Forest wildfires are not really known as a regular occurrence in Nigeria, but with climate change and the unpredictability that comes with it, lessons can be drawn from climate-smart agriculture and its usefulness in sustainable food production.
Not just wildfires, but also in view of a number of severe environmental events this year, which have included historic hurricanes, cyclones and monsoons, scientists, researchers and policymakers recently gathered in Bali to advance sustainable agriculture as a priority for the next decade.
“Recent events such as forest fires around the world have only raised awareness of the increasingly fragile state of our environment and climate,” said Bruce Campbell, program director for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in a statement.
“We are on course for a three to four-degree warmer world. There are many opportunities for agriculture to mitigate its contribution to climate change as well as adapt to farming under new, extreme conditions.”
Among the “climate-smart” initiatives presented at the conference were pioneering “Science Field Shops”, which have supported rice farmers in Indonesia to gather and then digitise their own historic weather data, allowing them to develop their own climate-smart references and resources.
Other research highlighted opportunities to reduce livestock emissions through optimising diets according to the specific needs of individual animals. A study of dairy cattle in Lembang, West-Java, found emission reductions of up to 15 per cent with tailored feed rations.
Elsewhere, researchers found that self-help groups and social media were particularly effective among female farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for promoting knowledge around crop and seed diversity to improve resilience against extreme weather.
A flagship big-data platform that assessed the impact of 100 agricultural technologies across Africa was also due to be launched at the event. Evidence for Resilient Agriculture (ERA) contains more than 75,000 data points from around 1,400 studies covering indicators such as yield, soil carbon and resource use efficiency.
CALEB OJEWALE
