International Policy Research Organisations

This new pamphlet describes CCARDESA's mandate and activities in strengthening the exchange of information, better communication and Knowledge Management through its new ICKM System for Southern Africa.

This resource is a flyer explaining the SADC Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural areas in Southern Africa (ACCRA) programme which is being implemented by GIZ and CCARDESA with financial support from the German Government (BMZ)

Presentation by CIMMYT gives an insight into activities and pilot sites for climate proofing of the maize value chain.

Presentation by CIMMYT held during the donor consultation and investment proposal development meeting, September 2018 in Lilongwe, Malawi.

The presentation provides information about the project's progress: what is climate-smart agriculture, the project's aim, sites, partners, activities conducted.

Presentation by Munyaradzi during the donor consultation and investment proposal development meeting, September 2018 in Lilongwe, Malawi.

The results of the vulnerability assessment for out scaling climate-smart technologies to smallholder farmers in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe are shown, including assessment of risks in the three countries and adaptation strategies.

During the donor consultation and investment proposal development meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi, several adaptation strategies for out-scaling climate-smart technologies to smallholder farmers were identified and prioritized.

The measurements were validated and on in-country and regional level ranked.

Presentation of the launch of the strengthened CARDESA ICKM System at 2018 High-level Policy Dialogue in Maputo. It highlights the new aspects of the Information, Communication and Knowledge Management System implemented by CCARDESA.

Under the project "Out-scaling climate-smart technologies to smallholder farmers in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe" stakeholders aim to evaluate the impact of a changing climate on current farming systems and identify appropriate adaptation measures. This reports summarizes the process and outcomes of a two-staged process to identify and prioritize adaptation strategies designed to reduce the impact of climate change on smallholder farmers.

Meetings were held in-country (Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) and in a regional workshop in Lusaka, Zambia to prioritize these technologies. With the exception of Zimbabwe, the meetings were well attended and went through a defined process to identify the technologies.

In both in-country meetings and the regional workshop the participants prioritized a range of options that were common. These were:

 Diversification (rotation and intercropping strategies)

 the use of drought-tolerant varieties

 Different forms of conservation agriculture seeding (ripping, direct seeding and basin planting)

 the use of organic manure

 Staggered planting

 Soil and water conservation

Irrigation and improved climate information services were often mentioned but the capital investments needed as well as the lack of infrastructure make this currently very challenging. This would require Governmental will to advance in the future.

The information gathered will inform the formulation of a feasibility study to be used as a base for developing a larger investment proposal for funding climate-smart agriculture in the region

The Rapid Loss Appraisal Tool for Agricultural Value Chains (RLAT) was developed in Ghana in 2015 with the sup-port of the GIZ Sector Project "Sustainable Agriculture" (NAREN) and the GIZ program for Market Orientated Ag-riculture (MOFA/Ghana). Its main objective is to identify critical loss points in smallholder agricultural value chains by using a quick and participatory methodology.

The tool was further tested and adapted for socio-economic and agricultural patterns in Southern Africa. The SADC Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), sup-ported by the two German funded projects NAREN and ACCRA, launched a regional call for proposals for the implementation of RLAT in Southern Africa (Annex A). Seven institutions from five different countries, namely South Africa, eSwatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe applied and the South African Agricultural Research Coun-cil/Grain Crops Institute in Potchefstroom (ARC) was awarded for the piloting of RLAT. The Agricultural Research Council organized the training in Potchefstroom, which was attended by participants from Tanzania and Zimba-bwe whose applications to facilitate the processwere scored 2nd and 3rd best respectively, and was subsequently followed with a field appraisal in the Eastern Cape Province.

The main objectives of the SADC/South Africa pilot mission were

1. To train potential users from SADC member states in the application of RLAT in the maize value chain.

2. To adapt and pilot RLAT methodology in South Africa.

Final report of the 'Climate Finance and Proposal Writing Training' which took place in December 2018 in Gaborone, Botswana.