GCA supports digital agricultural advisory services to enhance resilience to food and nutrition security across Horn of Africa
N
aivasha, Kenya, 15 June 2023 – The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today participated in the technical launch of the Program to Build Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security in the Horn of Africa (BREFONS) in Nairobi, a $300 million investment project financed by the African Development Bank and supported by the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). The principal objectives of the project are to contribute to improving living conditions including for women and the youth, food and nutrition security, increasing resilience, as well as peace and security in the region by building resilience to climate change in Kenya and five other countries in the Horn of Africa. The first phase of implementation for the project is in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
The Horn of Africa region is characterized by increasing temperatures and high variability in rainfall as well as the intensification of floods with serious socio-economic consequences such as drops in crop yields; climate related disasters; heat waves; ecosystem degradation; immigration; insecurity and climate-sensitive diseases. More than 40% of the population in the region is undernourished due to food insecurity and inadequate livelihoods. While there are some 25 million people already at risk of food shortages in the region, the unusual desert locust upsurge in the last two years is an additional threat to food security and livelihoods, especially for the most vulnerable communities.
Under the Climate Smart Digital Technologies for Agriculture and Food Security pillar of AAAP, GCA provided assistance to the design of the project by undertaking various studies to assess climatic risks to food system in the region and held national multi-stakeholder workshops to identify key digital agricultural advisory services in Kenya and Ethiopia as well as identifying how agricultural insurance can best be integrated into such solutions. In the implementation phase of the project, GCA will further support the project by carrying out feasibility and also technical design and implementation of national e-extension and digital agricultural advisory services in Kenya, Djibouti, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
It is expected this work will contribute to expected outcomes including 1.3 million farmers and pastoralists using climate services such as index insurance; 750,000 farmers and pastoralists who are directly benefiting from using digital climate advisory services to improve productivity and income; a 30% increase in the productivity of crops and livestock; 30% increase in annual income per capita; the creation of 55,000 additional jobs for youth and women.
Notes to Editors
About the Global Center on Adaptation The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector, to ensure we learn from each other and work together for a climate-resilient future. Founded in 2018, GCA is hosted by the Netherlands, working from its headquarters in Rotterdam with a knowledge and research hub based in Groningen. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China.
