Farmers asked to practice "climate smart agriculture"

By Clare Muhindo & John Agaba  
        
Experts Monday asked farmers to use fertilizers and improved seeds and engage in climate change friendly practices to improve production.

During the second East African Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Conference at the Grand Imperial Hotel in Kampala, the experts said prices of seasonal crops fluctuate and modern practices enable farmers to reduce cost of production.

“We have to find alternative ways to maximize production. How we can triple output from the land we have, without necessarily using additional land?” Martin Ameu, a programme associate at UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

  UN'S Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) Somalia representative Laura Cortada(left) and Lead Consultant for Mirror Consultant Limited, Nairobi Esther Njene(right) chatting at the Second Eastern Africa Sub-regional Workshop on Climate-Smart Agriculture by FAO sub-regional office at Grand Imperial on July 27 2015. PHOTO BY MIRIAM NAMUTEBI.

“We need to devise better crop management practices and apply irrigation and fertilizers to increase efficiency.”

Caroline Kirungu, who presented a paper on CSA initiatives in Eastern Africa, said unlike in the past, where a farmer got a hoe and moved to the garden immediately the rains started, today farmers needed to be more practical.

She said: “We need to practice irrigation, plant drought resistant varieties and commercialize our agriculture.”

Programme Manager for Conservation Agriculture Regional Programme(CARP) Edward Gitta speaking at the 2nd eastern Africa Sub-regional Workshop on Climate-Smart Agriculture by FAO sub-regional office at Grand Imperial on July 27 2015. PHOTO/MIRIAM NAMUTEBI.

Agriculture minister Tress Bucyanayandi, who opened the conference, said government was distributing tea, coffee, and cotton seedlings to increase production of perennial crops.

He said that agriculture produce increased from 0.7% in 1999 to 1.5% in 2011 and contributed 26% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Agriculture practices account for 14% of global green gas emissions. Apart from that they are a key driver of deforestation and land degradation, which account for an additional 17% of the emissions.

Experts said governments need to help farmers to plant more trees.