Flemish Parliament

21 October 2019

The importance of climate resilience for

food security, illustrated through

projects of FAO

In collaboration with:

5

SPEAKERS

• H.E. Tedson Aubrey Kalebe, Ambassador of Malawi in Belgium

• James Okoth, Deputy FAO Representative Malawi FAO Malawi

• Eva Maes, Policy Advisor on Agriculture and Food Security, Flanders

Department of Foreign Affairs

MODERATOR

• Ruben Arnaerts, Trainee Project Manager CIFAL Flanders

5

OPENING REMARKS

H.E. Tedson Aubrey Kalebe

Ambassador of Malawi in Belgium

5

Eva Maes

Policy Advisor on Agriculture and Food Security, Flanders Department of

Foreign affairs

The

importance

of climate

resilience for

food security

in Malawi

Flanders Department of Foreign AffairsFlanders Department of Foreign AffairsFlanders Department of Foreign AffairsFlanders Department of Foreign Affairs

UN DAY Flanders UN DAY Flanders UN DAY Flanders UN DAY Flanders –––– 21 OCTOBER 201921 OCTOBER 201921 OCTOBER 201921 OCTOBER 2019

820 mio people are hungry

2 billion people: no regular access

to safe, nutritious and sufficient food

Overweight and obesity

Economic slowndown and downturns

Resilience capacity

+ Mounting challenges

Right to adequate food

pro-poor and inclusive transformation

economic and social policies

tackling existing inequalities

Global food systems at crossroads

Food systems & nutrition

Agro-ecology and other innovative approaches

Sustainable food systems

Government of

Flanders intends to

contribute to a new

international partnership for

sustainable development

based on solidarity, equality,

cooperation and

international law

• Agriculture

• Food security

• Climate resilience

• Health

Malawi Mozambique South Africa

Strong focus on Southern Africa and

cooperation with three partner countries

Agenda 2030

Key values: Human rights, good governance & equal opportunities

Innovation, systems thinking and partnerships

Adaptation : limit the negative impact of climate

change on living conditions. Strengthens climate

resilience. Ex. Climate smart agriculture

Mitigation: reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ex.

green energy, energy efficiency, carbon harvesting

and storage

Co-operation with multilateralorganisations

€ 8,7 € 7,2 € 8,5 € 4,8

€ 11,9 € 10,5

€ 4,2 € 5,2 € 3,6

€ 5,5

€ 2,5 € 2,8

€ 1,7 € 2,5 € 4,8

€ 14,1

€ 1,6 € 1,5

26,1%26,1%26,1%26,1% 26,9%26,9%26,9%26,9%

31,4%31,4%31,4%31,4%

43,8%43,8%43,8%43,8%

32,0%32,0%32,0%32,0% 30,9%30,9%30,9%30,9%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

€0

€5

€10

€15

€20

€25

€30

2013201320132013 2014201420142014 2015201520152015 2016201620162016 2017201720172017 2018201820182018

Bi-Multi contributions, earmarked on projects

Bi-Multi contributions, earmarked on existing pgms and funds

Unearmarked, multilateral contributions

transformation of the agricultural sector

specific attention to women and youth

increase, diversify and commercialize agricultural production in a sustainable way

participate in inclusive markets

better, resilient livelihoods.

ODA to Malawi - 2014-2018

€15,99 €15,99 €15,99 €15,99 ; ; ; ; 46%46%46%46%

€14,12 €14,12 €14,12 €14,12 ; ; ; ; 40%40%40%40%

€1,90 €1,90 €1,90 €1,90 ; ; ; ; 5%5%5%5%

€3,21 €3,21 €3,21 €3,21 ; ; ; ; 9%9%9%9%

UN (incl. ASWAP) Local NGO’s

GoM (exc. ASWAP) Other

Food security/climate resilienceUN – Flanders in Malawi

Way ForwardWay ForwardWay ForwardWay Forward

5

James Okoth

Deputy FAO Representative, Malawi FAO Malawi

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Building Resilience of Communities to Effects of Climate Change (Experiences from Malawi)

OKOTH, James Robert

FAO MALAWI

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Context • Marginal and fragile ecosystems prone to hydrological hazards

• Extreme weather conditions – recurrent & prolonged dry spells, poor rainfall distribution, flash floods, etc.

• Massive environmental degradation and deterioration of rangeland health and productivity (more invasive, poisonous weeds & woody species)

• New epicentres for Transboundary Animal Diseases and Pests

• Fast growing population

• Cumulative effects of successive shocks have led to low productivity resulting in Chronic Food and Nutrition insecurity

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Programming Realities

• Gender dimension - Livelihoods of vulnerable segments of society (women,

elderly & child hh with little control over productive assets) more impacted by effects of CC

• Resilience building is complex due to heterogeneity and multi-faceted nature of the vulnerability drivers

• Fragmented frameworks and initiatives undermining attainment of desired goals

• Short funding cycles

• Capacities of Extension Services to cope with complex change

• Heavy reliance on wood fuel

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Opportunities

• Policy and development strategy instruments prioritising CC – MGDS, NAIP, MNSSP and NRS

• Government has adopted a multi sectoral approach to tackle underlying drivers and effects of CC

• Development partners (Donors, UN and CSOs) increasingly embracing more holistic approaches

• Reforms within the UN leading to more joint and long term programming

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Approach

• Blending Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Change Adaptation addressing multiple threats to livelihoods with short- and medium-term interventions

• Catchment-base interventions – critical mass of good practice

• Programme approach Vs one-off projects

• Comprehensive institutional capacity development to augment exiting conventional approaches with requisite responsive & holistic transformative farmer education

• Involvement of key institutions (academia, research, traditional leaders etc.)

• Placing the resources users at the centre of diagnosis and planning for their community interventions - Community outreach

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Strengthening Institutional Capacity

• Strengthening agricultural extension delivery services to be responsive to the unique needs of farming communities under CC

• Enhancing surveillance capabilities for timely response to pest and disease outbreaks

• Enhancing coordination and linkages across agriculture, social protection and resilience programmes

• Climate risk monitoring and early warning systems

• Linking short-term emergency response to long term resilience programming

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Community Outreach

• Placing communities at the centre of risk management

• Diversification and Accumulation of assets, two precursors to building household and community resilience

• Enhances farmer peer learning & transformative empowerment (knowledge) through FFS

• Diverse and dynamic Content - blending DRR and CCA addressing multiple threats to livelihoods with short- & medium-term interventions

• Working simultaneously on three mutually reinforcing dimensions: Technical + Financial + Social

Financial

•Income generating

activities

•Group marketing

•Saving & loan schemes

•Private sector linkages

RESILIENCE

Facilitative

Technical

Social

•Social protection & safety nets

•Gender mainstreaming

•Institutional dev/strengthening

•Governance

•Sustainable agriculture

(crop/livestock/fisheries)

•Natural resources mgt

•Post harvest handling

•Entrepreneurial skills

•Nutrition education

•Life skills

Conditionality

Community

Outreach

Gro

wth

of

ou

tco

me

s

Year 1 Year 3 Year 2 Timeline Year 4

Schematic Progression of Results

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FAO – GoM Collaboration with Support from the Government of Flanders

Emergency Response

2008 - 2011

Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture

2011 - 2015

Market Access

2016 - 2020

Land Use Planning & Management

2019 - 2023

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Profile of Beneficiaries

3.147

1.557

5.277

3.907 3.409

9.340

7.054

12.020

26.637

-

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000

30.000

2016/17 2017/18 2018/19

Male Female Cummulative

• 991 Farmer Organisations nurtured

• Direct beneficiary HH to date: 26,637

• Proportion of Women: 63%

• Proportion of Youth: 36%

• Direct beneficiary population: 133,185

• Community outreach scope of influence: 400,000

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Rural Savings Mobilisation

2469 2629

5011

4034

6034

8736

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

2017 2018 2019

Mem

be

rsh

ip

Enrolment in Group Savings

Male Female

• Women more receptive to participating in group savings at 63%

• Women are less likely to default loans

• Translating technical & entrepreneurial skills, into meaningful small businesses hence diversifying sources of income and more resilient

• Strong correlation between participating in group saving and engaging in bulking and collective marketing

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Savings and Loan Trends 2017 - 2019

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000ja

n/1

7

feb

/17

mrt

/17

apr/

17

mei

/17

jun

/17

jul/

17

aug/

17

sep

/17

okt

/17

no

v/1

7

de

c/1

7

jan

/18

feb

/18

mrt

/18

apr/

18

mei

/18

jun

/18

jul/

18

aug/

18

sep

/18

okt

/18

no

v/1

8

de

c/1

8

jan

/19

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/19

mrt

/19

apr/

19

mei

/19

jun

/19

jul/

19

Euro

s Eq

uiv

alen

t

Months

Total Borrowed Total Savings

• Gradual growth in accumulated savings: €130 917 in 2018 and €121 232 as of July 2019

• About 90% of saving in circulation as loans accruing interests to members

• Households able to procure own inputs in a timely manner – depicted by the depreciations in the curves

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Commodity Aggregation

Better hh income translating in improved livelihoods & resilience

• Increased functional commodity bulking centre by 126% and contracts with agro processors have improved farmers’ bargain

• Increased volumes aggregated: • Soya from 6MT to 1 811 MT • Beans from 1 MT to 92 MT

• Income from the 2019 sales • Soya : €619 288 • Beans : €70 845 • Maize : €39 087

3.523

1.295

89

10

84

170

1.811

92

13

35

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

Maize

Soya

Beans

G/nuts

Sunflower

TOTAL SALES (MT)

Commodities Sales through Collective Bulking centres

2019 2018 2017

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Conclusions

• The iterative programming incorporating emerging lessons has over the years resulted into meaningful strengthening of community resilience

• Building Community resilience is a process that requires time, responsive and holistic transformative farmer education to complement existing Extension Services

• Blending entrepreneurial skills, group savings and knowledge on sustainable production practices is crucial if HH are to translate the concepts into meaningful investments

• Through aggregate marketing, even the very small holders are able to benefit from the good market process to meet their basic needs

• Strengthening extension services to cope with the changing needs of the farmers remains critical

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Challenge

• Climate Change Adaptation is conceptual and complex – not ordinary facilitators – need for an inbuilt continuous capacity development

• Results are not immediate and therefore maintaining motivation of the farmers is crucial

• Necessitates translating from field level to farming systems and landscape level beyond a single commodity

• Tendency for geospatial distribution of activities yet this requires harmonization and convergence of interventions with selected communities over time

• Require multi-disciplinary teams which have diverse working methodologies – need for harmonization

• Public good attitude!!!

Planning Module for Master Trainers, Mozambique May 2017

5

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