Page 21 - Ecuador's Banana Sector under Climate Change

chapter 1: overview: a methodological framework - integrating climate adaptation and sustainability into agricultural sectors
analysis to identify and recommend the macro- or sector-wide incentives and measures to motivate farmers to change their practices and shift towards a more climate-compatible agriculture.
Each of the above scales is essential at some level within the process towards action, but none is adequate on its own. It will involve an integrated approach, possibly combining at least two or more scales. An analysis at the farm level requires a parallel sector/market assessment to deduce the critical macro- economic incentives (e.g. prices, supply and demand factors, trade, sector-wide regulations) to understand how best to prompt a transition to climate-smart practices within the sector or territory. Similarly, a sector assessment should
be complemented with a national and cross-sectoral analysis to align the sector-specific process with relevant national policies, institutions and resource management and investment decisions. Solutions at the sectoral level will identify the links between evidence and policy-making which, in turn, can guide the formulation of interventions or strategies at the national or cross-sectoral level. National policies for food security and climate adaptation and mitigation also
can be facilitated under a regional strategic framework to tackle the common challenges and objectives.
3. A sector-specific framework for climate adaptation
This section describes a methodological framework to assess the climate
impact on agriculture and to facilitate policy action at the sector/territory level. This framework has been applied with success in relation to Kenya’s tea
sector, Ecuador’s banana sector and Morocco’s fruit tree sector. In all cases,
the objective is to undertake an inter-disciplinary climate impact assessment (economic, biophysical and socio-institutional) and apply the evidence to initiate a stakeholder-led process towards a climate-compatible sector strategy or improve policy implementation. The experiences of these countries have confirmed the suitability of the demand-centred approach that focuses on a strategic sector.
In Kenya, a new climate-compatible strategy for tea was developed and a new policy reform for tea initiated. In Ecuador, evidence from banana interventions has encouraged the Government of Ecuador to press for environmentally
sound disease controls. It also has encouraged work to be done with regard
to adaptation best practices as part of the productivity-boosting efforts under Ecuador’s existing Banana Law. In Morocco, the evidence has contributed to mainstreaming innovative adaptation tools within the Plan Maroc Vert - a national investment program for agricultural intensification and value addition.
3.1 Framework overview
To integrate climate adaptation and sustainability into agriculture, a sector- level approach is needed, as well as an appropriate framework that can effectively tackle the economic, social and environmental dimensions in a coherent, complementary and interlinked manner. To effectively evaluate the scope for climate adaptation and enhance the sustainability of a particular agricultural system, an economic analysis should be made to clearly separate
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