26 March 2013: During a month-long e-discussion on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and the role of South-South cooperation in agricultural development in Africa, the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) invited participants to share real-life examples to strengthen the evidence base on climate-smart agriculture, particularly in the context of Brazil-Africa agricultural cooperation. The discussion took place from 10 February-4 March 2013. IPC-IG is a partnership between the Government of Brazil and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Participants underscored the need for high-level support to reduce the risks facing farmers. They stressed that a large part of innovation is in organizational and behavioral change, not just the introduction of new technologies. On gender issues, the group noted the need to link gender to monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the issue is adequately considered, and it called for supporting women and the most vulnerable groups to access land, resources and markets.

IPC-IG has developed a list of references cited by participants to improve the evidence based on CSA, and material from the discussion has informed an evidence paper on CSA produced by UNDP. [Publication: E-discussion Summary Report] [IISD RS Sources]