Climate, Water and Agriculture: Impacts on and Adaptation of Agro-Ecological Systems in Africa

The main goal of the proposed project is to develop multipliable analytical methods and procedures for assessing the impact of climate change on agriculture in Africa, to estimate how climate affects the current agricultural system, and to project how climate change might affect this system in the future. The project intends to develop suitable plans for adaptation, working closely with policy makers in the interpretation process. The analysis will compare farmer decisions and outcomes in one climate zone against choices farmers make in other zones. The study will introduce several innova-tions. First, this study will attempt to include water supply in the analysis. Second, this study will attempt to conduct cross-national analyses for the first time. Existing analyti-cal technique will have to be modified to include both of these innovations. The project also pursues the following interrelated secondary objectives. First, it will enhance capacity on the African continent by conducting training activities that en-able African experts to run country studies on the effects of climate change on agricul-ture. Secondly, the project will help experts in Africa to apply these analytical concepts to measure the expected adverse impacts on agriculture, and to identify what adaptation measures are likely to be sustainable cost-effective countermeasures in their country. Thirdly, the data generated by the project will be used for a regional analysis that will be extrapolated to surrounding countries not in the database. Finally, the project will gener-ate results relevant for the design of policies for sustainable development in the rural sec-tor at a country level, as well as for the Africa region as a whole.