Page 46 - FAO-IPCC Expert meeting on climate change

Adaptation and resilience in food and land-based ecosystems
in yield. Similar trends are taking place with regard to sorghum-millet, although the loss in yield is smaller as a result of climate change. While many farmers may profit from market price developments, others who are more resource- poor are unable to fully compensate for the decline. Productivity gains from agricultural intensification may not be advantageous to the poorest farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, nor in other developing countries with similar production conditions. While the negative effects of climate change may be overcome to some extent by increased market opportunities for intensification by way of higher prices, this may not always be the case. To focus only on improving major crop yields in Africa within the climate change scenario will be a cost to the smallholder household.
Crop diversification and crop-livestock mixing are alternative approaches that can offer benefits in terms of higher productivity and resilience for small-scale producers. This includes resorting to multiple cropping, reintroduction of local varieties and expanding the genetic diversity within a landscape environment. Genetic diversity (plants and animals)
is a key to adaptation and resilience in farming, whereby the crop diversity loss that agriculture has experienced
around the world in the last century can be reversed. Expanding this diversity within a landscape that embraces the mixing of several crop varieties within the same field will reduce agriculture risks and deter crop failure, both of which are expected to rise under climate change. In Guangxi, southwest China, maize landraces survived the severe 2010 spring drought, while maize hybrids did not.41 Crop genetic diversification requires placing greater value on traditional knowledge – a source for most agro-ecological farming practices.
An important empirical question is how to ensure that agricultural practices that enhance productivity and income for growers (e.g. conservation agriculture or agricultural intensification) also provide adaptation and/or mitigation benefits. Evidence from the field indicates that these practices fall into the climate-smart category within a specific context while varying widely from case to case. Based on research from CGIAR-CCAFS of the literature on climate-smart practices,
it was found that there are rare cases that combine the three objectives (productivity, adaptation and mitigation) and few cases of productivity with either adaptation or mitigation.42 The review found that studies that addressed both productivity and resilience counted for 56 percent of those examined showing synergies, while 40 percent showed trade-offs. The study also reported that practices with the highest potential for impact in terms of adaptation or mitigation (i.e. organic fertilizer use) tend to have low adoption rates. Conversely, simple practices such as intercropping have adoption potential, although at a lower rate of effect on climate change mitigation or adaptation.
4.6 Adaptation and resilience options for livestock systems
Livestock is important in terms of resilience, especially in the dry lands. Among the traditional strategies applied by herders is livestock mobility across zones in relation to feed availability. Likewise, adjustments to herd stocking rates can buffer against climate variability impacts on feed and biomass availability. Developing policies for livestock, however, requires context-specific evidence that integrates biophysical influences with socio-economic vulnerability assessments to ensure system sensitivity and the underlying capacity to cope are properly matched with the actual climate change impacts within the agro-ecological context.
There are a number of adaptation options that require validation within a particular context, from the socio-economic to the policy environment. Technical interventions to support adaptation include genetic improvement, animal health or better feeding interventions and improved feed quality. Adaptation interventions may also incorporate land restoration to increase production of feeds and forages. Interventions at the landscape level may include the diversification of production, shifting between plant species (e.g. Brachiara grass for sub-humid Eastern Africa)43 or even production systems (e.g. a shift from cattle to small ruminants). The crop-livestock system combines co-benefits for adaptation
and mitigation by way of the judicious exploitation of crop residues and manure. To ensure successful farmer uptake, however, both existing and new technologies that integrate better within existing farming and livelihood systems, undoubtedly require institutional and policy reforms, as well as market-based instruments such as insurance schemes and other appropriate financial instruments.
41 IIED Brief. December 2016.
42 Rosenstock et al. (2016).
43 A comprehensive review of drought-tolerant grasses suitable for dry land areas would fill an important knowledge gap. Likewise, no good review exists that quantifies the role of forage legumes and the implications for nitrogen production in the soil for grassland systems in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate areas.
FAO-IPCC Expert meeting on climate change, land use and food security