Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

This 115-page Institutions for Rural Development Series resource book from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) summarises the project methodology developed and tested during 2005/06 to assess livelihood adaptation to climate variability and change in the drought-prone areas of Northwest Bangladesh. The information presented on climate change adaptation is intended to enable readers to prepare, demonstrate, and implement location-specific adaptation practices and, thus, to improve the adaptive capacity of rural livelihoods to climate change in agriculture and allied sectors.

The project was implemented under the Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Programme (CDMP) and in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). In the first project phase described in this resource, local adaptation practices were identified by involving the community in participatory dialogue. The practices identified included: dry seedbed, improved short-duration crop varieties, supplemental irrigation, closing of soil cracks, homestead gardening with fruit trees, re-excavation of irrigation canals and mini ponds, and strengthening of field bunds (barriers to soil and water run-off). The next step was working with farmers to test various options, followed by a sound economic and marketing analysis of the successfully tested options. Dissemination and extension of strategies include: demonstrations, orientation meetings, field days, farmer field schools, and demonstration farmer or community rallies.

The dissemination and extension strategies overview includes a menu of good practices for disseminating the viable adaptation options at pilot villages for their acceptance. The approaches followed initially for this purpose are limited to the following:

• Demonstrations: Monitoring the benefits of adaptation in cooperation with agricultural extension staff involving the local community, especially the farmers.
• Farmer-friendly extension tools: Orientation meetings, demonstration rallies, and farmers' field schools will be adopted to disseminate information on adaptation practices. There are plans to adopt other extension methods in the future.
• Awareness-raising strategies: Awareness-raising is an integral part of the extension methods followed for demonstration and dissemination. Printed materials will be developed to describe the salient features of each adaptation practice selected for demonstration. Local-level training programmes will discuss the advantages of the adaptation options identified for drought-prone areas.

The following contains details of some of the extension and dissemination strategies used once piloted strategies have been accepted in the initial villages:

• Orientation meetings are helpful to bring extension staff and farmers groups together to discuss and analyse issues and ideas related to climate change adaptation.
• Next step is the preparation of the demonstration plan for each of the viable adaptation options, formulated with an upazilla-level technical implementation working group actively participating in the entire demonstration and subsequent meetings.
• A community-level training day needs to be organised in a suitable place before each season, with a proper training schedule and curriculum, and handouts and other relevant training materials prepared.
• A field day is a group extension event conducted at the demonstration site. The group members present successful demonstrations to invited farmer neighbours.
• The farmer field school approach can be utilised for disseminating the advantages of viable adaptation options to climate change in drought-prone areas.
• During field days and demonstrations, maximum use should be made of locally or centrally produced training material, such as leaflets, banners, and flipcharts. Role play is another option. Extension tools include written and explanatory pamphlets, brochures, and pictures of good practices. The printed materials contain good practice menus with their cost/benefit analysis. The successfully tested options would be disseminated through radio. The local resource groups need to prepare a seasonal calendar/ planner for effective implementation of demonstrations. It is essential to maintain, as far as possible, audio-visual material, including folk songs, video, and slide show, or other entertainment that can be included under the list of extension materials.
• Farmer rallies are large extension events gathering 80 to 100 farmers from neighbouring villages/blocks for a combination of group motivation activities covering practices that deal with viable adaptation, crop intensification, water-saving, or rainwater harvesting.
• One-day training opportunities for female representatives in the demonstration should be organised in a suitable place near the demonstration site before each season. A female farmer/organiser who has received three days of special training on “climate change impacts and disaster risk management”, should be engaged to handle this training. After training, all female representatives of selected demonstration farmer groups can participate as a group in implementing some season-specific adaptation practices.

In addition to testing methods and communicating with farmers, for medium- and long-term sustainability of any kind of intervention, the resource recommends that linkages between climate change adaptation and mainstream development need to be ensured, and an enabling institutional environment must be established. "The fundamental prerequisite of long-term livelihood adaptation is coordination of agency planning, communication and field operations activities, as well as the activities of government line agencies and departments, NGOs [non-governmental organisations], GO [governmental organisation] agencies and farmers."

The document concludes by recommending awareness raising, action planning, inclusion of vulnerable groups and local communities, and attention to early warning system development, along with institutional mechanisms to support initiatives, such as:

1. Incorporation of livelihood adaptations in long-term planning.
2. Implementation of research and development on new crops.
3.  Improvement of information dissemination network.
4. Market risk management in agriculture.
5. Access to credit.
6. Developing enabling institutions and favourable socio-economic conditions.
7. Institutional guidelines.
8. Development of livelihood opportunities in vulnerable areas.
9. Integration of traditional knowledge and practices into adaptation.

FAO website.