English

The South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA) is a platform for global change information transfer from research to policy and decision makers. The SARVA program provides a centralised repository for global change research (www.rvatlas.org.za) as well as a collection of integration and awareness tools aimed at improving evidence-based decision-making concerning global change. The current focus of the Atlas is on the country, regions and localities of South Africa. However investigations are being carried out to assess expansion opportunities into other parts of the region.

An advert to engage a wheat consultant in southern Africa

This document is a National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) for Namibia. It presents information about the main expected impacts of climate change and, those most vulnerable to climate change. The document also proposes objectives that the Government of Namibia will aim to achieve through an effective and efficient response to climate change. This policy was developed based on information obtained from prior climate change related studies that were undertaken for the First Namibia National Communication (FNC) to UNFCCC as well as that used to prepare the Namibia’s Second National Communication (SNC) and the assessment of financial and economic flows. Lastly but not least, input from various stakeholders have been incorporated.

In the light of the seasonal outlook as produced by the South African Weather Service (SAWS), the following advisory guidelines are suggested. It is emphasized that these advisories are broad guidelines and should be interpreted considering the local aspects of the region such as soil types, cultural preferences and farming systems. Depending on the particular region, the prioritization of the guidelines will differ. The basic strategy to follow would be to minimize and diversify risk, optimize soil water availability and to manage the renewable resources (rain water and grazing) to uphold sound farming objectives. Long-term mitigation strategies should be considered by implementing techniques to enhance in-field water harvesting by reducing run-off and improving infiltration. Reduced tillage methods are very important in this regard, as is basin tillage, to capture rainwater in the drier areas. The provinces should further simplify, downscale and package the information according to their language preference and if possible use local media and farmers’ days to disseminate the information. Users are advised to be on the look-out and act on the daily extreme weather warnings as well as the monthly advisory.

Namibia, being a semi-arid country could potentially increase food security at a household level through conservation agriculture. Hence, there is a need for mind shifting among subsistence farmers from conventional farming to Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices such as CA. Climate Smart Agriculture entails technologies aiming at transforming and reorienting agricultural systems into a sustainable agricultural efficiency in support of food security under climate change mitigating interventions. CSA is not only about new farming technologies, but a combination of traditional indigenous knowledge with common agricultural practices and appropriate agricultural technological developments. In addition, CA tend to be successful when combined with other climate smart strategies such as the use of drought tolerant and short maturing crops varieties. The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF) of the Republic of Namibia strives towards attaining food security at both household and national levels through the deployment of efficient and sustainable food production practices. For this reason, MAWF had launched a Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture Programme for Namibia (2015-2019) in an attempt to educate and support subsistence crop farmers on new farming interventions aiming at addressing problems of food insecurity and mitigating the effects of climate change.

The evidence for global climate change, largely as a result of human activities that produce greenhouse gas emissions, is overwhelming. There is rapidly growing consensus among global climate model projections regarding the nature and extent of the change. The main climate change consequences related to water resources are increases in temperature, shifts in precipitation patterns, an increase in the frequency of flooding and droughts and, in the coastal areas, sea-level rise. While the temperature signal produced by climate change is relatively clear, the precipitation signal is mostly still dominated by natural climate variability, as opposed to anthropogenic drivers of change. This could very well remain the case for the next decade or so, especially at the river catchment scale. With hydrological variability further amplified in response to variable rainfall; the small ‘signal’ amid the large level of ‘noise’ will make it difficult to detect hydrological and water resource impacts with any degree of confidence, thus adding to the challenge of planning appropriate watersector responses to climate change.

This resource is a regional report giving a general status of how agricultural information is being communicated in the region. It synthesizes reports which were developed by 12 SADC member states. The status is an attempt to inform development initiatives which are meant to support agricultural information communication and knowledge management in the region.

In Lesotho, FAO is distributing a series of illustrated guides, in English and Sesotho, to encourage and facilitate the construction of homestead gardens. The gardens are easily built using locally available material and are specially designed to improve soil fertility and capture moisture. With minimum maintenance, they can provide vegetables all year round.

This report assesses trends in investments, human resource capacity, and outputs in agricultural research in SSA, excluding the private (for-profit) sector. The analysis uses information collected by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI)—led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) within the portfolio of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). The comprehensive datasets were derived from primary surveys, collected through a series of consecutive data collection rounds; a small number of secondary sources, where survey data were missing or of poor quality; and ASTI’s older investment and human resource datasets. This report highlights the cross-cutting trends and challenges that emerged from the country-level data, structuring it within four broad areas: funding capacity, human resource capacity, research outputs, and institutional conditions—all in terms of whether they support or impede the effective and efficient conduct of agricultural research. This report concludes with a set of policy recommendations for regional and national-level decision makers, and other stakeholders.

This resource is a request for proposals to carry out an external audit for CCARDESA secretariat for the period of three years starting from 2017.