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Explore SACAU's efforts in promoting Climate Smart Agriculture in Southern Africa, including challenges and recommendations. Gain valuable knowledge on CSA initiatives and potential solutions for sustainable farming practices.
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Insights from SACAU’s on-going Climate Smart Agriculture-related initiatives 22nd Southern African Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF-22) Radisson Blu Hotel, Lusaka, Zambia 24th August 2018 Fhumulani Mashau (Projects Officer)
About SACAU • Regional farmers’ organisation with membership open to national general interest/apex farmers’ unions and regional commodity associations. • Currently has 18 members (national farmers unions) from 12 countries in southern Africa (all SADC member states except Angola, DRC and Mauritius). • Mission: To be the main voice of farmers on regional, continental and global matters, and to promote and ensure strong and effective farmers / producers’ organisations in all countries in southern Africa.
About SACAU (cont) • Operations based on three strategic pillars: • Pillar 1: Policy advocacy on common matters of interest to farmers in southern Africa; aimed promoting the creation of an enabling environment that allows farmers and other players in the agriculture value chain to maintain and maximise their productive potential • Pillar 2: Strengthening of farmers’ organisations, aimed at supporting the establishment and development of strong, credible and sustainable Farmers’ Organizations that provide effective and efficient support services to farmers and other stakeholders and • Pillar 3: Provision of agriculture-related information; aimed at supporting strategic decision –making by FOs and providing general information to other stakeholders
Focus areas • Promoting the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) on a wide scale in the region. • CSA sensitisation activities for members. • Training workshops. • Policy dialogue. • Participating in various fora. • Provision of technical and other support to members. • Facilitating the pooling of climate risk across countries in the region. • Proposal for a regional policy/regulatory framework for Weather Index-based Insurance.
What are the issues? • CSA is a broad concept: • It incorporates/integrates various aspects (practices, approaches etc.) which often makes it difficult to define precisely – can mean different things to different people. • Conservation agriculture (CA) often confused with CSA. • Too much emphasis on crops, even in livestock areas. • Not enough attention paid to farm level economics.
What are the issues (cont) • There is generally low level of knowledge and understanding of CSA amongst farmers Results of workshop assessment: knowledge of CSA before and after workshop (N=57) • S
What are the issues (cont) • The level of public and private investment to support wide scale uptake of CSA in the region is very low. • There is generally limited knowledge of governments’ CSA-related commitments. Results of workshop assessment: knowledge of governments’ CSA-related commitments before and after workshop (N=57)
What are the issues (cont) • Accuracy of weather forecasts is an issue. • Different sources of weather information providing different forecasts. • Lack of a platform of getting weather information to farmers and vice versa. • There is limited use of climate/weather information in farm planning. This is linked to: • Difficulty in accessing weather information. • Difficulty in interpreting weather information and implications.
What can be done cont • CSA practices should not only be promoted for the sake of pursuing environmental targets. They should result in increased financial returns, especially at farm level. • Linking CSA to trade and financing. • Continued efforts of sensitising farmers and their representatives on CSA. • Introducing CSA at an early stage – primary school education.
What can be done (cont) • Working with the private sector to scale up delivery mechanisms, including ICT solutions. • Creating an enabling environment for CSA. • Greater participation of farmers in policy formulation and decision-making. • Holding governments to account for commitments they make. • Investment in public infrastructure (weather, water, roads, bridges, telecommunications etc.).
What can be done (cont) • Improving the comprehension of climate/weather data and information by farmers – farmer education. • Engagement between farmers and weather/climate experts. • Perhaps even platforms to provide seasonal forecasts to farmers before the start of the season. • Collaboration of all stakeholders.
