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In Ethiopia, regional and local representatives endorse national framework on climate services

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in News.

In Ethiopia, regional government representatives endorsed in October 2023 the National Framework on Climate Services (NFCS), a tool designed to guide the establishment and delivery of climate services in key sectors: water and energy, agriculture, health, disaster risk management, and environmental protection.

This endorsement by regional state representatives marks an important step towards the implementation at regional and zonal levels of the NFCS, which was adopted at the national level in 2020.

Participants of the two-day workshop organized by the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute in partnership with CIMMYT (Photo: CIMMYT).

The adoption of the Framework concluded a two-day workshop organized by the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute in partnership with CIMMYT through the AICCRA project, which aims to scale climate-smart agriculture and climate information services for the benefit of millions of small-scale farmers in Ethiopia. The workshop was also attended by ministers, state ministers and heads of federal offices from the sectors affected by climate change.

Responding and adapting to climate change requires that all affected sectors cooperate and collaborate, stressed Fetene Teshome, General Manager of the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute, in his opening remarks. Experts and regional and local representatives should come together to establish a system that can gather quality information and disseminate it to its users, he added.

“We can’t tackle climate change easily, so we have to find ways to live with it and use it to our benefit,” said Habtamu Itefa, minister of water and energy. He urged the workshop participants to approach the NFCS as a system designed to outlive governments and called them to play an essential role in its implementation in their respective regions, zones, districts and kebeles (sub-districts).

“Climate services will bring meaningful changes in agriculture”

Among the sectors most affected by climate change, agriculture accounts for about 40% of the GDP and employs more than 80% of the population, making it the backbone of the Ethiopian economy. It is thus crucial to address climate change impacts on the sector.

CIMMYT Senior Scientist, Kindie Tesfaye, explained how the AICCRA project works to enhance access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in six African countries, including Ethiopia. As a stakeholder of the project, CIMMYT is training farmers, development agents, and local agricultural experts, and other agricultural value chain actors on the use of climate advisory services in collaboration with LERSHA, a digital platform providing farmers with contextualized weather forecast, inputs, mechanization and financial advisory services.

“We consider climate as a major problem for the country’s agricultural activities because the sector is heavily dependent on rain-fed production system and we believe that implementing this national framework on climate services will bring meaningful changes to the sector enabling it to manage climate risks successfully,” said Kindie Tesfaye.

The AICCRA project supported strengthening the function of the NFCS coordination team for multi- stakeholder engagement, supporting the endorsement of the framework and providing training on resource mobilization for its implementation. The project is also building capacity at different levels, promoting climate smart agriculture.

Productive in-depth discussions

Prior to the NFCS endorsement, participants shared inputs from their respective regions and sectors, providing inputs to the framework. Delegates mostly discussed capacity building needs, information delivery channels, synergetic cooperation among government institutions and mobilization of resources for implementation.

Signing of the endorsement between the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute and representatives of the regional states (Photo: CIMMYT).

On the second day of the workshop, four different papers were presented on a seasonal climate update for the 2023 Bega season (October to December), on the impacts outlook for the upcoming Bega season, on the national state of the climate, and on climate risk management in agriculture extension.

The plenary discussion that followed was led by Fetene Teshome and offered an opportunity to the participants to raise their concerns on the implementation of the framework in their respective regional states. Many of the participants reflected on how the framework can accommodate the different ecology of various areas and how it can upgrade or replace dysfunctional meteorology infrastructures.

The Climate Risk Curriculum module that was prepared by AICCRA for agricultural extension workers was also launched during the workshop.

 

New Publications: Cropping pattern zonation of Pakistan

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Publications. 1 Comment on New Publications: Cropping pattern zonation of Pakistan

The tremendous diversity of crops in Pakistan has been documented in a new publication that will foster more effective and targeted policies for national agriculture.

Using official records and geospatial modeling to describe the location, extent, and management of 25 major and minor crops grown in 144 districts of Pakistan, the publication “Cropping Pattern Zonation of Pakistan” offers an invaluable tool for resource planning and policymaking to address opportunities, challenges and risks for farm productivity and profitability, according to Muhammad Imtiaz, crop scientist and country representative in Pakistan for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“With rising temperatures, more erratic rainfall and frequent weather extremes, cropping pattern decisions are of the utmost importance for risk mitigation and adaptation,” said Imtiaz, a co-author of the new publication.

Featuring full-color maps for Pakistan’s two main agricultural seasons, based on area sown to individual crops, the publication was put together by CIMMYT and the Climate, Energy and Water Research Institute (CEWRI) of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), with technical and financial support from the Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Pakistan’s main crops–wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane—account for nearly three-quarters of national crop production. Various food and non-food crops are grown in “Rabi,” the dry winter season, October-March, and “Kharif,” the summer season characterized by high temperatures and monsoon rains.

Typically, more than one crop is grown in succession on a single field each year; however, despite its intensity, farming in Pakistan is largely traditional or subsistence agriculture dominated by the food grains, according to Ms. Rozina Naz, Principal Scientific Officer, CEWRI-PARC.

“Farmers face increasing aridity and unpredictable weather conditions and energy shortage challenges that impact on their decisions regarding the type and extent of crops to grow,” said the scientist, who is involved in executing the whole study. “Crop pattern zoning is a pre-requisite for the best use of land, water and capital resources.”

The study used 5 years (2013-14 to 2017-18) of data from the Department of Agricultural Statistics, Economics Wing, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Islamabad. “We greatly appreciate the contributions of scientists and technical experts of Crop Science Institute (CSI) and CIMMYT,” Imtiaz added.

View or download the publication:
Cropping Pattern Zonation of Pakistan. Climate, Energy and Water Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. 2020. CDMX: CEWRI, PARC, and CIMMYT.

See more recent publications from CIMMYT researchers:

1. Plant community strategies responses to recent eruptions of Popocatépetl volcano, Mexico. 2019. Barba‐Escoto, L., Ponce-Mendoza, A., García-Romero, A., Calvillo-Medina, R.P. In: Journal of Vegetation Science v. 30, no. 2, pag. 375-385.

2. New QTL for resistance to Puccinia polysora Underw in maize. 2019. Ce Deng, Huimin Li, Zhimin Li, Zhiqiang Tian, Jiafa Chen, Gengshen Chen, Zhang, X, Junqiang Ding, Yuxiao Chang In: Journal of Applied Genetics v. 60, no. 2, pag. 147-150.

3. Hybrid wheat: past, present and future. 2019. Pushpendra Kumar Gupta, Balyan, H.S., Vijay Gahlaut, Pal, B., Basnet, B.R., Joshi, A.K. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 9, pag. 2463-2483.

4. Influence of tillage, fertiliser regime and weeding frequency on germinable weed seed bank in a subhumid environment in Zimbabwe. 2019. Mashavakure, N., Mashingaidze, A.B., Musundire, R., Gandiwa, E., Thierfelder, C., Muposhi, V.K., Svotwa, E.In: South African Journal of Plant and Soil v. 36, no. 5, pag. 319-327.

5.  Identification and mapping of two adult plant leaf rust resistance genes in durum. 2019. Caixia Lan, Zhikang Li, Herrera-Foessel, S., Huerta-Espino, J., Basnet, B.R., In: Molecular Breeding v. 39, no. 8, art. 118.

6. Genetic mapping reveals large-effect QTL for anther extrusion in CIMMYT spring wheat. 2019. Muqaddasi, Q.H., Reif, J.C., Roder, M.S., Basnet, B.R., Dreisigacker, S. In: Agronomy v. 9 no. 7, art. 407.

7. Growth analysis of brachiariagrasses and ‘tifton 85’ bermudagrass as affected by harvest interval. 2019. Silva, V. J. da., Faria, A.F.G., Pequeno, D.N.L., Silva, L.S., Sollenberger, L.E., Pedreira, C. G. S. In: Crop Science v. 59, no. 4, pag. 1808-1814.

8. Simultaneous biofortification of wheat with zinc, iodine, selenium, and iron through foliar treatment of a micronutrient cocktail in six countries. 2019. Chunqin Zou, Yunfei Du, Rashid, A., Ram, H., Savasli, E., Pieterse, P.J., Ortiz-Monasterio, I., Yazici, A., Kaur, C., Mahmood, K., Singh, S., Le Roux, M.R., Kuang, W., Onder, O., Kalayci, M., Cakmak, I. In: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry v. 67, no. 29, pag. 8096-8106.

9. Economic impact of maize stem borer (Chilo partellus) attack on livelihood of maize farmers in Pakistan. 2019. Ali, A., Issa, A.B. In: Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology v. 7, no. 2, pag. 311-319.

10. How much does climate change add to the challenge of feeding the planet this century?. 2019. Aggarwal, P.K., Vyas, S., Thornton, P.K., Campbell, B.M. In: Environmental Research Letters v. 14 no. 4, art. 043001.

11. A breeding strategy targeting the secondary gene pool of bread wheat: introgression from a synthetic hexaploid wheat. 2019. Ming Hao, Lianquan Zhang, Laibin Zhao, Shoufen Dai, Aili Li, Wuyun Yang, Die Xie, Qingcheng Li, Shunzong Ning, Zehong Yan, Bihua Wu, Xiujin Lan, Zhongwei Yuan, Lin Huang, Jirui Wang, Ke Zheng, Wenshuai Chen, Ma Yu, Xuejiao Chen, Mengping Chen, Yuming Wei, Huaigang Zhang, Kishii, M, Hawkesford, M.J, Long Mao, Youliang Zheng, Dengcai Liu In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 8, pag. 2285-2294.

12. Sexual reproduction of Zymoseptoria tritici on durum wheat in Tunisia revealed by presence of airborne inoculum, fruiting bodies and high levels of genetic diversity. 2019. Hassine, M., Siah, A., Hellin, P., Cadalen, T., Halama, P., Hilbert, J.L., Hamada, W., Baraket, M., Yahyaoui, A.H., Legreve, A., Duvivier, M. In: Fungal Biology v. 123, no. 10, pag. 763-772.

13. Influence of variety and nitrogen fertilizer on productivity and trait association of malting barley. 2019. Kassie, M., Fantaye, K. T. In: Journal of Plant Nutrition v. 42, no. 10, pag. 1254-1267.

14. A robust Bayesian genome-based median regression model. 2019. Montesinos-Lopez, A., Montesinos-Lopez, O.A., Villa-Diharce, E.R., Gianola, D., Crossa, J. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 5, pag. 1587-1606.

15. High-throughput phenotyping platforms enhance genomic selection for wheat grain yield across populations and cycles in early stage. 2019. Jin Sun, Poland, J.A., Mondal, S., Crossa, J., Juliana, P., Singh, R.P., Rutkoski, J., Jannink, J.L., Crespo-Herrera, L.A., Velu, G., Huerta-Espino, J., Sorrells, M.E. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 6, pag. 1705-1720.

16. Resequencing of 429 chickpea accessions from 45 countries provides insights into genome diversity, domestication and agronomic traits. 2019. Varshney, R.K., Thudi, M., Roorkiwal, M., Weiming He, Upadhyaya, H., Wei Yang, Bajaj, P., Cubry, P., Abhishek Rathore, Jianbo Jian, Doddamani, D., Khan, A.W., Vanika Garg, Annapurna Chitikineni, Dawen Xu, Pooran M. Gaur, Singh, N.P., Chaturvedi, S.K., Nadigatla, G.V.P.R., Krishnamurthy, L., Dixit, G.P., Fikre, A., Kimurto, P.K., Sreeman, S.M., Chellapilla Bharadwaj, Shailesh Tripathi, Jun Wang, Suk-Ha Lee, Edwards, D., Kavi Kishor Bilhan Polavarapu, Penmetsa, R.V., Crossa, J., Nguyen, H.T., Siddique, K.H.M., Colmer, T.D., Sutton, T., Von Wettberg, E., Vigouroux, Y., Xun Xu, Xin Liu In: Nature Genetics v. 51, pag. 857-864.

17. Farm typology analysis and technology assessment: an application in an arid region of South Asia. 2019. Shalander Kumar, Craufurd, P., Amare Haileslassie, Ramilan, T., Abhishek Rathore, Whitbread, A. In: Land Use Policy v. 88, art. 104149.

18. MARPLE, a point-of-care, strain-level disease diagnostics and surveillance tool for complex fungal pathogens. 2019. Radhakrishnan, G.V., Cook, N.M., Bueno-Sancho, V., Lewis, C.M., Persoons, A., Debebe, A., Heaton, M., Davey, P.E., Abeyo Bekele Geleta, Alemayehu, Y., Badebo, A., Barnett, M., Bryant, R., Chatelain, J., Xianming Chen, Suomeng Dong, Henriksson, T., Holdgate, S., Justesen, A.F., Kalous, J., Zhensheng Kang, Laczny, S., Legoff, J.P., Lesch, D., Richards, T., Randhawa, H. S., Thach, T., Meinan Wang, Hovmoller, M.S., Hodson, D.P., Saunders, D.G.O. In: BMC Biology v. 17, no. 1, art. 65.

19. Genome-wide association study for multiple biotic stress resistance in synthetic hexaploid wheat. 2019. Bhatta, M.R., Morgounov, A.I., Belamkar, V., Wegulo, S.N., Dababat, A.A., Erginbas-Orakci, G., Moustapha El Bouhssini, Gautam, P., Poland, J.A., Akci, N., Demir, L., Wanyera, R., Baenziger, P.S. In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences v. 20, no. 15, art. 3667.

20.  Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of synthetic and bread wheat accessions in Western Siberia. 2019. Bhatta, M.R., Shamanin, V., Shepelev, S.S., Baenziger, P.S., Pozherukova, V.E., Pototskaya, I.V., Morgounov, A.I. In: Journal of Applied Genetics v. 60, no. 3-4, pag. 283-289.

21. Identifying loci with breeding potential across temperate and tropical adaptation via EigenGWAS and EnvGWAS. 2019. Jing Li, Gou-Bo Chen, Rasheed, A., Delin Li, Sonder, K., Zavala Espinosa, C., Jiankang Wang, Costich, D.E., Schnable, P.S., Hearne, S., Huihui Li In: Molecular Ecology v. 28, no. 15, pag. 3544-3560.

22. Impacts of drought-tolerant maize varieties on productivity, risk, and resource use: evidence from Uganda. 2019. Simtowe, F.P., Amondo, E., Marenya, P. P., Rahut, D.B., Sonder, K., Erenstein, O. In: Land Use Policy v. 88, art. 104091.

23. Do market shocks generate gender-differentiated impacts?: policy implications from a quasi-natural experiment in Bangladesh. 2019. Mottaleb, K.A., Rahut, D.B., Erenstein, O. In: Women’s Studies International Forum v. 76, art. 102272.

24. Gender differences in the adoption of agricultural technology: the case of improved maize varieties in southern Ethiopia. 2019. Gebre, G.G., Hiroshi Isoda, Rahut, D.B., Yuichiro Amekawa, Hisako Nomura In: Women’s Studies International Forum v. 76, art. 102264.

25. Tracking the adoption of bread wheat varieties in Afghanistan using DNA fingerprinting. 2019. Dreisigacker, S., Sharma, R.K., Huttner, E., Karimov, A. A., Obaidi, M.Q., Singh, P.K., Sansaloni, C.P., Shrestha, R., Sonder, K., Braun, H.J. In: BMC Genomics v. 20, no. 1, art. 660.