Lest you did not know......

................you can enhance seed security through the FAO's crop calender. The Crop Calendar is a tool that provides timely information about seeds to promote local crop production. It contains information on planting, sowing and harvesting periods of locally adapted crops in specific agro-ecological zones. It also provides information on the sowing rates of seed and planting material and the main agricultural practices.

This tool supports farmers and agriculture extentionists across the world in taking appropriate decisions on crops and their sowing period, respecting the agro-ecological dimension. It also provides a solid base for emergency planning of the rehabilitation of farming systems after disasters.

The Crop Calendar provides information for more that 130 crops, located in 283 agro-ecological zones of 44 countries.

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Embracing irrigation for enhanced food security in Turkana

An irrigation system for food production

Irrigation is the application of water to farmland by means other than rainfall. It is usually required for growing crops in regions that receive less than 10 inches of precipitation per year and highly advisable in regions that receive only slightly more precipitation or have long dry seasons or droughts during the growing season. More than half of all the farmers in the world practice some form of irrigation.
Through this technology, it is possible for the people of Turkana to be self-reliant by producing their own food if the state as well as non-state actors changed tact and embraced it.
 The food situation in Turkana is ‘grave’ - people are dying of hunger and as much as humanitarian aid is important in saving them, let us think of allocating a portion of the millions we perennially sink into emergency relief to irrigate Turkana for enhanced food security. This could be advanced through the young people who have energy for cattle rustling. The youth can be engaged in meaningful agricultural projects to feed their communities as well as the country.
 The Turkana have been dependent on relief food for the last five decades and “nothing seems to change”. The situation even seems to be worsening every year as the drought cycles become more recurrent and severe owing to climate change.
It is regrettable that irrigation has not been fully exploited and that some schemes that started were allowed to collapse. It is also unfortunate that during the rainy season, volumes of surface water are not harvested for irrigation but left to flow to waste. Israel, which is drier than Turkana, is food sufficient and feeds the world because food security is central to its development agenda. We can do better given our natural resource base endowment.

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CTA - Brussels Office Weblog - Promoting sustainable farming practices

CTA - Brussels Office Weblog - Promoting sustainable farming practices

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FAO Media Centre: FAO-EU project to promote climate-smart farming

FAO Media Centre: FAO-EU project to promote climate-smart farming

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Rockefeller foundation on climate change, drought and agriculture

Fighting and winning the war against the effects of climate change holds the key to enhancing investments into the key sectors like the agricultural sector that could enable African states to achieve faster economic growth. Judith Rodin, the president of Rockefeller Foundation, said fighting the effects of climate change could provide an opportunity for increasing investments into the agricultural, financial and medical sectors in a way that generates economic growth. Rodin said investments that focus on tackling the social effects of climate change have the potential to change the lives of the African populations and create industries that could also help in fighting poverty across the continent. "If social investing is embraced by the continent, it could redirect enormous capital flows to the region. Most of the impact investments are above 1 million U.S. dollars and the evidence shows that potential money for investment is in the billions of U. S. dollars," Rodin told Xinhua in a recent interview in Nairobi. She said focusing on climate impact investments such as the development of drought-resistant seeds, prevention of floods and the development of anti-malarial drugs and mosquito nets could contribute to the economic development of the African continent. "Because most investors are big organizations, the industry is searching for opportunities amongst already established social enterprises. Due to the fact that Africa lacks social services, impact investment could develop to become a very large industry with big economic footprint," Rodin said. The investment programs in Africa are geared towards increasing the agricultural productivity of the farmers because most of the population is concentrated in rural areas. "Drought, which is caused by climate negatively, affects the harvests - so most of our funds are directed on farmland.

The future of pastoralism in a changing climate; adopting to climate change

Joto Afrika is a series of printed briefings and online resources about adapting to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. The series will help people understand the issues, constraints and opportunities that poor people
face in adapting to climate change and escaping poverty. More on this educative issue can be found here