Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change in the Lake Chad Basin

Detailed description of project:

With this project AHT supports farming households to identify, adopt and improve adaptation strategies to adapt traditional farming practices to meet harsher climate condition, and to disseminate best practices throughout the member states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).

At the local level, practical adaptation measures have already been adopted by farming households. Recession cropping, in the moist soil following the main harvest at the end of the rainy season, is being intensified. Poor or lost rain-fed harvests of sorghum and rice are supplemented by Berbéré sorghum which is more resistant to drought and can grow from the residual soil moisture. New varieties with short growing cycles enable a second harvest before the onset of the dry season during which irrigation is needed to assure the success of horticultural activities. The project seeks to promote and enlarge the palette of adaptation measures available to farming households and promote best practices throughout the basin.

Type of services provided:

 
  • Development of a climate change study for the Lake Chad Basin (B1 and A2 scenarios until 2099);
  • Planning and implementation of an inventory of agricultural production systems in a pilot zone between N’Djaména and Bongor in Chad and Maroua in Cameroon: Household surveys, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and other methods of primary data collection in approx. 1,000 villages; secondary data collection; data analysis and report writing;
  • Development and implementation of climate change adaptation measures for the major cropping systems/value chains in the pilot area (rainfed farming, cultivation with residual moisture on recessional land, livestock farming, and solar-powered irrigation of small-scale vegetable gardens);
  • Collaboration with and assistance of Chadian and Cameroonian NGOs in the planning and implementation of adaptation measures;
  • Dissemination of the adaptation measures (best practices) to neighbouring countries and promotion of networking among the stakeholders;
  • Development of communication material for different audiences: Fact sheets, videos, radio broadcasts, homepage;
  • Support to GIZ and LCBC in the development and validation process of a regional climate change adaptation strategy for the Lake Chad Basin.
 

 

GIZ
Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
09/2013 – 05/2018
Contract value:
499,910 €