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A week after the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, climate and environmental stakeholders from Central Africa are meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, to consider how to strengthen climate-smart agriculture in the region.

Jointly organized by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), CORAF and the European Union, the three-day event (November 24-26, 2021) will enable participants to further discuss ways of strengthening the Central African iteration of the Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (CSA). The CSA is a consortium of researchers, policymakers, farmers' groups, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector.

This platform should serve as a coordination instrument through which stakeholders can have an open dialogue to better align initiatives and harmonize efforts to scale up climate-smart interventions.

"The Central African region is not exempt from the climate crisis. Despite its enormous potential, agriculture in the region is still experiencing considerably low productivity and, as a result, cannot contribute as expected to gross domestic product and economic growth," says Dr Emmanuel Njukwe, CORAF's Director of Research and Innovation.

"The CSA Alliance is a means of bringing players together to dialogue, better align initiatives and harmonize efforts with the aim of scaling up smart climate interventions."

The initial meeting to set up the alliance in Central Africa was held virtually in December 2020.

West Africa already has a CSA initiative. Established in 2015 in Bamako, Mali, it supports evidence-based decision-making on agriculture and climate change.

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The establishment of the CSA Alliance is a crucial activity funded by the Science-led Climate-Adapted Agricultural Transformation in West and Central Africa (CAADP-XP4) project. CAADP-XP4 is a four-year intervention funded by the European Union and administered by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The project is being implemented across Africa by several other partners, including the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), theAssociation for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the Coordination Centre for Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA).

Overall, the aim of the CAADP-XP4 project is to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in particular goals 2 (zero hunger), 5 (gender equality), 10 (reducing inequalities), 12 (responsible consumption) and 13 (combating climate change), as well as the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the Malabo Declaration of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). 

CAADP-XP4 is part of the European Union's Development of Intelligent Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) initiative.

CORAF is implementing a total of three DeSIRA projects. The other two are Biorisks andAnticipation and management of biological risks to strengthen farmers' resilience to climate change in West and Central Africa, in collaboration with theBiological Risk Management Facility (BIMAF), the West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) program and National Research Systems in ten countries.

A day before the discussion on climate-smart agriculture, participants will hold a discussion on managing cassava-related biological risks. The half-day event will be organized in partnership with the West and Central African Viral Epidemiology (WAVE) program.

There are some 14 DeSIRA initiatives in West and Central Africa, worth a total of almost 70 million euros.