Working together to promote climate resilience on farm

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Author supadmin

On Friday, 10 December, Dr Samira Amellal, CEO at CropLife Africa Middle East, took part in a thought-provoking discussion on the topic of “Working together to promote climate resilience on farm”, a side event of COP28 in Dubai, together with panellists Sophie Beecher, Director General, Sustainable Development Policy Directorate, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada/ Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, Kristjan Hebert, Global Farmer Network, President and CEO, HEBERT GROUP, & David ‘DJ’ Jochinke, President, Australian National Farmers’ Federation

Please see below key takeaway messages:

  • Public policy can positively impact Africa’s agricultural potential, notably by establishing supportive legislative frameworks.
  • Policymakers should have long-term visions to ensure sustainability (social, environmental and economic);
  • Both the private sector and the public sector have crucial roles to play. Actors along the food value chain need to be part of the decision-making process;
  • Financial incentives are needed for farmers; they need to be productive, as they are businessmen at the end of the day;
  • A localised approach is needed regarding sustainability policies; Dr Amellal called for an ‘Africa localised green transition’, i.e., a sustainable transition tailored to Africa’s agronomic, economic and climatic conditions. This is even more important considering that, in Africa, climate change is having a genuine impact on farmers’ ability to grow, from desert locust plagues of which even a tiny swarm can consume the same amount of food in one day as approximately 35,000 people to droughts and floods!

Via the Sustainable Pesticide Management CropLife Africa Middle East actively engages in discussions with local regulators and policymakers to ensure enabling legislative frameworks are in place. The SPMF illustrates well how enabling legislative frameworks, a localised approach and public-private partnerships are key ingredients to a successful program. As part of the ‘increase innovation pillar,’ the SPMF has already demonstrated changes, notably with the introduction of innovations via the acceleration of registration processes for biological solutions, cooperation with national research institutes on gene-editing research, development of guidelines for the use of drones in agriculture, training and e-learning modules for farmers on Integrated Pest Management, etc.

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