YAOUNDE, Cameroon )PAMACC News) - Stakeholders have been enjoined to reinforce adaptation policies and actions as pathways against climate change.
The call was made by environment experts at two day workshop to empower youths, women, small-scaled farmers,fath-based groups on climate adaptation policies and actions in Cameroon.
The workshop took place at the Mvolye Church Centre in Yaounde September 12-13, 2023.
Organised by the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy & Access (ACSEA), the workshop seeked to developing participants’ skills to better interact with stakeholders and decision makers therough effective communication, negotiation and advocacy techniques.
According to the CEO of ACSEA, Dr. Augustine Njamnshi, “the workshop was also to strengthen knowledge on processes and policy mechanism related to climate change adaptation at national level.”
“Faith-based organizations, small-scale farmers, youth and women groups often have a strong moral imperative to act on climate change, but they may lack the knowledge and skills to effectively advocate for climate adaptation policies and actions,” Njamnshi added.
The training centered on topics like climate change impact on food systems in Cameroon, Cameroons climate change adaptation and resilence strategies, mapping local climate change impacts and adaptation staregies, climate information and adaptive uses in Cameroon amongst others.
Climate experts say transforming lives means having the right policies in place and the enabling environment for climate investments to yield the right results.
“We need to empower the community on the issues sot hey can question and push government and non-governmental organisations, NGOs,to put in place the right policies. Community actors should be able to know, the problems their communties are facing and to see whether solutions proposed by some NGOs are not flawed” noted Eugene Nforngwa, head of programs ACSEA.
According to the World Bank,Cameroon has an opportunity to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity for a more green and resilient future for all, taking a people centered approach to climate action. The country’s poverty rate could be reduced five-fold by 2050.
Experts say climate change is impacting social and economic gains in the country and and stakeholders must get to work with the right actions to address it.
“Climate change in a reality and we are all living witnesses of its disastrous effects. The floods, landslides, droughts are affecting agriculture, water resources, health and the environment in general. It will take our collective efforts to get the right solutions to address this crisis” says Professor Amougou Joseph Armathée, director general of the National Observatory on Climate Change.
According to World Bank 2022 report,Climate change is a big threat to the country’s dependence on natural resources and agriculture for livelihoods and subsistence.
The report says under current climate conditions, about two million people live in drought-affected areas.
Tropical forests cover almost 40% of the country and provide an estimated 8 million rural people with traditional staples including food, medicines, fuel, and construction material.
“Changes in temperature, rain, and droughts are putting these populations at greater risks for increased poverty and famine.”
The socioeconomic impact of climate change shocks is hurting both the structural poor and the close to 40% of vulnerable households in Cameroon. Women, especially those living in conflict areas or indigenous groups, are more severely hit by climate change because they are accounting for 75% of workers in the informal agricultural sector and are primarily responsible for the welfare of their households and food security, the World Bank report indicates.
Experts say communities need to be trained on the climate change challenges sot hey can better step up actions to address the crisis.
“With the climate threats worsening, the National Observatory on climate change is collecting data and sharing alerts and early warning information that can help communities take the necessary measures to either prevent or adapt to the effects of climate change” says Professor Amougou.
It should be recalled that the recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report underscores the urgency for rapid, deep and sustained action on climate adaptation to ensure the world’s poorest countries are not caught off guard by worsening climate impacts.
The report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels and notes that “actions are most urgent in Africa, where accelerated effort is required to adapt to climate change to avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure.”
This seminal report offers new insights on possible pathways for policymakers, business leaders and others to ramp up their efforts to tackle the climate crisis at the scale and urgency required.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PAMACC News) - Despite the historical inadequacy of commercial banks in supporting agriculture across Africa, stakeholders are optimistic. This was a major talking point at the 2023 Sustainable Food Systems Forum (AGRF 2023) in Dar es Salaam.
Speaking at the event, Binta Touré Ndoye, a seasoned banker and AGRA’s Board Member, expressed concerns about the financial sector's hesitation to support agriculture. "Banks have not been able to effectively support agriculture on the continent, particularly due to many risks involved," she stated.
Yet, all is not bleak. Carolyne Gathinji, Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company Ltd, highlighted the success of blended finance and other pioneering models. Among them is the warehouse receipting system and the budding partnerships between telecommunication companies and banks benefiting smallholder farmers.
“The share of blended finance going into agriculture has more than doubled over the past five years,” remarked Gathinji. However, she added a caveat: “the big concern is the scale at which it is happening,” noting that many of these initiatives are localized, serving small communities across different African countries.
Blended finance is gaining traction as it fuses public and private sector funds to back ventures with societal or environmental agendas. Such projects often struggle to find private financiers exclusively. AGRA’s application of the blended finance model has notably aided small agri-businesses in weathering challenges, including climate change and calamities like COVID19.
In another progressive move, AGRA is acquainting numerous African farmers with the warehouse receipting system. This mechanism enhances the transparency and efficiency of agricultural commodity storage and trade.
On the ground, examples of effective agricultural financing abound. In Kenya, the Cash Transfer model, driven by UN Women, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Village Enterprise, and the County Government of West Pokot, stands out. Their initiative, named the Women Economic Empowerment through Climate Smart Agriculture (WEE-CSA), targets impoverished women, educating them on climate-resilient farming. Furthermore, these women are granted seed capital for agri-business ventures, and many have achieved financial stability and food security within just a year.
They are also educated about savings, where and after accumulating tangible amount; members are allowed to borrow twice their savings to scale up their agribusiness ventures. This has given women a new source of livelihoods because some have delved into poultry keeping while others are now keeping goats and sheep.
Gathinji believes that the key lies in scaling up such agricultural finance models across Africa, given their proven success. The momentum at AGRF 2023 suggests that a paradigm shift in African agricultural finance may well be on the horizon, but in small quantities.
Generally, agriculture can be a high-risk sector due to factors such as weather, pest infestations, and market volatility, and that is why many commercial banks may be hesitant to provide loans to farmers or agricultural businesses because of the uncertainty involved.
Addressing this challenge often requires a combination of financial innovations, policy reforms, and capacity-building efforts to make agricultural finance more accessible and sustainable for farmers and agribusinesses.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PAMACC News) - Despite the historical inadequacy of commercial banks in supporting agriculture across Africa, stakeholders are optimistic. This was a major talking point at the 2023 Sustainable Food Systems Forum (AGRF 2023) in Dar es Salaam.
Speaking at the event, Binta Touré Ndoye, a seasoned banker and AGRA’s Board Member, expressed concerns about the financial sector's hesitation to support agriculture. "Banks have not been able to effectively support agriculture on the continent, particularly due to many risks involved," she stated.
Yet, all is not bleak. Carolyne Gathinji, Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company Ltd, highlighted the success of blended finance and other pioneering models. Among them is the warehouse receipting system and the budding partnerships between telecommunication companies and banks benefiting smallholder farmers.
“The share of blended finance going into agriculture has more than doubled over the past five years,” remarked Gathinji. However, she added a caveat: “the big concern is the scale at which it is happening,” noting that many of these initiatives are localized, serving small communities across different African countries.
Blended finance is gaining traction as it fuses public and private sector funds to back ventures with societal or environmental agendas. Such projects often struggle to find private financiers exclusively. AGRA’s application of the blended finance model has notably aided small agri-businesses in weathering challenges, including climate change and calamities like COVID19.
In another progressive move, AGRA is acquainting numerous African farmers with the warehouse receipting system. This mechanism enhances the transparency and efficiency of agricultural commodity storage and trade.
On the ground, examples of effective agricultural financing abound. In Kenya, the Cash Transfer model, driven by UN Women, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Village Enterprise, and the County Government of West Pokot, stands out. Their initiative, named the Women Economic Empowerment through Climate Smart Agriculture (WEE-CSA), targets impoverished women, educating them on climate-resilient farming. Furthermore, these women are granted seed capital for agri-business ventures, and many have achieved financial stability and food security within just a year.
They are also educated about savings, where and after accumulating tangible amount; members are allowed to borrow twice their savings to scale up their agribusiness ventures. This has given women a new source of livelihoods because some have delved into poultry keeping while others are now keeping goats and sheep.
Gathinji believes that the key lies in scaling up such agricultural finance models across Africa, given their proven success. The momentum at AGRF 2023 suggests that a paradigm shift in African agricultural finance may well be on the horizon, but in small quantities.
Generally, agriculture can be a high-risk sector due to factors such as weather, pest infestations, and market volatility, and that is why many commercial banks may be hesitant to provide loans to farmers or agricultural businesses because of the uncertainty involved.
Addressing this challenge often requires a combination of financial innovations, policy reforms, and capacity-building efforts to make agricultural finance more accessible and sustainable for farmers and agribusinesses.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PAMACC News) - Africa's smallholder farmers have been urged to adopt technology, innovative agricultural practices, and use of kitchen gardens to ensure the affordability, availability, and accessibility of healthy diets.
Dr. Obai Khalifa, Director of Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), emphasized the pressing need for farmers to incorporate, for instance, bean varieties enriched with crucial micronutrients, orange fleshed sweet potatoes rich in beta carotene, a plant-based compound that is converted to vitamin A.
“Some of the overlooked foods such as finger millet, pearl millet, sorghum, and indigenous leafy vegetables can be innovatively used to supply affordable nutritious diets, especially for rural communities,” remarked Khalifa during a side event at the Africa Food Systems Forum (AGRF) held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Prof. Joachim von Braun, a Professor at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Germany, highlighted the importance of recognizing what constitutes a healthy diet. He defined it as a diet that not only sustains physical health but also wards off diseases.
Echoing this sentiment, Dr. Grace Magembe, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health in Tanzania, noted that many African communities are reliant on staples due to their availability. She mentioned, “Very few individuals in rural settings can afford proteins like fish, and they mainly consume what their farms produce.” She further observed the unhealthy diet trends in urban locales such as Dar es Salaam, commenting, “If you take a stroll, you will encounter French fries everywhere, usually accompanied by deep-fried chicken and a large soda.”
Magembe championed the adoption of kitchen gardens, particularly by women, as a sustainable means to offer diverse and nutritionally rich foods for their households.
Meanwhile, in Kenya, the cultivation of biofortified beans, packed with iron and zinc, is gaining traction, especially in semi-arid regions. This initiative, spearheaded by AGRA in partnership with the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) and various County Governments, aims to combat nutritional deficiencies. The target is to supply these fortified foods to students in Kenya, and also Tanzania and Malawi, through school meal programs.
Recent studies have highlighted the nutritional challenges in Kenya, revealing a significant number of children and adults suffering from deficiencies in iron, zinc, and vitamin A. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that over 25% of children, particularly those under five, experience stunted growth due to micronutrient deficiencies. UNICEF underscores the grave long-term repercussions this has, including compromised cognitive and physical development in children.
Highlighting the significance of these micronutrients, zinc is vital for a well-functioning immune system, metabolism, wound recovery, and the senses of taste and smell. Iron is crucial for the generation of new red blood cells that distribute oxygen throughout the body.
Farmers in Eastern Kenya are now producing iron and zinc-rich bean varieties like Nyota, Faida, and Angaza. These were innovatively crafted by researchers from the University of Nairobi in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO).
In another inspiring development, Makueni County farmers are reintroducing traditional crops with a modern twist to make them more appealing, especially to the younger generation. “We've initiated baking cakes for events and brown bread using sorghum flour, which has been well-received by those who have tasted them,” shared Immaculate Ngei, a smallholder farmer from Kenya’s Makueni County.
Dr. Susan Kaaria, Director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), stressed the urgency for a behavioral change, particularly among the youth, to adopt healthier dietary habits.
