Water Efficient Seeds?

Hello!

I thought I'd share another aspect largely promoted under climate-smart agriculture: the use of hybrid seeds, such as water-efficient maize:

Major agribusiness companies such as Syngenta and Monsanto 
have been promoting their genetically modified seeds 
to combat food insecurity

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) is a project undertaken by Monsanto, using a patented maize (corn) hybrid approved for commercial release in Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa. The hybrid aims at resisting drought and insects, thus allowing African small-holders to be resilient against weather shocks. The project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), who qualify climate change as a major challenge to smallholders in Sub-Saharan Africa, who ''have little resources to effectively manage''. But what resources do farmers need to become self-sufficient and resilient?

For whom is it a ''smart'' solution?

''Improving Lives in Africa'' - The Monsanto video campaign for WEMA

Projects such as WEMA and its successors- Drought-Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Stress-Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA), give rise to social movements and debates on food sovereignty, land grabbing. The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACBio) campaigns against the proliferation of GM breeds and hybrids in Africa, claiming that they are neither the solution in the fight against hunger nor climate change.

Cartoon by ACBio against the import of Monsanto's GM maize in South Africa
(the continent's largest producer of maize) during a period of drought in 2015.

Watch the FAO's video campaign for CSA

The FAO's youtube video campaign for CSA highlights the importance of building the resilience of ''the men and women who produce our food'' -- Yes, perhaps smallholders are most vulnerable to climate-change and holistic, innovative farming techniques are required. However, the video does not mention industrial agriculture (the main cause of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions) and focuses solely on small-holder farmers. 

Is the rest of the world-- major agribusinesses using intergovernmental organizations as vehicles-- imposing on African small-holders a Green Revolution in order to meet future increasing commodity supplies? Is rapid agricultural productivity growth the solution to unlock smallholders out of subsistence and drive ''the natural progress of opulence into industry and services''? (Lipton, 2012). 

Denouncers of climate-smart agriculture (see BioWatch, ACBio, Green Social Thought) claim that with the pretext of helping smallholders to combat climate change, ''under the guise of philanthropy'', TNCs such as Syngenta and Monsanto seek to establish a private sector-driven seed industry in Africa; ''hybrid seeds are capturing African markets at a rapid pace and represent an average of 57% of maize seed grown on the continent'' (Abate et al., 2017). 

''Using the language and even some of the methods of ecological agriculture, 
climate-smart agriculture provides a veneer of sustainability for interventions 
that continue to promote industrial agribusiness products and technologies” - BioWatch South Africa

To what extent are hybrids effective in alleviating climate impacts and water shortages?

Let’s take look at the introduction of maize hybrids in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa. Malawi suffers from dry spells which can occasionally impact the rainfall season. The smallest water deficits can lead to significant crop yield losses, especially when they take place during the flowering stage of the main staple, maize (which is grown over 70% of arable land). Irrigation is limited to larger farming operations, with 97% of agriculture depending on rainfall. The agricultural sector supports three-quarters of the population and is comprised predominantly of export-oriented large-scale estates while smallholders concentrate on food crops on plots generally smaller than a hectare (Harrison, 2016). Due to poor government management, lack of rainfall, rising fertilizer prices, food insecurity was rampant for many years and the 2004-2005 season was the worst in a decade, with losses of 24% in maize production.

The national agricultural input subsidy program (AISP) was established in 2005 to promote food security, providing subsidies to enable family farmers’ access to fertilizers and hybrid maize seeds, a promise of resilience against water shortages. The AISP increased total maize production and was praised as a proactive policy allowing to achieve food security. However, the effectiveness of the program has come under scrutiny over the last years. The majority of the population in Malawi is still poor and rural, with an estimated 42% of rural households experiencing food insecurity (Graeub et al., 2016). The increasing wealth gap is raising concerns about inclusive agricultural policies and the questionable fact that the AISP ‘’preferentially benefits better-off farming households, who received more coupons, applied more fertilizer and had more significant changes in food security than poor households’’ (Graeub et al., 2016). Researchers claim that ''the Malawian production miracle appears, in part, to be a myth'' with discrepancies between the maize output estimates distributed by the FAO, the Malawi Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the National Statistical Office of Malawi, as well as fluctuating maize prices, which indicate supplies falling short of estimates (Messina et al., 2017). 

In terms of the agroecological sustainability of the programme, an OECD study raises concerns over the impact of inorganic fertilizers on water courses, fauna and soil health. 

To conclude on ''climate-smart'' initiatives, I think that the need to increase food production in African countries is connected to the need of tackling rural poverty. Long-term resilience and sustainability should not be compromised by short-term gains with reliance on external inputs potentially damaging to soil health, water streams, agrobiodiversity, and farmer's sovereignty. If agricultural development is considered essential for human development, I concur with Graeub et al that future research (and policies) must include a deeper understanding and assessment of family farmers’ contribution to food security. 

Climate-Smart Agriculture

Hello ! Over the past month that I've been on Twitter, I've seen the concept of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) come up extensively: 

Climate-Smart promotes the use of technology, such as Big Data 
to increase farmer's adaptive capacities to climate change

What’s Climate-Smart agriculture? 

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a concept coined by the FAO in 2010 as an ''approach for transforming and reorienting agricultural systems to support food security under the new realities of climate change''. The African Development Bank, in Facilitating Green Growth (2012) highlights that successful development will ensure that ''progress is sustainable, reconciling short-term and long-term needs'' with no mention of climate-smart agriculture. The concept is mentioned, however, in a 2014 report: Inclusive Growth - an Imperative for African Agriculture, in the section on climate change (p. 34) ''[...] improved efficiency in the use of natural resources such as land and water, and providing incentives for farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices''. 

Why climate smart?

1. Sub-Saharan Africa currently holds the highest fertility rates and youngest populations. It is estimated that Africa's population will increase to over 1.6 billion by 2030 and that by 2050 food production will need to increase by 70% to meet the demand of urban populations alone (AfDB, 2012). Urbanization is going to increase, accompanied by rising energy, water, and raw material demands. Land-cover and land-use changes (affecting soil properties) are likely to increase with population and may become a limiting factor of groundwater recharge (Carter and Parker, 2009).
   
2. The agriculture and water sectors are highly vulnerable to climate change. River flows and groundwater recharge are likely to be impacted, with, generally, wet regions projected to get wetter and dry regions to get drier (The Royal Society, 2017). Changes in mean annual rainfall, as well as in its temporal and spatial distribution, are estimated to affect the water balance as a whole and groundwater recharge in particular (Carter and Parker, 2009) and further amplify water stress. Increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation are very likely to reduce cereal crop productivity, which can strongly undermine food security (IPCC AR5, WGII, chap 22).
   
3. Hunger and malnutrition affect an important percentage of African populations and many countries are reliant on food imports, estimated at around $30 billion annually (AfDB, 2014). Land degradation and low productivity are major threats, arising from low-input use, lack of water storage capacities, irrigation, and others factors, leading to declining rural incomes and affecting livelihoods (AfDB, 2014).
   
4. Extreme weather events are likely to exacerbate vulnerabilities and impose new risks. Extreme floods in Mozambique or the 2011 famine crisis in the Horn of Africa illustrate the dangers of weather- and climate-related disasters (AfDB, 2014).

Applications

Sustainable intensification is a mitigation and adaptation measure, reconciling productivity and resilience against land degradation and desertification. It focuses on conserving and enhancing natural resources using an ecosystem approach to agriculture while increasing yields without further expansion of land. 

While irrigation is largely discussed as a means to increase agricultural productivity, enabling dry season farming, in the context of CSA, increasing water efficiency is a key factor for increasing production, adapting to climate change and reducing emissions. With intensifying droughts and warming, farmers will favor more efficient irrigation technologies that reduce evaporation losses. One example is deficit irrigation, a strategy to save water in areas experiencing water shortage and periods of droughts so as to maximize water productivity, allowing ''water stress during a certain cropping stage or the whole season without a significant reduction in yield'' (Banjaw, et al., 2017).Smallholders can optimize the quantities of water and nutrients needed by applying inputs directly to plants at precise times using drip or micro-irrigation systems, for instance. 

A landscape approach to land-use, which integrates all sectors affected by climate change (agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and supporting ecosystem services) is ''crucial for sustainable development''. Bottom-up, community-led approaches are promoted to ensure local ownership over landscape management, however, these can only succeed with enabling policies. Take a look at these climate-smart family farms:

Applying Climate-Smart techniques to small-holder farms: click here to watch

CSA also promotes peer learning as ''an effective way to disseminate CSA knowledge [...] together with collective action, it can lead to the effective adoption of CSA practices'' (Acosta et al., 2017).

The CIAT is part of CGIAR, the world’s largest partnership of agricultural

research-for-development organizations heavily promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture 

Let's take the example of CSA application in Ethiopia: 

The country is already undertaking climate actions to lower GHG emissions from its large agricultural sector, seeking to maximize synergies between adaptation and mitigation. The country has tapped international funds under the Climate Resilient Green Economy framework in an integrated approach to a low carbon economy rooted in sustainable agricultural intensification, by adopting implementation plans with tangible targets (Negra et al., 2014). The country initiated innovative participatory watershed development programs. It has also set up partnerships with international donors to enforce food security programs, benefiting smallholder farmers. A Rural Household Survey revealed the contribution of community-level registration policy and the reform of national legislation, which has allowed women empowerment (through improved access to land and livestock) resulting in shifts in land ownership with tangible results (Negra et al., 2014). 

CSA policies at the national level must be matched by commitments made under multilateral agreements such as the UNFCCC, trade agreements and international donors pledges which clearly promote poverty reduction, as indicated in SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms and everywhere.