Climate Change

Niger, owing to its climatic, institutional, livelihood, economic, and environmental context, is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Poverty is pervasive in Niger and it ranks low on almost all the human development indicators. Agriculture is the most important sector of Niger’s economy and accounts for over 40 percent of national gross domestic product (GDP) and is the principal source of livelihood for over 80 percent of the country’s population.

Despite uneven performance, Senegal’s agricultural sector remains vital to the national economy. It accounts for roughly one-sixth of gross domestic product (GDP) and continues to be a major source of employment. Nearly three in five Senegalese (58 percent) live in rural areas and depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood. Expanding the sector and achieving food self-sufficiency is one of the core pillars of the country’s economic development strategy, plan Senegal emergent.

This note examines agricultural risk in Mozambique and its impacts on crop production between 1992 and 2015. It summarizes the findings of an agricultural risk and solutions assessment carried out in 2013 and 2014 to prioritize risks based on their frequency and severity of impact, and to identify any areas of Mozambique’s existing agricultural risk management framework that can be improved. These findings led to a number of practical recommendations that can usefully inform strategic planning and policy formulation relating to risk in the country. 

Climate change is becoming a source of significant additional risks for agriculture and food systems. Climate projections suggest that impacts will include shifting average growing conditions, increase climate and weather variability, and more uncertainty in predicting tomorrow’s climate and weather conditions. Agricultural risk management (ARM) is ideally placed to support stakeholders in building resilience to these increased risks in short and medium term.

A climate change risk assessment must consider at least three areas: the future pathway of global emissions; the direct risks arising from the climate’s response to those emissions; and the risks arising from the interaction of climate change with complex human systems. Each of these areas contains large uncertainties. From our assessment, we draw the following conclusions about the most significant risks.

According to the most recent IPCC report, changes in climates over the last 30 years have already reduced global agricultural production in the range 1-5 % per decade globally, with particularly negative effects for tropical cereal crops such as maize and rice (Porter et al., 2014). In addition, there is now mounting evidence suggesting that even at low (+2 ºC) levels of warming, agricultural productivity is likely to decline across the globe, but particularly across tropical areas (Challinor et al., 2014).

Ongoing investments in agriculture will not deliver for Africa until the destabilising nature of crop pest events, especially shock outbreak events, are addressed. As a result of climate change, the prevalence of crop pests will change and the frequency of shock pest events will increase, putting agricultural systems at risk. The granularity of these changes, in terms of choices by farmers, cropping systems and markets, presents a critical challenge.

A scoping study to assess demand, opportunities and potential for the use of interactive radio to deliver climate services at scale for farmers and pastoralists was conducted by CCAFS in partnership with Farm Radio International in Tanzania, and Farm Radio Trust in Malawi in late 2014. Over 1280 individuals were interviewed in an audience research activity, while a desk survey, key informant interviews and knowledge partner engagement activities were undertaken to validate audience research and assess the wider context.

Nearly a quarter of damages wrought by natural disasters on the developing world are borne by the agricultural sector according to initial results from a new FAO study released at the 2015 UN World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction. Twenty-two percent of all damages inflicted by natural hazards such as drought, floods storms or tsunamis are registered within the agriculture sector, FAO's analysis of 78 post-disaster needs assessments in 48 developing countries spanning the 2003-2013 period shows. These damages and losses are often incurred by poor

Document: 

FAOa-i4434e.pdf

There is a growing consensus among development community that the risk insurance can provide an effective risk management tool for mitigating the impacts of climatic and non-climatic disasters. Several risk insurance initiatives have been implemented at grassroots level for reducing the vulnerability of communities to disasters in most of the countries in Asia and the Pacific over the years.

Document: 

promoting-risk-financing-asia-pacific-lessons-agri-insurance_0.pdf