The impact of climate change is growing by the minute and urgent action is needed to put knowledge into the hands of the world’s smallholder farmers so they can improve their livelihoods and achieve sustainable food security despite this challenge, writes Dr Dennis Rangi, CABI’s Director General – Development.

July 2024 was the Earth’s hottest month on record. It signalled uncharted territory. Asia continued to warm faster than the global average. This led to devastating floods and extreme heat that could further hinder recovery from existing climate related disasters.

Meanwhile, East Africa experienced deadly floods in early 2024, while long droughts ravaged the Southern part of the African continent. This was so severe that some jurisdictions such as Namibia resorted to culling their wildlife to feed humans whilst reducing pressure on natural resources.

Grow more and lose less to climate-change induced crop pests and diseases

But this situation also highlighted the need to strengthen Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and food safety standards that enable smooth trade across borders. Compliance with these requirements is supported by CABI’s interventions to help smallholder farmers sustainably grow more and lose less to climate-change exacerbated crop pests and diseases.

One key aspect to this is in supporting relevant strategies and policies, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Agricultural Policy, which is building the knowledge and capacity on pest risk analysis and phytosanitary measures necessary for food security.

The need here is clear from recent examples; for instance, humanitarian agencies were unable to purchase local cereals in Burundi due to high aflatoxin levels, while urgent interventions are still underway to unlock export barriers which have impeded movement of essential commodities, especially maize, from Tanzania (a surplus country) to Zambia, where there is a dire need caused by the drought.

Amid these acute issues, there is an increasing drive for more sustainable approaches to agriculture and landscape management, such as integrated landscape management (ILM) approaches, which I am pleased to say is one area in which CABI is working.

A recent workshop in Malawi, for instance, explored how ILM can improve ecosystem goods and services for the benefit of people and the environment.

Climate change finance goal insufficient

Like many I believe that the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, did not end on a positive note for the world’s 525 million smallholder farmers. The new US$300 billion a year finance goal adopted by wealthier nations to help poorer ones deal with climate change is insufficient.

The agreement includes a broader goal of raising $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 - which would include funding from all public and private sources and which economists say matches the sum needed to address global warming.
On paper, tripling the climate finance goal by 2035 appears to be a generous offer to help less-rich nations adapt to and mitigate the potentially devastating impacts of climate change on sustainable development and food security.

But the reality is many countries are going to struggle to invest in clean energy and more environmentally friendly agricultural practices in line with efforts to limit warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold stipulated by the Paris Agreement.

The world’s smallholder farmers are our main allies in the fight against climate change – but also those who face the most severe risks to livelihoods and food production from immediate impacts of climate change such as extreme weather, including drought and flooding.

Extend the reach of extension services

We need to further build the capacity and extend the reach of extension services for smallholder farmers to ensure they have the data, knowledge and skills they need to be better prepared to monitor and mitigate the impacts of pests and diseases, the threat of which is exacerbated by climate change.

The global PlantwisePlus programme provides digital tools to help smallholder farmers adopt sustainable biological solutions to help increase their yields, as well as plant clinics where plant health issues can be diagnosed and advice given to rectify problems.

Further to this the Pest Risk Information Service (PriSE) has helped to combine satellite and earth observation data to help smallholder farmers know when and where the next pest risk is going to come from so they can be better prepared.

The Global Burden of Crop Loss (GBCL) initiative to quantify and understand causes of crop loss across countries is another example where data can play a very important part in the challenge to grow more food sustainably amid a rapidly increasing global population.

The GBCL is measuring the impacts of crop pests and disease, putting a much-needed spotlight on crop health and ensuring that money and goodwill are directed by good evidence towards the most important causes of crop loss.

Working in partnership

I am pleased that CABI is expanding its capacity to support smallholder farmers in more places where our expertise, working in partnership with organisations such as other members of the Association of International Research and Development Centers for Agriculture (AIRCA), is needed to support smallholder agriculture and rural enterprise with healthy, sustainable and climate-smart landscapes.

We are in dialogue with additional countries who would like to join CABI and adding to our presence in our existing Member Countries. For example, we are opening an office in Burundi to expand our work there. We pledge to continue working with AIRCA and other partners who are invested in healthy, climate-resilient and biodiverse landscapes.

Our strength comes when we work together with national institutions and other partners to share skills, knowledge and technical expertise in ways that help vulnerable countries build the capacity of their plant health systems threatened by climate change-induced crop pests and diseases. But time is ticking on the climate change challenge, and we need to act with the utmost urgency.

Dr Dennis Rangi, Director General – Development, CABI

Dr Rangi has over 30 years of experience in development cooperation including management of scientific research & implementation. He has fulfilled several assignments in developing countries and has a strong understanding of their circumstances and needs.