Building a climate-smart agriculture sector in Southeast Asia
After its successful ten-year run in the region, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) organized the Closing Conference on 26 October 2021. Hundreds of stakeholders and partners gathered (in-person and online) to celebrate its success and important achievements. Hosted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) – Viet Nam Office, CCAFS SEA has done various interventions with its partners in its several priority countries, such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
Scientists and program implementers from the various CGIAR centers, such as the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), International Potato Center (CIP), IRRI, and the World Agroforestry (ICRAF), presented the major outputs and outcomes of their respective flagship project under CCAFS. They spotlighted the innovations that empowered smallholder farmers to implement in climate-smart agriculture production with gender mainstreaming, to name a few:
Climate-Smart Maps and Adaptation Plans (CS-MAP) developed together with the Department of Crop Production, one of most successful works of CCAFS SEA; Climate-smart village and broadcasting school models; Low-emission cultivation technologies and GHG MRV in rice; Climate information services.
National partners appreciated CCAFS SEA’s considerable support for government policies and programs to fulfilling their international commitments, remarkably the Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans in agriculture, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action for rice, and the United Nations Food System Summit.
Recognizing the contributions
Because of its contribution to the agriculture sector of Viet Nam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) awarded a special recognition to IRRI and CGIAR-CCAFS SEA. “CCAFS’s activities have drawn lessons and recommendations for Vietnam’s agriculture sector and farmers in responding to and addressing challenges imposed by climate change… As a result, it has contributed to…