News & Blogs

By Torben Timmermann for CCAFSJune 18, 2012“Re-greening of dry lands is not expensive and it is not technically difficult. In fact it is being done and it is fundamental to make smallholder farmers more productive, profitable and more resilient”. Continue Reading

By 2030, global food needs will grow by 50 per cent, water by 30 per cent and energy demand by 45 per cent, claiming more productive land.But every year, 12 million hectares of land is lost through desertification and drought alone. This is an area half the size of United Kingdom and could produce 20 million tonnes of grain per year. Globally, about 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil is lost forever each year. Overall, about 1.5 billion people live off degrading land, of whom 74 per cent are the poor. Continue Reading

Farmers are finding that restoring soils with trees boosts crops in a region where drought has caused successive food crisesClick here to read more. Continue Reading

Combined with carbon sequestration programs and forest preservation, the approach of integrating climate resilient investments within farming is part of a growing suite of policies and practices known as Climate Smart Agriculture.The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has defined Climate Smart Agriculture as “agriculture that sustainably increases productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes greenhouse gases (mitigation) while enhancing the achievement of national food security and development goals.” Continue Reading

The uncertainties in rainfall patterns in Ghana, and for that matter the Upper East Region, has negatively affected general agricultural activities over the years, resulting in poor food production and poor livestock keeping.The situation has been further aggravated, as farmers and the general public continue to fell trees and set bushes on fire indiscriminately. This, they do without considering the devastating effects of their activities on the environment and general agricultural activities. Continue Reading

The United Nations climate meetings in Bonn have now come to an end. On agriculture, there was much fruitful discussion and trust-building among parties. A contact group on agriculture met several times to share views informally. However, no formal decision on what the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) should recommend to the Conference of Parties (COP) on agriculture was made. Delegates chose to continue to exchange views on issues relating to agriculture (PDF) during COP18 in Qatar later this year. Continue Reading