Let's make climate change talks inclusive

by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan Member of Parliament of India, Rajya Sabha, and Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and Kanayo F. Nwanze, IFAD President

Price volatility and the persistence of widespread and hidden hunger underline the need for enhancing the productivity and profitability of smallholder agriculture in an environmentally sustainable manner.

When world leaders sit down again to discuss climate change, we hope that the people who live and work on the world's 500 million small farms will be with them, at least in spirit. Their voice — and the issue of agriculture as a whole — has, for too long, been missing from the conversation. But without increased support to smallholder farmers now, the number of hungry people will grow, and future food security will be placed in jeopardy.

The upcoming 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 — marking the twentieth anniversary of the landmark Earth Summit that produced Agenda 21, “a roadmap” for sustainable development — will both need to ensure that agriculture and the world's smallholder farmers are high on the agenda if we are to overcome the many challenges we face in achieving the Millennium Development Goal 1.

The front line
In the last 20 years the global population has risen from about 5.3 billion to seven billion; the reality of climate change has been accepted beyond doubt; and the number of hungry people in the world has remained stubbornly around the one billion mark. Meanwhile, aid to agriculture has only just recently begun to pick up after decades of stagnation. More needs to be done — a lot more — and supporting smallholder farmers must be at the heart of any agenda.

The rural poor across the world, including India, have contributed little to human-induced climate change, yet they are on the front line in coping with its effects. Farmers can no longer rely on historical averages for rainfall and temperature, and the more frequent and extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, can spell disaster. And there are new threats, such as sea level rise and the impact of melting glaciers on water supply.

How significant are small farms? As many as two billion people worldwide depend on them for their food and livelihood. Smallholder farmers in India produce 41 per cent of the country's food grains, and other food items that contribute to local and national food security. Small farmers cannot be ignored, and special attention must be given to the most vulnerable groups — particularly women, who make up a large percentage of farmers in the developing world.

Small farms also add up to big business: In the world's 50 least developed countries, agriculture is the backbone of the economy, accounting for 30 to 60 per cent of Gross Domestic Product and employing as much as 70 per cent or more of the workforce. Addressing the plight of smallholders isn't just a matter of equity, it's a necessity if we are going to be able to feed ourselves in the future. Smallholders farm 80 per cent of the total farmland in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. If we don't help them to adapt to climate change, their achievements — feeding a large portion of humanity — will be endangered.

With appropriate support, smallholders can play a key role in protecting our environment, for example through actions that contribute to carbon sequestration and limit carbon emissions (planting and maintaining forests, engaging in agro-forestry activities, managing rangelands and rice lands, and watershed protection that limits deforestation and soil erosion).

To continue farming in a sustainable way in the face of climate change, rural women and men need to be given the resources to cope with the challenges. Smallholder farmers need support such as resilience-building technologies (including drought- and salt-tolerant seed varieties and new methods of rainwater harvesting), and training in sustainable practices of conservation agriculture, such as minimum-till farming to reduce erosion and moisture loss. Investing in adaptation measures now will be far less costly than in the future.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation, together with the government of India and other partners, have undertaken a range of projects to do just that.

For example, in Tamil Nadu, we have been supporting rural communities to produce and market nutri-cereals like millet, which can easily grow in dry and arid environments. We worked with smallholder farmers to use simple techniques to increase their yields, while also helping rural women create and market modern recipes — for example, a millet malt drink now being sold in major health food stores in India. The result has been not only increased food for the community, but also increased income and non-farm employment opportunities.

To help farmers adapt to increasingly dry conditions, a programme in Chhattisgarh has expanded cultivation of traditionally produced Niger seed oil, which grows well in areas that receive little rain. Land and forest regeneration were promoted to improve soil structure and moisture levels, and solar energy technology and biogas digesters have been introduced, which reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as the need for fuelwood. Another project in the northeast has helped restore degraded jhumland and has benefited almost 40,000 households in 860 villages.

Climate-resilient sustainable agriculture requires knowledge. Successful projects such as these can provide a model for others to follow. Knowledge transfer that brings the benefits of research from the laboratory to the farm is essential.

Programmes targeted at vulnerable groups such as women and tribal communities are particularly important. IFAD-supported programmes and projects in India promote tribal development by building and strengthening grassroots institutions that enable vulnerable people to plan and manage their own development, negotiate improved entitlements, and broaden their livelihood opportunities. Conferences and talks among world leaders can do many things but they don't feed people. We hope that leaders will keep in mind those who do: the smallholder farmers. Price volatility and the persistence of widespread, endemic and hidden hunger underline the need for urgent attention to enhancing the productivity and profitability of smallholder agriculture in an environmentally sustainable manner. This is the pathway to increasing agriculture's contribution to climate change mitigation as well as to sustainable food security.

Originally published in The Hindu

Meeting the “Father of the Evergreen Revolution”

Yesterday, May 25, I had the good luck and privilege to be invited to Bioversity International to attend the launch of Professor M. S. Swaminathan’s new book, “In Search of Biohappiness, Biodiversity and Food, Health and Livelihood Security.” Professor Swaminathan has been an inspiration to myself and my colleagues here at IFAD as, together with a range of partners, we developed IFAD’s first Environment and Natural Resource Management Policy. The timing could not have been better: we are launching the policy on June 1, so I took the opportunity to interview the Professor about his views on smallholders, biohappiness and scaling up sustainable agriculture while I was there.

Having been a sports reporter earlier in my career, I rushed in wanting to take as little of his time as possible, ready to “roll tape” immediately, and get out before my time was up (sports figures usually have little time for journalists). But he settled me down immediately and calmly invited me to introduce myself and talk about the topic before starting the interview (view the interview below). Unsurprisingly, he is a true gentleman and a softspoken but deeply persuasive speaker.

He could not be a stronger or more credible advocate: he calls sustainable agriculture, “the only pathway for job-led economic growth.”



In our ENRM Policy, the phrase “evergreen revolution” appears six times – including in our Results and Implementation Matrix (see the annex)! For us at IFAD, scaling up sustainable agriculture as part of an evergreen revolution with smallholders is achievable. Join us (along with our president, Kanayo Nwanze and UNEP’s Executive Director, Achim Steiner) and contribute your experience and concrete suggestions to help focus our the discussion on how to get things moving.

With Professor Swaminathan continuing his research and advocacy – and now even President Obama calling for an evergreen revolution – I think the time is ripe. Do you?

President in India - Chennai, Professor Swaminathan and the Swaminathan Foundation

On arrival in Chennai we were whisked straight to the home of Professor Swaminathan, where this 84 year old legend was awaiting us under the portico. Inside, his wife Meena, had prepared a meal for us. (The humility and simplicity of their welcome was disarming). The President and the Professor became swiftly engaged in deep discussions over the Green Revolution – that Professor Swaminathan helped father – and a much-needed new revolution to meet the challenges of food security and climate change.

We were later shown around the headquarters of the MRSSP Swaminathan Foundation. One of the most fascinating elements of their work is the gene bank houses collections of seeds of all varieties, some at risk of extinction, gathered from around India. The Foundation also has India’s largest collection of tubers and roots and vanishing crops – primarily medicinal plants .

The President delivered the keynote Millennium Lecture organised by the Hindu Resource Centre. He then went on to launch the Foundation’s climate risk managers programme, which provides communities with guidance on approaches to risk mitigation and managing climate change. These managers will be tasked with going out to the villages and supporting small farmers and poor rural people, so the solutions will have input from those most directly affected by climate change.

Professor Swaminathan emphasised the importance of strong links from lab to land and land to lab – so that scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom could be harnessed together. The President talked about food insecurity in rural areas, the importance of mapping potential rainfall patterns, tracking price volatility and identifying hotspots.

The day continued with video conference links to village knowledge centres operated by farmers groups, in IFAD-supported projects.

In the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami, the Naga Pattinan coastal district saw its agriculture and fishing industries wiped out. Village resource or knowledge centres played a major role in relief efforts, and now ICT tools are being used to improve lives and businesses.

Ramesh, a fisherman, told us that through new technologies they have adopted more hygienic methods of handling the catch and more sustainable fishing practices. Incomes have gone up too, with fish prices increasing from 30 rupees per kilo to 110 rupees. Ramesh now trains other fishermen.

What do you do with your extra income, the President asked.
“My kids are at a private school, I have bought computer and GPS equipment for my business and paid off some of his debts,” Ramesh replied.

In the next video link, from Orissa, people from five villages involved in the IFAD-funded Tribal Empowerment Project told how the villages now have seed banks and farmers are aware of the quality of seeds required for these banks.

Some 85 per cent of those in the area are living below the poverty line, 55 per cent are tribal people and 60 per cent are illiterate, so forming the Self Help Groups was a major challenge. Once done though, they were away!. Now community-managed gene banks are holding some 500-1000 varieties of seed for next season.

Professor Swaminathan noted that IFAD was the first to start Self Help Groups, in Tamil Nadu, and this had since catalysed a movement across India, a transformation in sharing knowledge.

He said he was very grateful that he had provided support to the establishment of IFAD “In 1974, we thought we could make poverty history by 1984. That has not happened,” he said.

The two men addressed a well-attended press conference, where the President spoke about the need to find grass roots level solutions to climate change to – help mitigate as well as adapt.

“Thirty years ago when I met Professor Swaminathan I did not know that one day I would be standing here to deliver a Millennium Lecture,” said the President. “But what we did in research three decades ago is relevant today as we face down the challenges of climate change,” he added. “Ending hunger and poverty are possible, we need to remember that.”

By Farhana Haque Rahman and Mattia Prayer Galetti