المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Thanks to be part of this wonderful forum, I will like to give my own contribution to question four stated What interventions do you think are needed to increase the agriculture sector resilience to environmental stressors, especially among smallholder farmers?

Climate change is a significant and growing threat to Food and Nutrition security affecting vulnerable populations in many countries. Farmers in many agricultural regions, especially in rainfed belts already appear to have experienced to declines in farm production because of climate change. Climate change affects food production, availability, prices, impacting overall calorie consumption as well as consumption of healthy foods, such as vegetables, fruits, and animal-source foods.

There is increasing interest in leveraging the climate smart interventions to mitigate risks. These includes a range of practices and technologies suitable for local sustainable agricultural system and community’s need. These include water smart practices (rainwater harvesting, laser land levelling, micro-irrigation, raised bed planting, change in crop establishment methods), weather smart activities (ICT-based agro-advisories, index-based insurance, stress tolerant crop varieties), nutrient smart practices (site specific nutrient management, precision fertilizers, residue management, legume catch-cropping), carbon and energy smart practices (agroforestry, conservation tillage, residue management, legumes, livestock management) and knowledge smart activities (crop diversification, farmer-farmer learning, capacity enhancement on climate-smart agriculture, community seed banks and cooperatives, market information and off-farm risk management).

They have considerable potential for increasing agricultural production for food and nutrition security, helping farmers adapt to a changing climate, and providing mitigation benefits. These interventions need to be focused to sustainable farming systems for Food and Nutrition Security.