Research and capacity building in climate smart agriculture in the Horn of Africa

Project title: Research and capacity building in climate smart agriculture in the Horn of Africa

Background

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) has been launched as a response to the challenges of climate change and poverty. Climate smart agriculture refers to the sum of scientific based agricultural practices that enhance agro-biological diversity, productivity, efficiency, conservation of natural resources, and reduced dependency on external inputs. The objectives of CSA are to increase food production and farmers income, make agriculture less vulnerable to climate change (adaptation) and contribute to reducing GHG emissions from agriculture (mitigation). CSA can be practiced in different ways depending on the socio-economic conditions, and it integrates various disciplines in an ecosystem approach to promote food and nutritional security, and adaptation to climate change.

The target groups for this project are primarily subsistence farmers and pastoralists in the semi arid rural parts of Ethiopia and Sudan. Special emphasis is given to female headed households. In addition university lecturers, technical assistants and administrative workers would benefit through long and short term training.

Strengthening research based policy making on natural resource management

The project will develop CSA technologies and CSA farms in vulnerable regions of Ethiopia and Sudan. The CSA farms will focus on integrating promising CSA technologies and creating synergies between the different technologies. These technologies include improved crop varieties and land management, improved soil fertility management, integrated pest and weed management, agroforestry and improved livestock systems. These CSA farms will also serve as research and training sites for students from the universities, and be used as demonstration sites. Gender equality and the promotion of female farmers is a core activity of the project.

The research will be conducted in a multidisciplinary and systemic manner to address the diverse natural, social and economic problems faced by small holders in the project areas. The research approach is based on empowerment, participation and access to research results by marginalized groups, including female farmers.

Project sites in Ethiopia are linked to Hawassa University in the South and Mekelle University in the North.  In the Sudan research sites will be selected from the Demokeya and Dameera areas. The selected sites represent semi-arid conditions with high level of vulnerability to climate change and food, nutritional and income insecurity.

Institutional development for climate smart solutions

The project activities include training academic staff at the partner institutions to obtain Master and PhD degrees, and field based research which actively collaborates with local farmers. To foster institutional development in terms of research capacity, 10 academic staff from Ethiopia and Sudan, and staff from Norway will take part in academic exchange. The faculty from Norway will engage in curriculum development and review, seminar and graduate course offering, and joint supervision of graduate students. Academic staff from Ethiopia and Sudan will also travel to Norway for academic training and research involving laboratory equipment that is not available in their home countries. They will also engage in joint research and student supervision, literature review and joint publication while in Norway A CSA network will be established to ensure continuous knowledge sharing. This involves the establishment of a freely accessible CSA website, where important information on project activities and findings are made available for partners and the general public. The website will also serve as platform to exchange ideas among project partners.

Key goals and achievements

Overall goal

The objectives of the project are to improve the livelihoods and income of rural people in parts of Ethiopia and Sudan through:

1. More and better qualified university graduates and research relevant to the needs of the Horn of Africa
2. Increased capacity to deliver relevant and high quality research in Ethiopia and Sudan
3. Institutional strengthening in terms of infrastructure, policies and governance systems at universities in Ethiopia and Sudan
4. Enhanced gender equity in rural communities