E African experts call for "climate-smart" agriculture

Agriculture experts from East African countries met here Monday and called for joint long-term measures to ensure that agricultural systems are resilient to climate change.

They made the appeal at a two-day regional conference on climate change organized by the Eastern Africa Farmers' Federation in partnership with its affiliated Imbaraga Farmers' Association of Rwanda.

Dr. Drake Mubiru, a senior researcher and project coordinator at Uganda's National Agricultural Research Organization, advised farmers to engage in "climate-smart agriculture" to enhance agriculture's resilience.

"You should practice agriculture in environment-friendly ways by using suitable and useful chemicals, fighting erosion, planting trees and adopting new technologies that can help you shorten the growing period of crops," Mubiru said.

Anthony Twahirwa, head of the agro-meteorology services at Rwanda's Meteorology Agency, said that the institution is providing farmers with essential forecasts to prevent losses related to climate change.

The agency has established a platform to offer people weather forecast information whenever they need it, Twahirwa said.

"We have a system working with the four districts of the (country's) western province that are prone to disasters. ... We give them hourly weather forecasting," he said.

He added that besides the forecasting, the agency also provides other special services for those involved in agriculture at various levels.

Jean Munyakazi, the legal representative of the Imbaraga Farmers' Association of Rwanda, cited the lack of early warning systems as one of the major threats to farmers' resilience to climate change.

The climate-smart agriculture approach was initiated by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization as part of the solution to the climate change issue. Endi