‘Climate Smart Villages’ in Punjab, India provide lessons on climate smart agriculture

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) organised the ‘International Workshop on Climate Smart Villages’ in September in Ludhiana, Punjab province, India. LI-BIRD, in partnership with CCAFS is implementing the CDKN-funded ‘Scaling-up Climate Smart Agriculture in Nepal’ project and we took part to learn more about the Climate Smart Village approach. The Climate Smart Village is a community-based approach to limit the effects of climate change through engagement with stakeholders on the best interventions that fit the local context. The idea is to mainstream climate-smart interventions into village development plans with the use of local knowledge through local institutions to address the triple challenges in agriculture – improving food production (quality, quantity and diversity), adapting to climate change and contributing to mitigating greenhouse gases emissions. The workshop comprised theoretical discussions, field observations, and participant reflections, such as participatory assessment of portfolios of climate-smart agricultural practices for rice and wheat cropping systems to adapt to climate variability and changes, and farmer’s participatory evaluation of adaptation and risk management interventions. The portfolio approach of Climate Smart Agriculture pilot projects proved to be very interesting. Farmers in Climate Smart Villages are using a range of technological and institutional interventions related to weather forecasting, index-based insurance schemes, efficient irrigation management strategies, adapted cultivars, and a range of other low greenhouse gas emitting options. In doing so, they are optimising synergies among adaptation, mitigation, food production and sustainable development. For detail, please refer the link below. http://cdkn.org/2015/10/feature-climate-smart-villages-in-punjab-india-promoting-climate-smart-agriculture/?loclang=en_gb