MICCA Pilot Projects: Evaluating climate-smart agriculture for

targeted scaling-up and informed decision making

By Janie Rioux

Climate, Energy and Tenure (NRC) Division

FAO

FAO-MICCA on-line Learning Event: “Climate-smart agriculture in the field – Planning, implementation, evaluation and upscaling”

Online discussion and webinars October 2015

Content

• MICCA Pilot Projects

• CSA Adoption studies

– Determinants

– Benefits

– Lessons learned

• Up-scaling strategies

What is CSA in the MICCA pilot projects?

• CSA is an approach to address the interrelated challenges of food security and climate change in agricultural development

• CSA is integrated, multi-sectors and multi-levels

• CSA is inclusive, context-specific and sustainable

• CSA provides co-benefits and synergies with development outcomes

CSA promoted integrated and diversified farming systems and agro-ecological principles and the main goal was to improve food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers, while testing synergies and trade-offs with climate change mitigation.

Objectives of the MICCA Pilot Projects With financial support of the Government of Finland, and in partnership with ICRAF, EADD and CARE, the main objective was to put climate-smart agriculture into practice, and specifically to:

1) Identify and develop context relevant sets of CSA practices with farmers,

and support their implementation

2) Conduct scientific research to assess the CSA outcomes for different crops, land uses and management practices (led by ICRAF)

3) Analyze the adoption and benefits of CSA to inform up-scaling, extension, policy and investments

4) Linking research, practice and policy for effective planning and programming of CSA

Source: MICCA 11, Rioux et al., FAO, 2015 (in prep) Approach

Webinar 2

Webinar 1

[MICCA 10, Rosenstock et al., FAO, 2014]

Evaluating the adoption and benefits of CSA

• To gather information on the determinants (barriers and incentives) and benefits of adoption of CSA practices

• Structured household interviews and focus group discussions using a proportionate random sampling among the project participants and across location

• Kenya: Household interviews (n=150) and 5 FGDs in 6 locations in the Kaptumo division, Nandy County

• Tanzania: Household interviews (n=170) and 5 FGDs in 8 villages in the Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro district

• Correlations generated between CSA practices and these variables:

farmer and farm characteristics

social, economical and institutional context

practice and technology characteristics

Kenya: Adoption of CSA practices 93% 89% 88%

41% 39%

9% 1%

0

20

40

60

80

100

AgroforestryPlanted

Fodder Planted ManureCollected

Tree Nursery onfarm

FeedConservation

Composting Biogas

%A

do

pti

on

35% of adopters were women

Adoption of improved fodder grasses was associated with farm size, number of livestock, and labor availability. Agroforestry adoption was associated with secured land tenure. The price of milk in the wet season influences both the planted fodder crops and agroforestry Participation in trainings increased significantly the adoption of improved fodder, agroforestry, composting, and tree nursery

• The main benefit perceived by farmers was improved income from farming (~ 25 %)

• Increased in milk productivity was significant (add. 3.9 liters/cow/day)

Kenya: Benefits of CSA practices

25%

16% 15% 12% 11% 11% 10%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

More income Less timedemanding

Less labouruse

Increasedcrop

production

Improvedfood security

Less affectedby climate

risks

Better for theenvironment

Source: Mutoko & Rioux, 2014, FAO

Tanzania: Adoption of CSA practices

75%

50% 40%

15% 6%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Tree planting ICS SWC Tree nursery 2 CA

• Insecure land tenure and small land size were barriers to adoption of agroforestry and soil-water conservation measures

• Availability of labor and capacity to hire labor were incentives for uptake of double digging and crop rotation, as these practices are labor demanding.

• Access to information, farmer to farmer learning and trainings were determinants of adoption for all practices.

2 practices of conservation agriculture among: min. tillage, mulching and cover crops

E.g. Conservation Agriculture

94% 86% 84% 83%

77% 72%

45%

6% 2% 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

A high number of farmers reported practicing individual practices of conservation agriculture; however, for their three main plots, the adoption rate was lower, and even more for combined conservation agriculture practices.

Tanzania: Benefits of CSA practices

• Main benefit perceived by farmers was increased food availability, mainly through increased food production. (very sig. 65 % households were food insecure)

• Soil and water conservation: increased yield (and income) from 32 tins of tomatoes/acre on hillslopes 128 tins of tomatoes/acre on terraces.

• Improved cook stoves: reduced the amount of fuelwood needed by 30–50%, from 9–6 pieces 3–2 pieces per day.

26% 23%

11% 11% 10% 10% 10%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Increasedcrop

production

Better for theenvironment

More income Less affectedby climate

risks

Improvedhousehold

food security

Less timedemanding

Less labouruse

Source: unpublished, Mutabazi & Rioux, FAO 2014

Results to inform CSA programming • Main benefits of CSA perceived by farmers are increases in

productivity, income from farming, and food availability- so CSA seems and effective approach to improve food security and alleviate

poverty in rural areas.

• It is important to link the promotion of specific climate-smart practices and technologies with sustainable extension services and incentives (e.g. high value crop on terraces, stable market for milk, income

generating activities, access to seeds and loans, group learning, etc.).

• Land tenure and size can promote or constrain the uptake and scaling-up of climate-smart agriculture and it can vary by practice.

• Transformational changes in agriculture take time, so important to plan coherent and long term programme aligned with policies.

Approach for scaling-up in the MICCA pilot projects

MICCA pilot projects

Science and development partners

National level stakeholders

Implementing CSA with farmers and extensionists

Mainstreaming CSA into their programme and research

Using the evidences and experience to inform national level decision-making

Bottom-up approach for out/up scaling

Scaling up strategies with partners from local to national levels

• Mainstreaming CSA into large scale development programme:

E.g. EADD integrated CSA into their Phase II (2014-2018) in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda reaching out to > 130,000 farmers (25M Gates Foundation)

• Catalytic effect to link science with CSA development: E.g. ICRAF developed a project for scaling climate-smart agriculture (2015-2018) to support the African Union’s NEPAD and African CSA Alliance (CCAFS funds)

• Informing decision makers at national levels for better programming

E.g. CSA day, CSA scoping studies, CSA national workshops

National Level Actions • Multi-stakeholders national workshops to share evidences and

experiences:

– Kenya- Climate-Smart Agriculture in Smallholder Integrated Crop-Livestock Farming Systems with MALF/CC unit, CCAFS, ICRAF and FAO

– Tanzania- Workshop to Share Evidence and Experience on CSA with MAFSC/env. unit, CARE, ICRAF-Tanzania and FAO

• Follow up actions and supports on:

– Kenya- Capacity building on NAMA in the context of the Dairy sector NAMA with SDL, CCAFS, UNIQUE and FAO

– Tanzania- Technical support on the development of CSA Guidelines by agro-ecological/livelihoods zones (2015-2016) with MAFSC/env. unit

Publications of the MICCA Pilot Projects • MICCA Adoption study in Kenya: • www.fao.org/3/a-i4396e.pdf

• FAO MICCA 10: Science to support climate-smart agricultural development: www.fao.org/climatechange/micca/87906/en/

• Kenya CSA scoping study: www.fao.org/3/a-i4367e.pdf

• National workshop technical reports: www.fao.org/climatechange/micca/87624/en/

• CSA Policy Brief: www.fao.org/climatechange/42101-052030dc948c02b143ca95a7f96cdc7bb.pdf

• FAO MICCA 11: The experience and lessons learned of the MICCA pilot projects - Coming soon

Thank you !

Contact:

janie.rioux@fao.org

www.fao.org/climatechange/micca/pilots/