Farms of the future seeks to connect farmers to their possible climate futures via farm visits which would enable them to build a mental picture of what their climate and farming systems might look like in the future

1. Farms-of-the-Future: an innovative
approach to strengthening adaptive
capacity
Abdoulaye Saley Moussa1, Maren Radeny2 and Osana Bonilla-Findji3
1ICRISAT/CCAFS West Africa Regional Program
2ILRI/CCAFS East Africa Regional Program
3CIAT/CCAFS

2. Outline
o Farming systems in East and West
Africa
o Farms of the future approach
o Analogue tool
o Exchange visits
o Lessons learned

3. Farming systems in EA and WA
o Small-scale subsistence agriculture
o Limited use of inputs / fertilizer
o Highly vulnerability to climate
variability and change
o reduced crop yields,
o food insecurity
o Coping strategies
o Challenges of adaptation:
o Access to
information, knowledge, technologies
o Planning for an unknown future

4. Farming systems in East and West Africa
Past
experiences, impacts
to define adaptation
strategies
What if tomorrow?
How to plan knowing
tomorrow (climate
area/region/technologi
es/information, etc.)
Farms of the Future
Past
Future

5. •70% of expected future climates already exist somewhere else
•Facilitates exchange of knowledge, technology, and practices
between analogue sites
The 2030 climate of a maize-
growing area near Durban will
correspond to the current climate
of a major maize-growing area in
Argentina. Growers in Durban
can learn from these analogous
climates how to adapt as their
climate shifts.
http://gismap.ciat.cgiar.org/analogues/
Climate Analogues: finding future climates for potential adaptation
to connect farmers to their possible climate futures via farm visits which
would enable them to build a mental picture of what their climate and
farming systems might look like in the future
Farms of the Future

6. Farms of the Future
o Devise, test and validate the "Farms of the Future"
approach built on farmer- to-farmer exchanges to
analogue sites as a valuable option to improve adaptive
capacity and support knowledge transfer
o Improve understanding of local practices and available
tools for enabling change, as well as cultural, economic, or
institutional obstacles to such adaptive change

7. • 15 farmers and 5 policy-
makers from Lushoto in
the northern highlands,
travelled to Mbinga in the
southern highlands.
• Climatic analogues –
locations where the
current climate is very
similar to Lushoto’s
projected future climate
(20 – 30 years )
• Ongoing adaptation
strategies and
management practices
http://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/one-mans-future-another-mans-present-farms-future-hits-tanzania
Farms of the Future: Farmer to farmer exchange visits to enhance adaptation
learning using the Analogues tool in Lushoto

8. Other Strategies:
• Tree nurseries in Mwitikilwa
• Improved stoves in Sepukila
• Beekeeping enterprise in Mtama
• Avocado, banana, and maize trials in Nyombo village
Weather station in MwitikilwaWomen preparing “matengo” pits in Sepukila
 Participatory video recording by the farmers for the farmers
Other learning experiences from the Farmer-to-Farmer exchange visit
in Tanzania

9. Farms-of-The-Future : A Journey to plausible
futures of Doggoh (Ghana)

10. Learning experiences from the Farmer-to-Farmer exchange visit
in Burkina Faso
• 20 farmers (men and women) and AIS
• Agricultural diversification and
intensification Agri-business
• Food processing (cassava)
• Soil and water conservation
• Integrated system (agro-forestry+SWC)
• Farmers organization
• Land issues

11. LESSONS LEARNED
1. Give priority to farmers' voice, foster farmer-to-farmer learning
• Support the farmers to share their findings from their study tour with
their own communities
• Participatory video: important tool for supporting farmers to document
their own learning
2. Communicating climate science is challenging: need to find
appropriate institutional frameworks
• E.g. The GTP

12. LESSONS LEARNED
1. Building adaptive capacity requires institutional, structural and
policy change
2. Strong engagement of actors across the agricultural innovation
system as adaptive capacity strengthening cannot be achieved
by farmers alone.
Climate-smart villages Model

13. THANK YOU
I’m very glad that I’m one of the
participant. In fact, we’re joking in
Ghana. See how Burkinabe are
fighting the negative impact of
climate change. Growing trees
using the technique by Mr Aziz
with OM production using crop
residue and household waste is
what I’ll start first. Really, the tour
is useful to me. Many thanks to
Burkinabe farmers!!!
I ask us too of Yamba village
we should conserve our
environment by planting
trees. “I was very happy
with this trip and I have
learnt a lot…
www.ccafs.cgiar.org