Perspectives on Climate Effects on Agriculture: The International Efforts of AgMIP in Sub-Saharan Africa
2012
Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing climate change-related
effects that call for integrated regional assessments, yet capacity for these assessments
has been low. The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement
Project (AgMIP) is advancing research on integrated regional assessments of climate
change that include climate, crop, and economic modeling and analysis. Through
AgMIP, regional integrated assessments are increasingly gaining momentum in SSA,
and multi-institutional regional research teams (RRTs) centered in East, West, and
Southern Africa are generating new information on climate change impacts and
adaptation in selected agricultural systems. The research in Africa is organized
into four RRTs and a coordination team. Each of the RRTs in SSA is composed
of scientists from the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR) institutions, National Agriculture Research institutes (NARs), and universities
consisting of experts in crop and economic modeling, climate, and information
technology. Stakeholder involvement to inform specific agricultural systems to
be evaluated, key outputs, and the representative agricultural pathways (RAPs), is
undertaken at two levels: regional and national, in order to contribute to decisionmaking
at these levels. Capacity building for integrated assessment (IA) is a key component
that is undertaken continuously through interaction with experts in regional
and SSA-wide workshops, and through joint creation of tools. Many students and
research affiliates have been identified and entrained as part of capacity building in
IA. Bi-monthly updates on scholarly publications in climate change in Africa also
serve as a vehicle for knowledge-sharing. With 60 scientists already trained and
actively engaged in IA and over 80 getting monthly briefs on the latest information
on climate change, a climate-informed community of experts is gradually taking
shape in SSA.
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