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EU-IFAD Project “Building livelihoods and resilience to climate change in East & West Africa: Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) for large-scale implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture”

Abonesh Tesfaye, Abebe Nigussie, Gebermedihin Ambaw

Summary

To achieve food security and agricultural development goals, adaptation to climate change and lower emission intensities per output will be necessary. This transformation must be accomplished without depletion of the natural resource base. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to managing landscapes such as cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. CSA aims to simultaneously achieve increased productivity, enhanced resilience and reduced emissions. In Ethiopia, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in East Africa has established two climate-smart landscapes: one in southern Ethiopia in Doyogena district and the second one in central Ethiopia in Basona Worena district. In these sites, locally appropriate CSA practices are being tested and promoted by the European Union and International Fund for Agricultural Development (EU-IFAD) funded project "Building livelihoods and resilience to climate change in East & West Africa" that is supporting large-scale adoption of CSA technologies and practices.

Although evidence from some East African countries suggests that the introduction of CSA practices among farmers contributes to the potential of agriculture to adapt to a changing climate, the impact of these CSA practices on food security and livelihoods of Ethiopian farmers is not well understood and documented. Therefore, this activity report is the result of the data collection process that was conducted to assess the impacts of CSA practices on agricultural production, income and household food security in Doyogena and Basona Worena Climate Smart Villages (CSVs). Based on the information gathered in the two CSVs, the socio-economic impacts of these practices will be estimated and documented to help donors and decision makers to justify funding and guide priorities in scaling up the adoption of CSA technologies and practices.