Conference Paper No. 3

The way we produce food must adapt to a variable and changing climate. And key to achieving this is to improve the link between climate information and agricultural practices, especially those of smallholder farmers in developing countries. ‘Agro-climate tools’ do just that and some are introduced here.

The paper tries to provide answers to questions on the status of farm/family forestry in Africa

in terms of opportunities and challenges, their contribution to economic development and

This proceeding report is divided in three sessions. In the first session papers on African forage plant genetic resources in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi and the PANESA region are presented. The second session discusses forage germplasm evaluation. In this session experiences of ILCA, Tanzania, Mauritius, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya are presented. Species involved in the studies included Brachiaria, Cynodon, Trifolium, Lablab, Zornia, Stylosanthes and Crotalaria. The third session deals with extensive livestock production systems.

This paper synthesizes knowledge within CGIAR and its partners on agricultural practices and technologies to enhance food security, resilience and productivity in a sustainable manner. A number of agricultural practices and technologies which contribute to these objectives were identified and assessed to generate four key lessons.