay cognizance to environmental quality when making agricultural production decisions.
Tag: Adaptation
Tunisia’s Temperate Fruits and Nuts are Threatened by Climate Change
High risk for temperate-zone fruit production in Tunisia Urgent need for (possibly transformational) adaptationstrategies
Dynamics of landscape governance systems and climate change adaptation in pastoral and agropastoral systems
This report synthesizes research carried out in the governance component of the project, which was led by ILRI. This component of the project investigated two landscape cases: Sondré-Est, Zoundwéogo Province, Burkina Faso, and a loosely defined landscape that we refer to as the ‘North Lowland Ewaso Ngiro rangelands’ in northcentral Kenya
Local Governance and Adapting to Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (LGACC). Feedback workshop report
The research project has been implemented since 2015 by a team of researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The study area for the Kenyan site cuts across Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu counties. As the research project was coming to an end, the project team held a stakeholders’ workshop for these three counties.
Governance Dimensions of Climate Change Adaptation: Methodology for Landscape-Level Institutional Assessments
This guide describes a methodology for conducting an assessment of the institutional and governance dimensions of adaptation to climate change. The purpose of the assessments is to assist local and other stakeholders in their efforts toward transformative institutional innovations and increased capacity for adaptation to climate change and other changes that they are facing. They do this by helping these stakeholders to appraise their institutional environment and identify opportunities for improvement.
Exploring Three Climate Adaptation Strategies in the Pastoral Zone of Sondré-Est
This report first provides background information on the zone, those living there, and their livestock, along with a description of methods used to collect data on each of these strategies.
Joint Research Strategy and Methodologies
The USAID-funded LGACC project hence analyses the connections between land/natural resource governance and adaptive capacity in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Burkina Faso and Kenya. The general objective of this project is to identify characteristics of land governance systems and property right regimes most likely to increase household adaptive capacity across agro-pastoral areas of sub-Sahara Africa.
Pastoralist and agro-pastoralist climate change adaptation: A report on three adaptation practices applied at Il’Ngwesi Group Ranch, Laikipia County, Kenya
This report, by sharing the experiences of the Il’Ngwesi community, is intended as an effort towards inspiring support for the experimentation with and dissemination of appropriate adaptation practices, tailored to local conditions, for pastoralists and agro-pastoralists throughout northern Kenya.
Smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate change and the roles of trees and agroforestry in climate risk adaptation: evidence from Bohol, Philippines
Recent studies have highlighted the importance of trees and agroforestry in climate change adaptation and mitigation. This paper analyzes how farmers, members of their households, and community leaders in the Wahig–Inabanga watershed, Bohol province in the Philippines perceive of climate change, and define and value the roles of trees in coping with climate risks. Focus group discussions revealed that farmers and community leaders had observed changes in rainfall and temperature over the years. They also had positive perceptions of tree roles in coping with climate change, with most timber tree species valued for regulating functions, while non-timber trees were valued as sources of food and income. Statistical analysis of the household survey results was done through linear probability models for both determinants of farmers’ perceived changes in climate, and perceived importance of tree roles in coping with climate risks. Perceiving of changes in rainfall was more likely among farmers who had access to electricity, had access to water for irrigation, and derived climate information from government agencies and mass media, and less likely among farmers who were members of farmers’ organizations. On the other hand, perceiving of an increase in temperature was more likely among famers who were members of women’s organizations and had more off/non-farm sources of income, and less likely among those who derived climate information from government agencies. Meanwhile, marginal effects of the regression on perceived importance of trees in coping with climate change revealed positively significant relationships with the following predictor variables: access to electricity, number of off/non-farm sources of income, having trees planted by household members, observed increase in temperature and decline in yield, and sourcing climate information from government agencies. In contrast, a negatively significant relationship was observed between recognition of the importance of tree roles, and level of education, and deriving income from tree products. In promoting tree-based adaptation, we recommend improving access to necessary inputs and resources, exploring the potentials of farmer-to-farmer extension, using participatory approaches to generate farmer-led solutions based on their experiences of climate change, and initiating government-led extension to farmers backed by non-government partners. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Genetic variation in wood density and correlations with tree growth in Prosopis africana from Burkina Faso and Niger [Variation génétique de la densité du bois et corrélations avec la croissance de l’arbre chez Prosopis africana provenant du Burkina Faso et du Niger]
Variation in wood basic density and its correlation with tree growth were investigated at 13 years in a provenance/progeny test of Prosopis africana in Niger. The test included progeny from 256 trees sampled from 24 provenances in the Sahelian ecozone of Burkina Faso and Niger.