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Introduction
The effect of climate change has had drastic effects on smallholder farmer’s crop production in West Africa for several decades. The over-reliance on rain-fed production system has made it hard for farmers to sustain their production in seasons of dry spell and or flooding. As a result, most farmers have experienced low production and food insecurity due to their low adaptive capacity. There is thus a need to enhance smallholder farmers’ adaptability and resilience to climate shock.
It is against this background that the West African Smallholder Farmers Organization (WASFO) in partnership with Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is implementing a project titled Scaling up Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture for smallholder farmers in West Africa (CRSA) with funding from the European Union.
The project’s main goal is to contribute towards the enhancement of productivity and adaptation of agriculture for smallholder farmers in West Africa under a changing climate.
Specific Objectives
The project aims to achieve the following objectives:
- To improve awareness and level of insurance of farmers in West Africa.
- To improve access to weather information by farmers through Information Communication Technology.
- To promote farmers access to stress tolerant seeds as an adaptation strategy to climate change and promote crop diversification.
CRSA is targeting 50,000 beneficiaries drawn from five countries in West Africa namely; Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana and Cabo Verde.
The first phase of the CRSA project commenced in November 2018 and will phase off in November 2020.
Expected Results
The following are the expected results:
- Improved insurance readiness of farmers and number of farmer ready for uptake of insurance as part of a bundled solution.
- Increased number of farmers using ICT based weather information services.
- Increased number of farmers planting stress-tolerant maize seeds.
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