Preliminary results from a project aimed at helping Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia make the transition to a 'climate-smart' approach to agriculture show that some farmers are struggling to adopt the new methods, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. However, FAO said other farmers are finding ways to cope well with climate-change problems like late rains.

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"To broaden the options available to farmers, we believe that increased investment, coming from both traditional agricultural finance, as well as emerging climate finance such as the Green Climate Fund, may be required to help farmers make the needed transition," said Leslie Lipper, leader of FAO's Economics and Policy Innovations for Climate-Smart Agriculture (EPIC) Programme, which is responsible for the climate smart farming project.

The €5.3 million project was launched in January 2012 by FAO and the EU Commission. The three year project project promotes a climate-smart agriculture approach in each country, with supporting activities ranging from research to policy support and investment proposals.

Climate-smart agriculture explained

Agriculture and the communities who depend on it for their livelihoods and food security are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. At the same time agriculture, as a significant producer of greenhouse gases, contributes to global warming.

'Climate-smart agriculture' is an approach that seeks to position the agricultural sector as a solution to these major challenges, prioritising food security and the adaptation needed to achieve it, while reaping potential co-benefits in terms of emissions mitigation. FAO does this by supporting policy and research programmes, but also through activities to change farming practices on the ground.

African project experience

The projects are tailored to the different regions in which they are being implemented. For example, in Africa, the project has studied conservation agriculture (CA), which involves reduced tillage, permanent soil cover and crop rotation. The practice has been promoted by the governments of Malawi and Zambia.

Conservation agriculture can potentially increase productivity through better soils and help farmers adapt to climate change through better water retention. It also can help mitigate climate change by trapping carbon in the soil.

However, FAO announced on Wednesday that its analysis indicates many farmers in the two countries where CA is being promoted have had difficulties adopting the full package, because, for example, they need crop residues for animal feed instead of soil cover. In some cases, farmers are too poor to wait several seasons for the benefits of the practice to materialise.

However, FAO said its analysis has also revealed that climate change is already altering which agricultural practices work best for farmers, which could increase the appeal of CA. In Zambia, analysis of climate data shows an increasingly late onset of rains in some areas. Since crops are only planted after the first rains, late rains mean late planting, which can seriously shorten the growing season.

Project research shows that farmers in these areas of variable rainfall and late onset of rains are the most likely to maintain CA practices, which has the advantage of preparing the land before rains arrive.

Vietnam project experience

In Vietnam, at the project site in the northern part of the country, maize is planted on sloping land all the way to the tops of mountains, which in theory should be covered only in forest. Once the maize is harvested, the rains come, washing away the soil. The erosion has led to landslides, with loss of life.

Project researchers studying Vietnamese climate data have found that climate variability is increasing, which will exacerbate the erosion problem.

In response, the FAO project is looking at more sustainable land management practices but also a shift in the choice of crops grown by farmers; the use of perennial crops such as coffee and tea, which unlike maize can stay in the ground for 30-40 years, can reduce the erosion risk, but coffee and tea production require years to generate high returns, which is a challenge for farmers currently growing maize. 

FAO said the way in which its preparatory project is playing out in each country has differed. The Organisation elaborated, "While the three project countries have different physical, economic, social and cultural characteristics, the countries [have an opportunity] to learn from each other. For example, Vietnam is focusing on building climate smart value chains for key commodities, which could hold lessons for Malawi and Zambia. How the African countries are moving to link climate change and agricultural issues at the policy level may hold lessons for Vietnam."

The extent to which climate change is already having an effect is worrying; the FAO project also found that variances in how the weather is changing from country to country — as well differences in the capacities of famers, institutions and economies — mean that no there is no single 'one size fits all' CSA blueprint solution, but that the need for moves to identify appropriate climate smart measures is urgent and absolutely necessary.