1. Transforming Agriculture to
be Climate Smart
Dennis Garrity
Distinguished Board Research Fellow
World Agroforestry Centre
UN Drylands Ambassador

2. The Global Conundrum
« Increase global food production
« Adapt agriculture to climate change, while
« Dramatically reducing greenhouse gas
emissions

3. Climate Smart Agriculture
Triple Win
• Raise productivity growth,
• Build resilience to droughts and floods, to
hotter temperatures and to increased pest
pressures, and at the same time
• Make agriculture a strong carbon sink, rather
than being an major emitter

4. True Cost Accounting Through
Triple-Win Metrics
Within each agricultural system, identify the
options for alternative practices, and track:
• Productivity enhancement
• Changes in resilience to climate change
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Key environmental services (biodiversity, water
quality)
• Poverty alleviation

6. National recommendations for maize in Malawi & Zambia:
Faidherbia fertilizer trees at 100 trees per ha

7. Faidherbia Trial Results in Zambia
Maize yield - zero fertiliser
2008 2009 2010
----- Tons/ha -------
With Faidherbia 4.1 5.1 5.6
Without Faidherbia 1.3 2.6 2.6
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Number of trials 15 40 40

8. The albida halo effect

9. Aerial view of a parkland dominated by Faidherbia in Niger

10. Parkland Renaissance: trees are young and growing

11. Farmer-managed regreening in Niger
• 5,000,000 hectares re-greened in 20 years
-- no outside investment costs
-- no recurrent costs to government
• 200 million new trees established
• >500,000 tons additional cereal
production/year
• 1.25 million farm households involved
• Vast increase in fodder for livestock

12. Major agroforestry regions in West Africa and
directions of expansion

13. December 2011: Ethiopian Prime Minister announces
national programme to establish 100 million
Faidherbia trees in farmers’ fields

15. 17 Countries are engaged in EverGreen Agriculture
Farmer Managed Natural
Regeneration
Conservation Agriculture with trees
Trees interplanted in conventional
tilled cropland
Farmer Managed Natural
Regeneration +
Trees interplanted in conventional
tilled cropland

16. Wheat production with walnut trees
France

17. Wheat production with Paulownia trees
> 8 m acres in China

19. Way Forward
• Agricultural systems must be reengineered to
achieve the triple win
• Quantitative metrics are essential to track
progress
• EverGreen Agricultural Systems are a critical
part of the solution
• They taking root in Africa, and is spreading
rapidly, especially for land regeneration and food
security on small-scale farms.
• Many nations are creating the policy and
institutional environments to favor adoption

20. Zero Net Land Degradation
Classify all land into three categories:
– Degrading
– Regenerating
– Stable
Monitor land degradation and regeneration in te
of biomass production.
Calculate the ratio: Regenerating/Degrading
The target is a ratio exceeding 1.0

22. Zero Net Land Degradation
44% of the world's cultivated ecosystems
are accounted for by drylands.
– Degradation is occurring on 20% of
drylands
– Regeneration has occurred on 16%
between 1981 and 2003.

23. Global Soils Partnership
for Food Security and Climate Change
Mitigation and Adaptation
• Focus on the Soil Resource
• Building capacities and exchange of
knowledge and technologies for
sustainable management of soil
resources.

24. A Land Ethic
“Health is the capacity of the land for
self-renewal.
“A land ethic reflects the existence of an
ecological conscience, and this in turn
reflects a conviction of individual
responsibility for the health of the
land.”
-- Aldo Leopold

25. The Global Reach of Landcare

26. Farmer-managed regreening in Niger
• 5,000,000 hectares re-greened in 20 years
-- no outside investment costs
-- no recurrent costs to government
• 200 million new trees established
• >500,000 tons additional cereal
production/year
• 1.25 million farm households involved
• Vast increase in fodder for livestock