The SmartAG Partner: CCAFS East Africa Quarterly Newsletter, April - June 2014

CCAFS. 2014. The SmartAG partner: CCAFS East Africa quarterly newsletter, April – June 2014. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

We share with you program updates on climate change, agriculture and food security matters based on our work and that of partners. As world leaders look forward to the September 2014 UN Climate Summit that is part of a global effort to mobilize action and ambition on climate change, 26 African countries are participating in a voluntary climate-smart agriculture (CSA) alliance for Africa. Read about the objectives of the alliance in our first article. Also, follow a report back from an official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Subsidiary Bodies 40 (SB40) side event by CCAFS and partners which explored Africa’s readiness to advance CSA. Loss and damage in African countries has left communities facing acute food security problems as current coping strategies are inadequate. Read more from a recent study by CCAFS, the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Mozambique. From Ethiopia – CCAFS study sites - researchers have found that genetic erosion threatens resilience of the Ethiopian Boran cattle. Read on to review this problem and some of the recommendations under the science section. A separate article presents promising findings following on farm potato trials led by the International Potato Centre (CIP). This project will deliver better potato varieties for farmers in Northern Tanzania. Under field updates, find out how a climate-smart farm looks like - we profile farmers (including women) from the Nyando climate-smart villages. Finally, read our analysis that shows gender differences in how farmers are adopting climate-smart practices and strategies.