Climate resilient and environmentally sound agriculture - Module 6

CLIMATE-RESILIENT AND
ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND AGRICULTURE
OR “CLIMATE-SMART” AGRICULTURE
Information package for government
authorities

Introduction to the information package
The future of humankind and the planet relies on human activities becoming more
efficient, the food chain being no exception. This online information package was
written with the idea of providing an overview of the challenges that the agriculture
sector—and to a certain extent the food production chain—faces to feed the world
while becoming more efficient. It also explores ways to address these challenges.
Through simplified concepts and relevant resources and examples, we explore the
impacts of global change on agriculture, the impacts of agriculture on ecosystems
and possible technical and policy considerations that can help building food security
under current and future challenges.
The technical and policy considerations explored are meant to contribute towards
climate-resilient and environmentally sound or “climate-smart” agriculture—
agriculture that increases productivity; enhances resilience to global change; stops
ecosystem services deterioration; and produces economic and social benefits.
The information presented here comes from findings, experience and ideas from all
over the world, as we believe there are already elements to catalyse change. We
also believe this change has to come largely from local communities, for which
reason, wherever possible, we provide examples at local levels.
See how to use the information package.

PART I
AGRICULTURE, FOOD SECURITY AND ECOSYSTEMS: CURRENT
AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
PART II
ADDRESSING CHALLENGES
PACKAGE CONTENT

MODULE 6
C-RESAP/CLIMATE-SMART
AGRICULTURE:
SUPPORTING TOOLS AND POLICIES

Module objectives and structure
Module 6. Supporting tools and policies
Objectives
This module looks at areas that authorities need to consider from a policy perspective in order
to promote climate-resilient and environmentally sound agriculture or smart agriculture, both at
national and subnational levels. The module builds on achievements of different areas of
agricultural policies and consider that smart agriculture can only be developed when looked at
from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Structure
The module opens with an introduction on the need to use cost-effective solutions for many
challenges. Then it divides in four units, starting with the roles of different sectors and the
importance of their involvement in planning and implementing climate-smart agriculture. The
next two units focus on direct support to farmers: first their need to access key resources and
then policy considerations for enhancing field capacity. The last unit covers macro-level policy
considerations on investment, incentives and legal frameworks. The module ends up with
reflections on action planning. Clicking on illustrations will take you to linked to resources.
Caveat
As with technology, policies have to be looked at in the specific contexts, examples presented
here are to show progress in different areas towards a framework for climate-smart agriculture.

Supporting climate-smart agriculture
• Challenges and risks for agriculture are occurring faster and with larger impacts
than ever
• Food security and smart agriculture will need more support than just
technological change
Farmers have adapted over centuries, but new environmental changes and accompanied risks
are too fast and larger than before.
In order to better adapt to multiple challenges, technological change is not enough; climate-
smart agriculture and food security will depend on the support that farmers, herders,
pastoralists, fisher folks and communities get to produce, preserve and distribute good quality
and safe food. Strong support should also result in economic savings and in formulas to tackle
many problems with fewer resources, in general more cost-effective answers. This support
includes:
• An enabling policy and regulatory environment;
• Full participation and coordination of different sectors and actors in decisions and actions;
• Empowerment of different actors to enhance their role towards a more effective and
resource-saving food chain, while dealing with risks;
• Faster and more effective transfer of information and research to and from the field.

The roles of different actors and
benefits of their participation in
decision making processes and
actions

Using a participatory approach
Planning for
• Different actors and sectors need to participate in planning for improved
agriculture, in particular at local level
In order to be successful in planning for climate-smart agriculture,
different sectors and actors need to be involved, in particular at
local level, where actions are needed.
Those who ultimately carry out actions need to be convinced they
are sound and in accordance with the reality of the situation. For
this reason, involving them effectively throughout the decision and
action taking is of primary importance.
A wide range of methodologies for involving different actors in
decision making have been experimented over the years. In
general, they require inclusion of all affected groups, equality,
transparency, sharing of responsibilities, empowerment and
cooperation.
Participation of different actors can strengthen the capacity of local
authorities to implement sound strategies and plans.
Examples of participatory
approaches in FAO’s web tool
Community based adaptation to
climate change.

Using a participatory approach
Examples
Building on experience from
different institutions
Several institutions on different
continents have documented their
work on participatory approaches
(PA). These PA can be tailored for
climate-smart agriculture. To
mention a few:
• A Handbook for Trainers on
Participatory Local Development
• Participatory Processes Towards
Co-Management of Natural
Resources in Pastoral Areas of
the Middle East
• RCPLA network- Resources
Centres for Participatory
Learning and Action
Resource Centers for
Participatory Learning and
Action (RCPLA) Network.
A publication on reflections on
participatory approaches from
the International Institute on
Sustainable Development (iisd).

Role of government authorities
• The role of authorities to provide direction to solve multiple challenges is
fundamental for adapting agriculture to climate change and respond to society
needs
Authorities are fundamental in supporting the development of farmers
and rural communities. Their role as providers of direction and
administrators of resources is essential to tackle multiple challenges for
different sectors.
Government authorities who fully understand the problems, needs and
possible ways forward in their communities will be the champions of
change.
Within an era of communication and information dissemination,
authorities will also have the fundamental role of making communities to
get and understand information and its implication for their development.
Local authorities, more than ever, will be important catalysers of a
climate-smart agriculture. In addition, strengthened coordination among
agencies with different mandates will facilitate information sharing,
planning and taking actions in a cost-effective way.
World Resources Report
2010-2011, a new
publication for decision
makers.
Source: World Resources
Institute.

Farmers
• Involving farmers in planning and taking actions is fundamental for increasing the
resilience of agriculture and increase efficiency
• This entails empowering them through different actions at different levels
Farmers will play a fundamental role in pursuing climate-resilient and
environmentally sound agriculture, given the diversity of challenges
that agriculture could experience under specific circumstances.
Involving farmers in planning and practising climate-smart agriculture
should be a priority. This entails:
• Providing training so they can recognise risks and address them;
• Involving them in preparing and implementing action plans;
• Involving them in setting up and implementing risk reduction
strategies and emergency response programmes;
• Supporting their dialogue with researchers, field technicians and
the private sector to exchange technologies and empower them
to disseminate their own innovations;
• Helping them to identify needs for a climate-smart agriculture.
Farmers building a levee to
control the tidal flows in the
marshlands and improve the
survival of their crops in Rwanda.
Photo: FAO/ G. Napolitano.

Farmers
Examples
Information and technology to
empower farmers to make
decisions
Farmers normally take decisions
to deal with climate and market
variability. They choose farming
systems, crop varieties and
methods according to their local
circumstances.
Given sufficient information about
climate change threats,
environmental, economic and
political challenges, well‐informed
farmers will be capable of making
appropriate choices for a smarter
agriculture.
Efforts to inform farmers of
climate change and
adaptation options in
Benin.
Source: Joto Afrika, Issue 1.

Women
• Women constitute 20–50% of the agricultural labour force in developing
countries. If they had equal access to resources as men, the number of hungry
people in the world could be reduced by 12–17%
Women comprise about 43% of the agricultural labour force in
developing countries (from 20% in Latin America to 50% in eastern
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa). Still in general they have less access
than men to productive resources and opportunities.
If women had the same access to resources as men, they could
increase yields on their farms by 20–30%; contributing to raise total
agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5–4% and reducing
the number of hungry people in the world by 12–17%. To close the
gap, areas for intervention include:
• Eliminating barriers of women access to agricultural resources,
education, extension, financial services, and labour markets;
• Investing in labour-saving and high productivity technologies;
• Facilitating their participation in flexible, efficient and fair rural
labour markets. See more…
The state of food and
agriculture 2010–2011: Women
in agriculture, FAO.

Women
Examples
Female farmers at the forefront of agriculture
in China
In China, as in many other countries, men often
migrate to cities to look for jobs while women
remain in rural areas. Over the last decades
women have become an important part of the
work force in many agricultural areas.
The project Enhanced Strategies for Climate-
Resilient and Environmentally Sound Agricultural
Production (C-RESAP) in the Yellow River Basin
highlighted that female farmer population is
increasing in Henan, Ningxia, Shaanxi and
Shandong.
Education and training programmes are now
also being addressed towards women in rural
areas, in order to improve their capacity.Female farmers in their fields in Shandong, China.
Photo: C-RESAP project.

Research and extension services
• The involvement of researchers in climate-smart agriculture will be important for
faster field oriented innovation
The complexity of challenges that agriculture is facing requires
researchers to come up with technologies in a faster and more
focused way.
Bringing researchers and extension services closer to farmers, field
and policy makers will be an important way to foster field oriented
innovation.
The participation of researchers and extension services in decision
making and effective feedback mechanisms will be fundamental to
facilitate the faster technological change that is needed.
Extension services in particular, can facilitate the discussion of
advantages and disadvantages of technologies from the perspective
of farmers, as well as recognise the needs of farmers in the specific
agro-ecosystems where they work.
Animal diseases
research in Tanzania.
Photo: FAO/G. Bizzarri.

Research involvement and coordination
Examples
Efforts of the European Union to
coordinate research
The EU Standing Committee on
Agricultural Research (SCAR) started a
foresight process in 2006, as ministers
felt that better coordination of research
was essential to enable Europe to
successfully face the profound changes
that lie ahead for the agricultural sector.
The foresight process aims to identify
scenarios for European agriculture (20–
30 year perspective), to be used in the
identification of medium/long term
research priorities to support the
development of a European
knowledge-based bio-economy.
Second SCAR
foresight exercise
(EU SCAR), a form of
dialogue between
researchers and
policy makers.

Non-governmental organizations
• Local NGOs can offer strong localized networks that link multiple communities
and other organizations
• If well trained, their efforts are invaluable to support farmers activities
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a major role
in promoting sustainable development at international level. They
have also actively helped to improve rural living conditions.
NGOs can facilitate community adaptive capacity by promoting
interactions across scales and providing opportunities for collective
learning. At the same time, local NGOs may not be able to access
resources or translate information without assistance, and may
need to work closely with larger organizations or stakeholders to
connect community and national development needs and priorities.
Local NGOs can offer strong localized networks that link multiple
communities and other organizations, placing them as vehicles for
collection and distribution of information and resources that are
transmitted across scales. If well trained, local NGOs may also be
able to assist farmers in the application of new technologies.
Brochure of the GEF-NGO
network—efforts from the Global
Environment Facility to involve
NGOs in environmental work.
See also the GEF-NGO website.

Non-governmental organizations
Examples
Civil Society Movement on Climate Change in
Nepal
Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and
Development (LI‐BIRD) is a national NGO of
Nepal established in 1995. It is committed to
capitalize on local initiatives for sustainable
management of renewable natural resources and
to improve the livelihoods of resource poor and
marginalized people.
LI‐BIRD is implementing climate change projects
to strengthen the institutional capacity of NGOs to
be more credible and effective in policy advocacy
and building active climate networks at the
national level towards raising awareness, building
capacity, piloting and implementing climate-
resilient projects and programmes to the most
vulnerable communities of Nepal. See more…
Top: Agricultural innovations for livelihood security
programme.
Bottom: Capacity building activities organized by LI-
BIRD.

Farmers’ organizations
• Farmers’ associations can benefit communities by giving them access to
knowledge, technology and inputs
Farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations (FOs) refer to
independent, non-governmental, membership-based rural
organizations. Their memberships consist of part- or full-time self-
employed smallholders and family farmers, pastoralists, artisanal
fishers, agricultural workers, women, small entrepreneurs or
indigenous peoples. They range from formal groups covered by
national legislation, such as cooperatives and national farmers’
unions, to informal self-help groups and associations.
FOs can help farmers gain skills, access inputs, form enterprises,
process and market their products more effectively.
Their participation in local planning for climate-smart agriculture
can benefit communities as they can get better access to
technologies, knowledge and inputs needed with lower costs to
communities. They can also support continuous training.
Farmers‘ association discussing
the importance of tree
conservation in Guamote,
Ecuador.
Photo: FAO/R. Faidutti.

Farmers’ organizations
Examples
A successful mango producers
association in Peru
Promango, a Peruvian mango
farmer organization, represents a
number of producers in Peru,
which account for approximately
30% of the country’s mango
exports.
They have engaged in capacity
building and training for the
adoption of Good Agricultural
Practices (GAPs).
The association is aiming to
continue increasing their
production and helping their
members to eliminate
intermediaries.Promango promotes Good Agricultural Practices and strengthens
production and marketing of their members’ produce.

Private sector
• Private sector action is an important complement to secure commitments and
concerted action by governments
The ability to determine investment flows gives the private sector
great influence over the pace of innovation, technological change
and adaptation
Private sector action is an important complement to secure
commitments and concerted action by governments. Many areas of
adaptation and the implementation of smarter agriculture can be
carried out together with the private sector.
The private sector, in particular, can contribute to the assessment of
risks, disaster risk management, technology development and
transfer and financing of a smarter agriculture.
It will be down to policy makers to establish clear rules and a
conducive environment to maximise the contribution of the private
sector to a smarter agriculture and to capitalise in productive
partnerships at local level.
The exposure of business to
climate change risk and
opportunity: a rationale for
action.
Source: Business leadership on
climate change adaptation-
Encouraging engagement and
action, PwC.

Private sector
Examples
“Adaptation for Smallholders to Climate Change”
(AdapCC) supports coffee and tea farmers in
developing strategies to cope with the risks and
impacts of climate change
The initiative was implemented as a Public-Private
Partnership (PPP) by the British Fairtrade company
Cafédirect and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German
Technical Cooperation). Financing of the project was
shared by Cafédirect (52%) and the PPP programme
(48%) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development (BMZ).
The pilot project (2007–2010) will be extended and
continued by Cafédirect and several regional and
international public and private institutions.
See more…
Report of the public-private partnership
Adap-CC.

Knowledge brokers
• Reputed knowledge brokers experience can be valuable for training of
communities to recognise the challenges and potential solutions
Access to reliable information and data, and the ability to share
lessons and experience are necessary to foster the needed
change.
Apart from conventional knowledge holders like extension services,
academia, government and international organizations, a good
number of associations, web portals and online networking
platforms have been set up to take on a ‘knowledge brokerage’ role
over the last decade.
Reputed knowledge brokers experience can be valuable for training
of communities to recognise the challenges and potential solutions.
At global level, they can assist to identify climate-smart systems at
have been tested all over the world. At subnational level knowledge
brokers can also gather and disseminate knowledge specific for
local conditions.
Adaptation learning mechanism.

Knowledge brokers
Examples
From global to local, knowledge brokers can
speed up information dissemination
Some examples of knowledge brokers include:
Adaptation and mitigation knowledge network- for
accessing and sharing agricultural adaptation and
mitigation knowledge from the CGIAR and its
partners.
Climate and Development Knowledge Network-
Supports decision-makers in designing and delivering
climate compatible development.
Africa Adapt - to facilitate the flow of climate change
adaptation knowledge between researchers, policy
makers, NGOs and communities. See also images.
Asia-Pacific Network on Climate Change-
knowledge-based on-line clearing house for Asia-
Pacific region on climate change issues.
TECA: Sharing practical information and helping
small producers in the field. It has also exchange
groups to discuss specific issues.

Providing sound access to key
resources

Land
• Improving the land and water rights of farmers (including female farmers) is
fundamental for technological change, as they can embark in investments only
when there are benefits for them for a sufficiently long period
Climate-smart agriculture requires investments in natural resources
management. Farmers will invest in them only if they are entitled to
benefit from these for a sufficiently long period. Often, however, their
rights are poorly defined or not formalized. Improving the land and water
rights of farmers will be a catalyst for technological change.
Land tenure programmes in many developing countries have focused on
formalizing and privatizing rights to land, with little regard for customary
and collective systems of tenure. Still, these systems, where they
provide a degree of security, can also provide effective incentives for
investments.
There is no single “best practice” model for recognizing customary land
tenure but there may be possibilities for selecting alternative policy
responses based on the capacity of the customary tenure system.
Adapted from Save and Grow. See also Fitzpatrick, 2005.
Governing land for
women and men.
Practical guidance on
responsible governance of
tenure.

Land
Examples
Communal tenure for indigenous communities in Asian
countries
The communal tenure “permanent title” model, implies that the
state fully and permanently hands the land over to local
indigenous communities for private collective ownership. In this
situation, the resource system is often multi-facetted,
comprising agricultural lands as well as forest, water and
pasture land.
Examples of permanent title in Asia include the Philippines and
Cambodia, where legislation provides for collective rights of
indigenous communities. In many instances such as
Cambodia, Philippines or, for instance, Papua New Guinea, the
indigenous groups or communities that are eligible by law for
private and permanent communal tenure need to become a
legal entity to be recognized as a communal right-holder by the
state.
Communal tenure and the
Governance of common
property resources in Asia-
Lessons from experiences in
selected countries, FAO.

Plant genetic resources
• Governments should make sure that there are mechanisms to safeguard access
to plant genetic resources at local, national and global levels which will enable
climate-smart agriculture
During the Green Revolution, the international system that generated
new crop varieties was based on open access to plant genetic
resources (PGR). Today, national and international policies increasingly
support the privatization of PGR and plant breeding through the use of
intellectual property rights (IPRs).
Plant variety protection systems typically grant a temporary exclusive
right to the breeders of a new variety to prevent others from reproducing
and selling seed of that variety.
IPRs have stimulated rapid growth in private sector funding of
agricultural research and development, but to ensure that they profit
from developments, governments should make sure that there are
mechanisms to safeguard access to PGR at local, national and global
levels which will enable the application of climate-smart agriculture and
sustainable crop production intensification. More…
A farmer in Zambia in a
demonstration plot for a
new maize variety.
Photo: FAO/P. Lowrey.

Animal genetic resources
• Climate-smart agriculture will also need that farmers and herders have access to
breeds that can be more efficient and perform well under climatic challenges
Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture provide crucial
options for the sustainable development of livestock production.
The erosion of animal genetic resources globally, and particularly in
many developing countries, has accelerated in recent years as a
consequence of the rapid changes affecting livestock production
systems (intensification and industrialization) as they respond to
surging global demand for animal products. Disease outbreaks, other
disasters and emergencies and the degradation of grazing land are
also threats to preserve these resources.
Climate-smart agriculture will also need that farmers and herders have
access to breeds that can be more efficient and perform well under
climatic challenges. As with plant genetic resources, governments
should ensure that there are appropriate mechanisms for the
distribution and use of animal genetic resources. See more…
Karakul sheep are well
adapted to the sparse desert
pastures and climate of the
Uzbek desert.
Source: Management, use and
conservation of Karakul sheep
in traditional livestock farming
systems in Uzbekistan.
Photo: Julie DeVlieg, Rice, WA.

Seeds and seed sector regulation
• The seed sector should be properly regulated to fulfil farmers’ needs under future
challenges
Farmers require access to quality seeds of varieties that meet their
production, consumption and marketing needs. Access implies
affordability, availability of a range of appropriate varieties, and
information on how to use them.
The seed sector should be properly regulated to fulfil farmers needs
under future challenges. An effective system should use and link the
formal sector—characterised by an structured system which is
genetically uniform, uses scientific plant-breeding techniques,
meets quality standards—and the informal sector—which provides
traditional farmer-bred varieties and saved seeds.
An effective seed system should also have provisions for
propagation and distribution of seeds of stress-resistant varieties, at
normal times and during emergencies, and ways of disseminating
knowledge on how to use these improved varieties. See more…
Harvesting, controlling quality
and cleaning seed in different
seed operations in Afghanistan,
Mozambique and Nepal.
Photos:
FAO/Napolitano/Thekiso/Bizzarri.

Genetic resources
Reflections
No country is self-sufficient in plant genetic resources; all depend on genetic diversity from other
countries and regions. The fair sharing of benefits from plant genetic resources have been
practically implemented at the international level through the International Treaty on Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture and its Standard Material Transfer Agreement.
In addition, the Interlaken Declaration on Animal Genetic Resources and the Global Plan of Action
for Animal Genetic Resources, makes provisions for facilitating access to animal genetic
resources, and ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from their use.
The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) aims to enhance the
capacity of developing countries to improve crops for food security and sustainable development
through better plant breeding and delivery systems.
Do you know how your country participates in these Treaties and initiatives?
Do you know which institutes can support you with improved crop/animal breeds?
Which are the mechanisms to provide farmers with improved varieties and breeds?
Are they efficient in the light of climate variability and change concerns?
How do seed systems operate in your area? How could they be improved?

Seed systems
Examples
Promoting smallholder seed enterprises: quality seed
production of rice, maize, sorghum and millet in
northern Cameroon
Two projects were carried out in Cameroon to improve seed
production of rice, maize, sorghum and millet by
smallholder seed enterprises (SSEs). Farmer groups were
strengthened, or new ones formed, and then trained.
The groups were then linked to the Extension Service, the
Agriculture Research for Development Institution, the
National Seed Service and to financial institutions.
According to evaluations, two and three years after the
project ended, 60% of the groups had continued with their
activities. Total certified rice seed for one of the projects had
increased from 267 t to 800 t and for the other cereals
project, total certified seed had increased from 497 t to
719.2 t.
See more…
Seed systems in emergencies, another
important aspect to consider in
strengthening seed systems.

Linking with market opportunities
• New market opportunities in the light of expected global change challenges
should also be created, especially for smallholders
Market access opportunities have always determined the success of
agriculture and the change from subsistence to commercial
agriculture. New opportunities on the light of expected global change
challenges should also be created, especially for smallholders.
At local level the design and implementation of strategies to provide
farmers, particularly women, with better access to new market
opportunities and the capacity to take advantage of these openings
should be a priority. These strategies should especially give access
to farmers to markets for high-value agricultural products, eco-
friendly agricultural products, those from low carbon footprint
operations and other rewarding climate change mitigation efforts.
Agricultural planning at local level should analyse possible markets
and opportunities both an national, regional and international level.
A CIAT publication on
market opportunities in
the MEAS project website.

Technology, knowledge and extension
• Climate-smart agriculture is knowledge intensive, so efforts are needed to
establish effective mechanisms for information exchange for farmers to benefit
from scientific developments
Successful adoption of climate-smart agriculture will depend on the
capacity of farmers to make wise technology choices, taking into
account both short- and long-term impacts.
Rural advisory and agricultural extension services were once the
main channel for the flow of new knowledge between research and
the field. However, public extension systems in many developing
countries have long been in decline, and the private sector has failed
to meet the needs of low-income producers.
Extension services, for so long neglected should be revitalised and
modernised in order to cope with farmers demand for knowledge.
More than ever efforts are needed to establish effective mechanisms
for information exchange so farmers can benefit from scientific
developments, they can communicate their needs for a more applied
research and share their own innovations.
Extension workers
facilitating sharing of
knowledge and
experiences among farmers
in a Farmer Field School in
Egypt.
Photo: FAO/G. Napolitano.

Technology, knowledge and extension
Examples
A consortium effort to modernize extension and
advisory services
The Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services project
components include:
TEACH - Disseminating modern approaches to extension
through user-friendly materials for dissemination and training
programs that promote new strategies and approaches to
rural extension and advisory service delivery.
LEARN - Documenting lessons learned and Good Practice
through success stories, case studies, evaluations, pilot
projects, and action research.
APPLY - Designing modern extension and advisory services
program through assistance to selected host country
organizations—public and private—for the analysis, design,
evaluation and reform of rural extension and advisory
services.
Website of the project modernizing
extension and advisory services project.

Input and output pricing
• Input and output price policies should aim to support farmers in making profits
from climate-smart practices
Farmers will only accept practices that give them a profit and better
life opportunities.
Input prices are important for climate-smart practices. While access
to good quality and fairly priced inputs is necessary, governments
should make sure that access policies do not result in
environmentally harmful or “perverse” subsidies. In the long run,
these cause more damage to the environment and economies
(world-wide unintended perverse subsidies cost from US$500 billion
to US$1.5 trillion a year).
Stabilizing agricultural output prices is also important for farmers,
especially after the commodity price fluctuation in recent years. For
farmers depending on agricultural income, price volatility means
large income fluctuations and greater risk, which reduces their
capacity to invest in climate-smart systems.
An example of a framework to
investigate the effect of
agricultural subsidies impacts.
Source: Rethinking Agricultural
Input Subsidies in Poor Rural
Economies.

Input and output pricing
Examples
Abolishment of agricultural subsidies in New
Zealand
The economic crises which hit New Zealand in the
1980s led to a reform in government intervention in all
economic activities.
Since 1984 the government has abolished input
subsidies; phased out farm credit concessions;
increased charges for government services; reduced
distortions in taxation provisions; and charged more
realistic interest rates on marketing board trading.
The New Zealand experience suggests that most of the
supposed objectives of agricultural subsidies and
market protections—to maintain a traditional
countryside; ensure food security; combat food
scarcity; support family farms; and slow the corporate
take-over of agriculture—are better achieved by their
absence. Source: Farming without subsidies?
New Zealand dairy scene, east of Rotorua.
Output and net incomes for the New Zealand
dairy industry are higher now than before
subsidies ended—and the cost of milk
production is among the lowest in the world.
Source: Farming without subsidies? Some
lessons from New Zealand.
Photo: Courtesy of the Rodale Institute.

Enhancing field capacity

Multidisciplinary training for farmers
• Farmers will need more solid multidisciplinary training in order to be able to
choose and carry out climate-smart practices
• Attracting back young generations to farmers should be part of a wider
agriculture education strategy
Adaptation to climate change and mitigation efforts in agriculture,
together with keeping up with production challenges, will require
more skilful farmers, herders and fisher folk . Formal and informal
training resources will need to be widely available to them.
Training can be in the form of visits to communities from local
agriculture, fisheries and natural resources institutes, regular
training from extension services or NGOs or participation of
producers in specific schemes outside their areas.
Training should include strategic thinking for identifying and
managing risk and climate variability impacts, technical knowledge
for climate-smart agricultural practices, ecosystem management
and monitoring, business management decisions, all with a
“problem solving” focus. Training programmes should also aim to
attract younger generations to agriculture.
Young farmer harvesting export
quality strawberry in his fields,
Gaza. Education and training
should attract younger farmers
to agriculture.
Photo: FAO/B. Lahia.

Multidisciplinary training for farmers
Examples
Education strategies for farmers in Australia
The Australian Government DAFF and the
National Farmers Federation work together to
improve training opportunities for farmers,
including :
• Promoting farm apprenticeships inclusion in
Technical Colleges and Trade Training Centres
and Skills incentive schemes
• Improving and providing training in the Institute
for Trade Skills Excellence
• Promoting enrolments in agricultural sciences
in the universities
• Making FarmReady and Rural Skills Australia
programmes compatible with farmers needs
See more…
The Australian Government's FarmReady programme
aims to boost training opportunities for primary
producers and Indigenous land managers, and enable
industry, farming groups and natural resource
management groups develop strategies to adapt and
respond to the impacts of climate change.

Useful weather information
• Better ways of transferring weather information should be used if farmers are to
benefit of early warning systems
Farmers can reduce crop losses if they have information in
advance through weather forecasts (2–10 days) and outlooks
(weeks–seasons).
Most farmers use traditional knowledge rather than formal climate
forecasts, often due to a lack of understandable information. Even
if weather forecasting will never be an exact science, information
on risks can be better transferred by converting scientific data into
more field-useful information, for example farmers should know:
• Expected start and end of the rainy season;
• Forecasts or outlooks of storms, floods and droughts;
• Expected impacts of forecasted events and actions to take.
The effectiveness of forecasts depends on farmers receiving
accurate and timely information that they can use.
Example of a weather outlook
website in the USA.

Useful weather information
Examples
Climate Forecasting for Agricultural Resources
A 1997–2000 project by the Tufts University and the University
of Georgia studied how farmers in Burkina Faso could use
climate monitoring and forecasts. They found that farmers:
• Want and value scientific information, including climate
forecasts;
• Perceived local forecasts had lost reliability due to
increased climate variability;
• Need seasonal outlooks several weeks before the expected
onset of the rainy season;
• Need information on impacts and trade-offs;
• Want forecasts to be delivered by credible sources and
identified local language radio programs as a good way to
deliver forecasts;
• Do not fully appreciate the probabilistic nature of the
forecast and need better ways to interpret information.
Listening to forecasts.
Source: Opportunities and constraints
to using seasonal precipitation
forecasting to improve agricultural
production systems and livelihood
security in the Sahel-Sudan region: A
case study of Burkina Faso.

Identifying risks
• For farmers, herders and fisher folk knowing which kind of risks are associated to
specific areas is important in order to create responses that address these risks
The change in climatic features, including the frequency and
intensity of climate events will pose different risks. For farmers,
herders and fisher folk, knowing which kind of risks are associated
to specific areas is important in order to create responses that
address these risks.
Although climate change projections are still coarse and uncertain,
a number of trends and threats for agriculture may be discernible at
local level. Risks related to the status of natural resources, trends in
occurrence of weather events, expected agricultural production
constraints, challenges to post harvest operations and risks shared
with other sectors should be looked at.
Identifying risks together with communities should be part of efforts
for planning at community level and create risk disaster
management strategies.
Women in a farmer field school.
Source: Livelihood Adaptation to
Climate Change Project.
Photo: FAO/G. Napolitano.

Identifying risks
Examples
Identifying risks in fishing communities
Policy support for adaptation of fisheries includes
supporting measures to reduce exposure of fishing
people to climate-related risks through:
• Assessing climate-change risks, including future fish
stock variation and cross-sectoral factors which
could affect fisheries;
• Engaging communities with disaster management
and risk reduction planning, especially concerning
planning coastal or flood defences;
• Supporting risk reduction initiatives within fishing
communities, using ‘soft engineering’ solutions where
possible, e.g. the conservation of natural storm
barriers, floodplains, erodible shorelines to manage
costs and damage impacts;
• Implementing early warning systems.
This fishing community in Aido Beach, Benin,
has adopted the use of an experimental net
featuring larger mesh that does not catch
juvenile fish.
Photo: FAO/D. Minkoh.

Preparing disaster risk management plans
• Disaster risk management plans include provisions to reduce the impacts of
hazards and rehabilitate areas hit by disaster in a more effective way
The purpose of disaster risk management (DRM) is to reduce the
potential impacts of hazards; to prepare for events which bring
those hazards; and to initiate an immediate response should the
impacts be so large that disaster strikes. The DRM framework
encompasses :
• The preparation phase, which should provide timely and reliable
hazard forecasts and identify actions to avoid or limit adverse
effects of hazards.
• The response phase, to protect lives and assets through a
series of established coordinated actions.
• The post-disaster phase, focused on recovery and rehabilitation.
DRM planning implies strong coordination and gives more
opportunities to increase community resilience and rehabilitate
disaster stricken areas without wasting time or resources.
Example of elements of DRM
framework.
Source: Disaster risk
management systems analysis- A
guide book.

Preparing disaster risk management plans
Examples
Planning to reduce drought impacts
Drought planning involves identifying objectives
and strategies to effectively and equitably
prepare for, respond to, and recover from the
effects of drought, as well as the development of
a plan to implement the strategies.
To reduce the likelihood of drought impacts
being repeated in the future, increased emphasis
is being placed on developing drought plans that
outline proactive strategies that can be
implemented before, during, and after drought to
increase societal and environmental resiliency
and enhance drought response and recovery
capabilities. Several countries in the Near East
and Africa have already begun the process of
developing national drought plans. Their valuable
experience can be used in other countries.
Drought Planning
in the Near East.
Preparing for drought
in eastern Kenya.
Photo: FAO/T. Hug.

Strategies for biosecurity
• Plant and animal disease containment, as well as measures to reduce food and
water safety threats and produce safe food should be part of agricultural
community risk reduction management plans
The success of climate-smart practices will depend highly on a well set
framework for biosecurity by identifying and containing animal and plant
diseases as well as reducing hazards posed by food and food
operations to humans. Often frameworks are available at national level
but poorly implemented at local scales.
As part of agricultural community risk reduction management plans,
plant and animal disease containment, as well as measures to reduce
food and water safety threats and produce safe food, should be
included.
Education programmes, e.g. through the inclusion in farmer field
schools that disseminate information about surveillance and practices
to contain disease and contamination outbreaks (and ways to handle
them) are necessary to support farmers’ work, in particular to contain
potential threats brought by climate change.
Transferring animal
health knowledge in
Togo.
Photo: FAO/K. Pratt.

Strategies for biosecurity
Examples
Early warning systems in place can contribute
to climate-smart strategies
Protection against animal and plant diseases and
pests and against food safety threats and
preventing their spread, is one of the keys to
fighting hunger, malnutrition and poverty. The
Emergency Prevention Systems (EMPRES)
address prevention and early warning across the
entire food chain through EMPRES Animal
Health; EMPRES Plant Protection and EMPRES
Food Safety.
Another example is the Global Early Warning
System (GLEWS) for Major Animal Diseases,
including Zoonosis (an infectious disease that
can be transmitted from animals to humans).
The networks and structures created by these
systems can be used to incorporate climate
concerns and link to local planning processes.
EMPRES
website.
GLEWS
website.

More applied research delivered to the field
• More support to research should be given so they can respond better and faster
to farmer needs, connect to extension services and where relevant, collect and
spread farmer innovation
Many agricultural research systems are not sufficiently development-
oriented, and have often failed to integrate the needs and priorities of
farmers, especially smallholders, in their work. In addition, research
systems are often under-resourced.
To support more applied research and a faster transfer to the field, it
is important to:
• Increase funding, in particular that for local institutes, to
strengthen agricultural research and promote technology transfer
programmes to smallholders;
• Improve feedback mechanisms, to connect farmers innovation
with scientific research as well as strengthen extension services;
• Support programmes that foster integration of disciplines to adopt
more systematic approaches to agriculture and natural resource
management.
Inspecting a new wheat
variety, responding to
farmers’ needs.
Photo: FAO/J. Spaull.

More applied research delivered to the field
Examples
Researchers as training and technology brokers in the
Yellow River Basin
The project Climate-resilient and Environmentally Sound
Agriculture (C-RESAP) has demonstrated technologies
devised by local research institutes and trained
approximately 1,500 farmers in 4 provinces in China.
Researchers from universities and national and provincial
agricultural research academies took the lead in working
with farmers to demonstrate practices and deliver
multidisciplinary training.
This experience set new precedents and saw Chinese
scientists embarking on field extension work. It was a good
opportunity for scientists to learn new skills like delivering
and preparing information for different audiences. They also
had the opportunity to receive feedback from farmers on the
C-RESAP practices demonstrated.
A field technician advises farmers on
soil quality in Ningxia, China.
Photo: C-RESAP project.

Access to financing
• Innovative access to financing is needed for farmers to be able to implement
climate-smart practices—financing should help farmers and not hinder their
development possibilities
Credit financing for smallholders is traditionally considered a high
risk business and involves high transaction and supervision costs.
Innovative financing schemes have approaches and practices to
address these problems.
Value chain financing responds to problems tied with access to
credit by interlinking two separate transactions as a substitute for
collateral. For instance, loans for purchase of inputs are linked to
the sale of output as a condition for the loan. Some examples of
innovative financing include: warehouse receipts, contract farming,
trade finance, other commodity-finance instruments such as
repurchase agreements and export receivable financing.
Credit delivery mechanisms link informal financial intermediaries
with formal ones is a widespread practice in many countries.
Source: IFAD.
Innovations in financing
food security by PIDS
discussing different financing
models for small scale
farmers.

Access to financing
Examples
Examples of innovative financing
A number of initiatives to support farmers have appeared in the
last decades, among them:
• Self-help groups (SHGs) linked to banking in India: SHGs
are a village-based financial intermediary usually
composed of 10–20 local women. Many SHGs are 'linked'
to banks for the delivery of microcredit. See example…
• Unit Desas are village banks of the Bank Rakyat
Indonesia. The strength of Unit Desas is savings
mobilization. Each is managed by 4 to 11 personnel at a
ratio of one loan staff per 400 borrowers and one cashier
per 150 daily transactions. See more…
• Bank Finance against Warehouse Cheese: Loans against
Parmesan are offered by four banks in the Italy’s northern
Emilia-Romagna region. The cheese is stored in climate-
controlled warehouses as collateral for the term of the
loan. See more…
Parmesan warehouses in Italy.
Source: Innovative financing in
agriculture II-Lending against
warehouse stored cheese as collateral.
Photo: R. Mohite, FTKMC.

The macro-level picture: investment,
incentives and legal frameworks

Financing and investment
• Climate-smart agriculture needs adequate investment for enabling farmers to be
more efficient in their production and adapt to climate change
• Public and private sources should be combined in innovative ways to meet
requirements
Climate change adaptation and mitigation costs in rural areas are
expected to be high, therefore climate-smart agriculture needs
adequate investment, both in public infrastructure and in funding for
enabling farmers to be more efficient in their production and adapt
to climate change.
Considerable investment is required in filling data and knowledge
gaps and in research and development of technologies,
methodologies, as well as the conservation and production of
suitable varieties and breeds.
Public and private sources, as well as those earmarked for climate
change and food security should be combined to meet the
investment requirements of the agricultural sector. See also
Financing and Investments for Climate-smart Agriculture and
Private Sector Finance and Climate Change Adaptation.
Investment needs versus available
resources (in blue) in developing
countries: A funding gap.
Source: “Climate-Smart”
Agriculture, FAO.

Financing and investment
Examples
Adapt yesterday’s irrigation to tomorrow’s needs
Irrigation is critical to meet global food needs, but the era of
rapid expansion of large-scale public irrigated agriculture is
over. A major new task is adapting yesterday’s irrigation
systems to tomorrow’s needs.
Investments in irrigation must become more strategic.
Irrigation has to be seen in the context of other development
investments and consider the full spectrum of irrigation
options—from large-scale systems to small-scale technologies
supplying water to bridge dry spells in rainfed areas, together
with the integration of water for crop, livestock and fish.
The challenge for irrigated agriculture is to improve equity,
reduce environmental damage, increase ecosystem services,
and enhance water and land productivity in existing and new
irrigated systems.
Source: Water for food water for life: A comprehensive assessment
of water management in agriculture (CAWMA).
Projections of capital investment in
irrigation development and rehabilitation.
Source: Reinventing irrigation, CAWMA.
Rehabilitation of an old reservoir
for irrigation, Morocco.
Photo: FAO/ R. Messori.

Insurance
• Index insurance products, where payments are based on an independent
measure highly correlated with farm-level yield or revenue outcomes, could be
considered to support farmers
Various forms of insurance exist in agriculture. However, these can
involve high opportunity costs in the form of foregone development.
The increasing incidence of weather shocks are even further
reducing efficacy of local insurance arrangements
The traditional agricultural reinsurance is not considered a success.
Index insurance products, where payments are based on an
independent measure highly correlated with farm-level yield or
revenue outcomes, are explored as alternatives. Index insurance
makes use of variables exogenous to the policyholder—such as
area-level yield or an objective weather event or measure such as
temperature or rainfall—but have a strong correlation to farm-level
losses.
Source: Managing agricultural production risk (The World Bank).
See also New approaches to crop yield insurance in developing
countries (IFPRI).
Some advantages of index
insurance contracts.
Source: Managing agricultural
production risk, The World Bank.

Insurance
Examples
Weather index insurance two cases: Mexico and Kenya
• Since 2002–03, Mexico has used an insurance scheme
managed by a government owned insurer to improve relief
efforts in the event of drought. Vulnerable smallholder
farmers are identified in advance and payments can be
made as soon as a predetermined threshold is crossed
(using a weather-based index which correlates local rainfall
with crop yields). The scheme puts relief funding on a more
predictable footing and transfers part of the risk to the
international reinsurance market. More…
• Kilimo Salama (“Safe Agriculture”) insures farm inputs
against drought and excess rain. The project, a private
sector initiative, offer farmers who plant on as little as one
acre insurance policies to shield them from significant
financial losses when drought or excess rain are expected
to wreak havoc on their harvests. They use mobile phone
registry and payment system and distribution through rural
retailers that are micro-insurance firsts. More…
AGROASEMEX (Mexico) and Kilimo
Salama (Kenya) insurance schemes
websites.

Incentives for climate-smart agriculture
• Farmers need incentives to change their practices towards climate-resilient and
environmentally sound agriculture
Ideally, change towards a more climate-resilient and
environmentally sound agriculture should happen as a result of the
compelling need of becoming more efficient and resilient. Still at
the beginning farmers may need smart incentives to change their
practices, especially in areas where investment is low. These may
come, for example, in the form of incentives:
• Make agricultural operations more energy efficient;
• Mitigate GHG emissions through energy generation or waste
recycling;
• Payment for ecosystem services;
• Preferential prices for commodities produced by sustainable
production intensification through certification schemes.
The state of food and
agriculture 2007 – Paying
farmers for
environmental services,
FAO.

Incentives for climate-smart agriculture
Examples
Environmental Quality Incentives Program,
USA
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP), administered by USDA’s Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is a
voluntary program that provides financial and
technical assistance to agricultural producers
through contracts up to a maximum term of ten
years in length.
These contracts provide financial assistance to
help plan and implement conservation practices
that address natural resource concerns and for
opportunities to improve soil, water, plant, animal,
air and related resources on agricultural land and
non-industrial private forestland. See more...The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
website.

Legislation and regulation
• Reforms in laws and regulation—and the way they are interconnected—will be
called for, if countries are to have a more efficient food chain
• Of particular importance will be better mechanisms to implement these
frameworks at local levels
The interests and mitigation and adaptation targets of different
sectors in a country vary widely. Until now, the tendency has been
to legislate and regulate sectors separately, which often has created
contradictory provisions and difficulty to implement at local levels.
Reforms in, for example, water, land use and tenure, environment,
biodiversity, agriculture, forestry, social and economic laws and
regulation—and the way they are interconnected—will be called for,
if countries are to have a more efficient food chain. Provisions for
better access to resources or rights, e.g. seed systems, genetic
resources and contractual farming arrangements, are also needed.
Of particular importance will be better mechanisms to implement
these frameworks at local levels.
The GLOBE climate legislation study, presents examples of efforts
in different countries to establish legislation frameworks.
Climate change conference for
Mexican climate legislation.
Source: UNDP, Mexico.

Preparing a climate-smart action plan
Preparing and implementing a climate-smart action plan ensures actions result in improved
adaptive capacity and more resilient communities. Aspects that need to be considered include:
• Identifying actors: Those affected by potential actions need to be involved since the
beginning
• Building capacity of actors for planning: by informing them of challenges, the need to become
more efficient and reducing risks (e.g. through training, awareness campaigns, meetings).
• Inviting actors to determine risks and opportunities: This also involves external support to
present scientific findings regarding potential risks in your community. Risk and opportunity
identification should cover environmental and economic threats and opportunities (current
and future) and not being limited to agriculture, but driven by a multidisciplinary perspective
to development.
• Identifying mechanisms for disaster risk management in all sectors, including roles and
responsibilities of different actors, establishment of early warning and monitoring systems,
securing support and funding from central governments. For agriculture this entails providing
specific sectoral solutions that are compatible with development priorities and other sectors.
• It should also include finding common ground for actions with neighbouring communities, to
ensure planning is done in the context of a larger picture, e.g. that your local responses link
to subnational, national and hopefully global economic and environmental priorities.
• Revising and improving continuously, through monitoring and evaluation of activities.

Resources
References used in this module and further reading
This list contains the references used in this module. You can access the full text of some of
these references through this information package or through their respective websites, by
clicking on references, hyperlinks or images. In the case of material for which we cannot
include the full text due to special copyrights, we provide a link to its abstract in the Internet.
Institutions dealing with the issues covered in the module
In this list you will find contact details of national and international institutions that might hold
information on the topics covered.
Glossary, abbreviations and acronyms
In this glossary you can find the most common terms as used in the context of climate change.
In addition the FAOTERM portal contains agricultural terms in different languages. Acronyms of
institutions and abbreviations used throughout the package are included here.

Accessing other modules:
Part I - Agriculture, food security and ecosystems: current and future challenges
Module 1. An introduction to current and future challenges
Module 2. Climate variability and climate change
Module 3. Impacts of climate change on agro-ecosystems and food production
Module 4. Agriculture, environment and health
Part II - Addressing challenges
Module 5. C-RESAP/climate-smart agriculture: technical considerations and
examples of production systems
Module 6. C-RESAP/climate-smart agriculture: supporting tools and policies
About the information package:
How to use
Credits
Contact us
How to cite the information package
C. Licona Manzur and Rhodri P. Thomas (2011). Climate resilient and environmentally sound agriculture
or “climate-smart” agriculture: An information package for government authorities. Institute of Agricultural
Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations.

Climate resilient and environmentally sound agriculture - Module 6

Climate resilient and environmentally sound agriculture - Module 6

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