Crop Biodiversity » Tag: climatechange

Community genebanking gotten tougher with Climate change, should we close our eyes?

Rose Nankya — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:47:50 +0000

Kiziba community genebank in Kabwohe, Uganda, started in 2010 when farmers realized that it was the only way to have a diverse Common Bean seed source in the area and solve the seed insecurity problem that was becoming long lasting. With technical support from Bioversity International and the National Agricultural Research Organization as well as financial support from UNEP/GEF, farmers worked very hard to save seed that formed the starting capital for the genebank.

Farmers sorting common bean seed

The first beneficiaries borrowed and returned twice the amount of seed quantities to gene bank and the trend continued this way in the seasons that followed. However, the rainfall and sunshine patterns started changing from normal and all the climbing varieties eventually got erased from the system. The bushy varieties survived to different extents up to today and the quantities of seed have been steadily increasing with each season despite challenges of climate change. The season of July to October 2012 was appalling as they never collected even the quantity they gave out at the start of the season. Although farmers promised to pay the amount of seed they owe in the current season, one worries a bit if this climate change is to continue because then the future of this community gene banking initiative cannot be forecast with confidence.

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Farmers have resorted to varieties which mature early and those that persist extreme weather conditions but these are not many. In the event that the changes in weather continue, they are likely to take with them the Common bean diversity that the farmers are struggling to conserve and therefore beat the objective of establishing the genebank. Irrigation would save the situation but might be tricky for the small scale farmers to afford or sustain but should we close our eyes and not even look on?

The importance of crop biodiversity under climate change

carlo — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 04:43:17 +0000

A new video on the importance of crop diversity under climate change has been recently published by Bioversity International. Carlo Fadda, one of Bioversity International’s senior scientists based in our Sub-Saharan Africa office, Nairobi, talks about the importance of using agricultural biodiversity to suit farmers’ future needs in the face of climate change.

Watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1UwZ_o6vgs

Climate Changes and Pests and Diseases: a Quick Overview

carlo — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:50:43 +0000

The effects of climate change on potential abiotic stresses are well known. Changes in CO2 concentration, increased temperature, increased drought, changing on rainfall patterns have all been documented in the IPCC reports (http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml) and in several recent publications. The effects of climate change will be different in different parts of the world and there exist several studies from different angles and perspectives that describe climate changes consequences to agriculture (some very useful interesting information can be found at http://agrobiodiversityplatform.org/climatechange/). What is much less known and investigated is how pests and diseases, and therefore the biotic stress, will change under climate change scenario. All in all this has to do with food security which has a very strong social component, including education, land rights, global food prices, poor markets, poor market access among others. Nonetheless, having the capacity of producing enough food is a prerequisite to achieve food security and pests and diseases can reduce productivity of major crops by up to 50% (Oerke 2006).

To put things on perspective food production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 due to population growth (we will be 9 billion in 2050) and increase food demand from transition countries. This needs to be achieved under increased land degradation and land conversion, under a reduced water availability. Increase in oil price will result in increase cost of fertilizers thus making them less affordable for farmers. It is evident that pests and diseases will also change and mutate under climate change. As any other species will be subject to natural selection and mutation to adapt to the new conditions. How this will impact on agriculture? Early in the year a full issue of plant pathology was dedicated to climate changes and plant diseases (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ppa.2011.60.issue-1/issuetoc). If you click the pest and disease and climate change document you find a quick summary of the major areas of interest and the program approach to this issue.

Diversity fair in Uganda

carlo — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 08:12:03 +0000

A bean diversity fair was held in Uganda on the 21st of June 2010. Farmers representing 40 villages came with their varieties and explained the use of the varieties. The fair was a big party for farmers, they had an opportunity to know which varieties were available on other villages, and to share their knowledge about varieties. More than 500 people attended the fair.

The theme of the fair was “Crop Diversity, Our Heritage, Our Livelihood”. During the fair farmers organized several events, including traditional singing and poems, a painting competition for schools all related to the fair theme.

The organizing committee also gave prizes to the villages, the first three, which displayed the highets number of varieties and the best set-up.

Attended by several officials, including local political leaders, MPs, Bioversity International representatives, the fair was an opportunity to raise the awareness of the public about the importance of agricultural biodiversity for livelihood and to control pests and diseases. For a full account of the fair click here.