Side event at UNCCD COP15: Integrated approaches for sustainable land management in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia
14 May 2022
Project Name
Support for Sustainable Food Production and Enhancement of Food Security and Climate Resilience in Burundi's Highlands
GEF Implementing Agency
FAO
Objective
To increase the adoption of resilient, improved production systems for sustainable food security and nutrition through integrated landscape management and sustainable food value chains.
Project Targets
land under integrated and sustainable management
GHG emissions avoided or reduced
beneficiary households
Burundi’s economy is dominated by small-scale rainfed agriculture. 50% of the country’s land area is dedicated to small-scale farming and more than 90% of the total population relies on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood.
In Burundi’s highlands, environmental degradation has resulted in persistently low crop and livestock productivity, loss of ecosystem services and loss of agrobiodiversity. This decline in agricultural productivity has not only increased food insecurity for millions of smallholder farmers, but also contributes to poverty, social conflict, rural-urban migration and vulnerability to climate change. These impacts are particularly felt amongst vulnerable population groups, including women, youth, and the elderly.
This project uses an innovative, multisectoral approach, involving coordination at national, provincial, and local levels to ensure support for sustainable land management. This approach focuses on establishing policy platforms and knowledge sharing mechanisms to help strengthen national- and local-level support systems.
The project is structured around three principal components:
The lessons and good practices of the project are captured and promoted by the Farmer Field Schools (FFS). This approach to the systematization of knowledge management supports the replication and scaling-up of project results in the country and across the region.
Overall, the project is designed to benefit 33,534 rural households through the support of catchment-level planning, improved agricultural practices, operationalisation of Farmer Field Schools, restoration of degraded land, and sustainable land management.
The project aims to meet the following targets:
Institutional frameworks and support mechanisms strengthened.
Livelihoods and food security improved through integrated watershed management.
Monitoring and Assessment systems established to track global environmental benefits and socio-economic impacts.
At the national level, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAGRIE) is the lead government counterpart and coordinating agency in this project and works in close collaboration with the Ministry of Water, Environment, Spatial and Urban Planning (MEEATU).
At the provincial level, the decentralized structures of the two ministries are involved with the Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Livestock (DPAE) and with the Burundi Office for the Protection of the Environment (OBPE).
At the communal level, the project interventions are supervised by the communal or zonal agronomist. The capacities of Farmer Field School Groups, cooperatives, and watershed committees are being reinforced to support local communities, who are the main beneficiaries of the project.
Each RFS country project conducts activities that fall under common thematic areas within the programme. Explore each project theme relevant to the RFS Burundi country project below to see which activities are being implemented under each theme.
Stories from the Field
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Relevant Resources
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The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and its partners including World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and CIFOR-ICRAF host a side event at the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Case studies from three Resilient Food Systems (RFS) programme countries (Nigeria, Senegal and Burundi) and from IFAD projects in Cambodia demonstrate emerging lessons on integrated sustainable land and water management, and payments for ecosystem services in subsistence farming.
The RFS Burundi project, Support for Sustainable Food Production and Enhancement of Food Security and Climate Resilience in Burundi's Highlands, presents at the COP15 in Abidjan. The presentation touches on the themes of 'Land, Life, Legacy' adopted by the 2022 convention, presenting best practices and lessons learnt through project implementation.
This presentation was given during the event Advocating for Resilient Food Systems on November 23rd, 2021.