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HomePosts Tagged "CGIAR"
Agrotech, Collaborations, Company News, Middle East countries

Foundation calls for donors to support global agriculture research network CGIAR’s 2025-2027 investment need to reach 500 million farmers by 2030.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has joined the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to accelerate the development of innovations that will help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia build resilience and adapt to climate change. Together, they made new commitments totalling US $200 million in response to immediate and long-term threats to food security and nutrition caused by climate change.

The announcement was delivered at the World Climate Action Summit by foundation Co-Chair Bill Gates, who was joined by H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, minister of climate change and environment of the UAE. Gates also called on global leaders to elevate agriculture as a focus of global climate finance initiatives and support the global agriculture research network, CGIAR.

The foundation’s US $100 million investment announced, which matches the UAE’s commitment of US $100 million, will support organizations, like the CGIAR, that are on the forefront of developing agricultural innovations. Additional foundation funding will support the work of AIM4Scale, a new climate adaptation initiative to be launched by the UAE. The foundation will also join partner countries, philanthropies, and financial institutions to help accelerate access to high-impact agricultural innovations for small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by reducing policy and funding-related barriers.

Sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 60 per cent of the population depends on agriculture for food and income, accounts for only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, a surge of extreme climate events, such as devastating droughts in East Africa and catastrophic flooding in West Africa, has contributed to reduced economic growth and increased income inequality with wealthy countries—primarily by eroding crop and livestock production. While numerous innovations exist to help smallholder farmers in the region, less than 2 per cent of global climate finance is devoted to meeting their needs.  

“We need to make big bets on innovation to ensure smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the tools they need to adapt their practices, feed their people, and build resilience in the face of climate change,” said Gates. “The needs of farmers are an integral part of the global climate agenda.”  

“We are ready to quickly scale up proven innovations that already are helping farmers in vulnerable regions like Africa and South Asia adapt to more challenging climate conditions,” said Professor Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, chair, CGIAR System Board. “That includes increasing access to improved varieties of naturally stress tolerant crops like cassava and millets, employing new tools and strategies farmers are using to support healthy ecosystems by reviving degraded lands, and providing long-range climate forecasts that help farmers anticipate and navigate weather extremes and shifting rainfall patterns.”

With the foundation’s commitment announced, it has exceeded its current pledge to CGIAR of US $315 million and joins a growing global movement for action on climate adaptation. This includes new funding from donor countries to CGIAR totaling over US $800 million for the 2023-2024 funding cycle. 

The foundation’s support for agriculture adaptation at COP28 builds on previous commitments dating back to 2017 to help smallholder farmers cope with climate change. To learn more about the foundation’s work to create a pipeline of climate-smart agricultural solutions, new applications of digital technologies, low-emission approaches to small-scale livestock farming, and innovations that address the neglected needs of women farmers,

Foundation calls for donors to support global

Company News, Foodgrains, Sustainability, World

A dedicated food security programme for producing and importing countries in Africa, India, and Latin America

UPL Ltd. a global provider of sustainable agricultural solutions will support a renewed commitment to strengthening developing world food production, storage, and supply chains with a ‘food security’ programme.

The agreement was reached at the inaugural Earthna Summit in Doha, Qatar, with the governments of Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia alongside the Commonwealth Secretariat. The sessions were also attended by representatives from Qatar Foundation’s (QF’s) Earthna Centre for a Sustainable Future, AGRA, United Nations Development Programme, CGIAR, Chatham House, EMBRAPA, and the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak.

The Summit aimed to build new sustainability pathways for hot and arid environments as part of global efforts to address the moderate or severe food insecurity faced by one-in-four people globally. The summit sought to align South-South efforts and create a dedicated food security programme for producing and importing countries in Africa, India, and Latin America.

UPL contributed to the creation of this ‘food security’ programme through the open plenary session and closed-door technical discussions, in which experts agreed to explore a new working methodology for food security. This included ensuring the development of farmer resilience, capacity building and creating demonstration plots for climate-resilient crops.

Jai Shroff, Group CEO of UPL Ltd., said, “Our contention is clear: no one has food security until everyone has food security. And the key to security is farmer resilience. The results of our discussions in Doha show that there is a new urgency to address food security and new energy among developing world nations to agree on approaches that will deliver real results. We look forward to announcing our roadmap with Earthna and to developing initial projects across Africa as part of our Reimagining Sustainability mission and OpenAg commitment to collaboration.”

Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, Executive Director of Earth, said, “It is essential that the global community works together to encourage and enable self-sufficiency at national and international levels. I am delighted that at the Earthna Summit 2023, heads of state, QF’s Earthna and other partners have come together and committed to a new collaborative approach to enhance food security. I am confident that this programme will lead to lasting and impactful action, and make a significant contribution to these countries’ fight against climate change.”

A technical white paper will be prepared for the launch of pilot programmes in Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia.

A dedicated food security programme for producing

Agro chems – Fertilizers, India

Will allow farmers to get the best crop yields while saving money and reducing harmful nitrous oxide emissions

New research by an international team of scientists, including International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) agricultural systems and climate change scientist Tek Sapkota, has identified the optimum rates of nitrogen fertiliser application for rice and wheat crops in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India.

By measuring crop yield and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes over two years, Sapkota and his colleagues reported that the optimum rate of N fertiliser for rice is between 120 and 200 kg per hectare, and between 50 and 185 kg per hectare for wheat. The results of the study have the potential to save farmer’s money and minimise dangerous greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining crop productivity.

Nitrous oxide, one of the most important greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere, is responsible for ozone depletion and global climate change, and has a global warming potential 265 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Research has shown that agricultural soils account for around 60% of global nitrous oxide emissions. These emissions are directly related to the application of nitrogen fertilisers to croplands. While these fertilisers help crop yields, studies show that only about one third of the applied nitrogen is actually used by crops. The rest is released as nitrous oxide or seeps into waterways, causing harmful algal blooms.

In India, the total consumption of nitrogen fertiliser is about 17 million tonne — expected to rise to 24 million tonne by 2030 to feed a growing population. Nitrous oxide emissions will rise along with it if farmers do not minimise their fertiliser use and manage application more efficiently. What’s more, farmers receive a higher subsidy for nitrogen fertiliser — a policy that leads farmers to apply more fertiliser than the recommended dose.

Measured methods

The study, led by Sapkota, estimated the rate of nitrogen fertiliser application with the most economically optimum yield and minimum environmental footprint. Applying more fertiliser than this would be a waste of farmer’s money and cause unnecessary harm to the environment.

Researchers measured crop yield and nitrous oxide fluxes for two wheat seasons and one rice season from 2014 to 2016.  The scientists found that nitrogen fertilisation rate clearly influenced daily and cumulative soil nitrous oxide emissions in wheat and rice for both years. Nitrous oxide emissions were higher in both wheat and rice in the nitrogen-fertilised plots than in the control plots.

Using statistical methods, the researchers were able to measure the relationship between crop productivity, nitrogen rate and emissions intensity, in both rice and wheat. This gave them the optimum rate of nitrogen fertiliser application.

This work was carried out by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), with support from the CGIAR Trust Fund and through bilateral funding agreements.

Will allow farmers to get the best

Agrotech, Sustainability, World

CS-MAP is a participatory approach that integrates local knowledge and science-based researches in developing maps of climate-related risks and adaptation plans for crop production

To provide technical support on participatory climate-risk mapping and adaptation planning, the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) Initiative on Asian Mega-Deltas conducted a training workshop on Climate-Smart Mapping and Adaptation Planning (CS-MAP) for local research partners in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The workshop introduced the CS-MAP approach as the tool for conducting the mapping activities in the AMD target provinces in Cambodia, such as Kandal, Takeo, Prey Vieng, and Svay Rieng.

Developed and implemented by the Department of Crop Production of Vietnam and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in Southeast Asia from 2016 to 2020, CS-MAP is a participatory approach that integrates local knowledge and science-based researches in developing maps of climate-related risks and adaptation plans for crop production, suitable to location-specific conditions. It has been effectively implemented in five ecological regions of Vietnam, including the Mekong River Delta region, in order to help farmers mitigate climate-related risks, such as flooding, drought and salinity intrusion.

Bui Tan Yen, Senior Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) – Vietnam, emphasised that “CS-MAP is the methodology and not the maps”. He shared that CS-MAP takes into consideration the local specific conditions and the conflicts in natural resources management, and support climate-smart management of food production.

Yen also explained the scientific basis of implementing CS-MAP in Cambodia’s context. He presented the historical statistics of climate-related risks in Cambodia and current gaps in risk management in agriculture. He also demonstrated how multiple layers including spatial risk data, land cover, main food products and other spatial data are combined to produce the base-map for the participatory CS-MAP process.

To give a better context of the local food systems and vulnerability risk in the targeted provinces in preparation for CS-MAP activities, Trang Vu, Associate Scientist at IRRI Vietnam, presented the findings of the AMD team’s field visits to Kandal and Takeo provinces in October 2022. She reported on the key agricultural products (i.e., rice, vegetables, fish, and poultry) and main climate-related risks that had strong effect on agricultural production (i.e., drought, flood), as well as the current system for disaster warning and response in these areas.

Trang also discussed the four supporting tools for participatory discussion and mapping, such as focus group discussion, key informant interview, climate risk listing, and pairwise ranking. These are the tools to be used in conducting the participatory mapping process.

Using hands-on approach, Yen introduced each of the steps in the CS-MAP process, including the objectives, outputs, methods, required materials and equipment, and specific activities for each step. The participants were divided into two groups to practice developing risk map and adaptation plans for Kandal Stueng district and S’ang district of Kandal province. They were also given the opportunities to lead the facilitation, especially the participants from Department of Agricultural Land Resources Management (DALRM) – General Directorate of Agriculture, WorldFish Cambodia, and IRRI Cambodia, as they will lead the CS-MAP process in the four AMD target provinces

In her closing remarks, Rica Joy Flor, Innovation Systems Scientist at IRRI Cambodia, said that the workshop is a great start for the participants to make a solid contribution to the AMD initiative. She stressed that “now we have the tools and the capacity in us to bring this down (the CS-MAP process) to the level of our partners in the provinces.” She encouraged all the participants to work on this together to deliver results that can be shared at the national level and can influence the production systems at the farmers’ level.

CS-MAP is a participatory approach that integrates