Promoting Investment in Climate-Smart Agriculture Through Innovative Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), in partnership with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, through the SADC Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural Areas in Southern Africa (ACCRA), and CARE International is hosting a side event at the 5th Global International Conference on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Bali, Indonesia.
The above organisations are implementing initiatives aimed at providing regional evidence of successful scaling approaches for CSA and have embarked on the process of presenting a case for financing the upscaling of CSA approaches. They have realised that there is a need to develop innovative approaches for preparing and communicating an investment pitch for global climate financiers – while bringing local voices to this recognised audience.
African member states have long recognised the substantial risk of climate change’s impact on regional integration, economic development, sustainable livelihoods and security. The agriculture sector in the SADC region is already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change. Therefore, strengthening regional resilience will require the transformation of food systems. Mobilising investment for scaling Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is central to supporting the necessary transformation. Investment decisions require evidence of successful scaling approaches.
Over the past two years, CCARDESA in partnership with GIZ under a project on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Rural Areas of SADC (ACCRA), has been working with SADC member states to write investment proposals to finance CSA activities in Southern Africa. Three successful proposals were written and submitted to possible donors. To highlight the steps that CCARDESA took to engage member states to develop investments proposals a poster entitled “Developing Investment proposals for scaling CSA Innovations in Southern Africa “ was presented at this CSA conference. The poster also highlighted other CCARDESA efforts and interventions such as the doubling of maize legume and production in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, the strengthening of resilience through sorghum production and the deploying of the push-pull technologies for integrated pest management in Botswana and Lesotho as well as the improved holistic rangeland management practice under the Herding for Health project implemented in Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East Africa Community and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) play a key role in mobilising climate finance. A good number of SADC countries are members to two or more of these communities. Therefore, CCARDESA works alongside them on the efforts towards mitigating the effects of climate change in the sub-continent.
