FAO/GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY PROJECT DOCUMENT PROJECT TITLE: Integrating Climate Resilience Into Agricultural and Pastoral Production for Food Security in Vulnerable Rural Areas Through the Farmers Field School Approach. PROJECT SYMBOL: GCP/BKF/054/LDF Recipient Country: Burkina Faso Resource Partner: Global Environment Facility/Least Developed Country Fund (GEF/LDCF) FAO project ID: 617677 GEF/LDCF/SCCF Project ID: 5014 Executing Partner(s): Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MASA), in connection with the Ministry of Aquatic and Animal Resources (MRAH), the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) and other national partners. Expected EOD (starting date): September 2014 Expected NTE (End date): August 2018 Contribution to FAO’s a. Strategic objective/Organizational Result: (SO-2), Sustainable Agricultural Strategic Framework1 Production Systems. b. Regional Result/Priority Area: Priority 1 for Africa, Increase production and productivity of crops, livestock and fisheries c. Country Programming Framework Outcome: (1) strengthening resistance amongst vulnerable populations to food and nutritional insecurity and (2) improving the revenue of the rural population through improved productivity in agro-sylvo-pastoral systems and fisheries. GEF Focal Area/LDCF/SCCF: Climate Change (Adaptation) GEF/LDCF/SCCF Strategic Objectives: CC-A – 1: Reduce vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change, including variability, at local, national, regional and global level. CC-A – 2: Increase adaptive capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change, including variability, at local, national, regional and global level. CC-A - 3: Promote transfer and adoption of adaptation technology. Environmental Impact Assessment Category (insert √): A B C √ Financing Plan: GEF/LDCF/SCCF allocation: USD 3.81 million Co-financing: MASA (2.07m in grant; 2m in kind) USD 4.075 million MRAH (0.6m in grant; 0.7m in kind) USD 1.3 million FAO (5.45m in grant; 8.55m in kind) USD 14 million Bioversity International (in-kind) USD 60,000 1 For projects operated by country offices, it is necessary to link projects in FPMIS at OR level. For all other projects, linkage at product/service level is necessary 1 Subtotal Co-financing: USD 19,435,000 Total Budget: USD 23.245 million EXECUTIVE SUMMARY West Africa remains one of the poorest regions in the world despite recent progress and a rich natural resource base. It is also one of the regions that is forecasted to be the most affected by climate change. Projections based on latest models suggest that there will be significant increases in temperature, a possibility of reduced rainfall, an increased variability in rainfall and more likelihood of storms and other climatic events. Burkina Faso is a water-scarce, land-locked West African country with a population of approximately 16.6 million. The country is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its socio- economic, climatic and geographical circumstances. Poverty level suggest a low adaptation capacity and limited resilience to shock for large parts of the population and the economy. Burkina Faso’s vulnerability is also due to the high dependence on primary food production and natural resources – as these are the sectors the most vulnerable to climate change. More than 80% of the Burkinabe population is involved in livestock raising to some extent – either as the principal economic activity or as a secondary activity. There are many diverse livestock raising systems, ranging from the highly transhumant to intensive and sedentary. Accordingly, animal husbandry is an important source of food security, national revenue and exports. However, climate change is forecasted to have direct negative impacts on pastoral activities. Temperature increases and rainfall decreases may result in: (i) drastic reduction in overall pasture size and degradation of remaining pasture; (ii) deficits in fodder and food production; and (iii) deficit of water supply for cattle. In turn, this could result in disease, death, lower productivity and a threat to rural development. These climatic factors exacerbate existing challenges related to demographic pressures and governance. In response to the above challenges, the objective of this Project is ‘to enhance the capacity of Burkina Faso's agricultural and pastoral sectors to cope with climate change, by mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) practices and strategies into on-going agricultural development initiatives and agricultural policies and programming and upscaling of farmers adoption of CCA technologies and practices through a network of already established FFS.’ The following four Outcomes were identified in order to deliver the above-mentioned Objective: The first Outcome is Awareness and knowledge on climate-resilient agro-pastoral practices (including adoption of new varieties and cultivars and adapted soil and water management) established at national and regional levels. This Outcome builds a foundation on which grass-roots and operational climate change adaptation measures can be developed and implemented through the subsequent Outcomes. The second Outcome is Broad adoption by agro-pastoralists of financially sustainable, gender- sensitive climate-resilient agro-pastoral practices and technologies. This Outcome encompasses the development of climate resilient and climate change adapted practices and measures and their extension to agro-pastoralist communities across Burkina Faso. The practices are to be developed in a participatory manner through the project but they may include: Integrated crops/trees/livestock production systems with transhumant populations; Integrated crops/trees/livestock production systems with sedentary populations; Use of the Diversity Field Flora approach to secure land management benefits; Improving land tenure security in order to deliver land management benefits; Micro-finance as a modality to support climate resilient adaptation practices; and 2 Farmers using of up-to-date, accurate farmer-oriented weather and climate information. The third Outcome is the Implementation of sectoral plans and local development plans that contribute to climate change resilience for agro-pastoral and agricultural communities. This Outcome leads to the institutionalization of the successes achieved and lessons learnt through the former two Outcomes. In particular it focusses on the sustainability of project impacts. The fourth Outcome, the Monitoring and Evaluation and Information Dissemination, covers the monitoring and evaluation of progress and results, based on a system of targets and indicators. The Project strategy rests on three principal pillars. The first is to develop and operationalize an innovative, integrated, farmer/herder-oriented approach to extension. This will be achieved through the strengthening and upscaling of the ‘Field Schools’ approach - notably by complementing existing farmer field schools in Burkina Faso with agro-pastoralist field schools. This builds on a broad and successful experience in East Africa. The second strategic pillar is the testing of successful approaches across a range of geographically and socio-economically diverse circumstances, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful dissemination. The third strategic pillar is to collaborate with, and influence, a series of large-scale rural development programmes projects in Burkina Faso. This will lead to the broad adoption of the technologies and approaches developed through this Project. Directly, the Project will support at least 26,000 herder-farmers to develop and implement new approaches, practices and technologies that increase climate resilience. Directly, the Project will contribute to improved natural resource management over: at least 5,000 hectares of extensively grazed rangelands; at least 5,000 hectares of semi-intensively grazed rangelands; and at least 5,000 hectares of agricultural land. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND BOXES ....................................................................... 6 SECTION 1 – RELEVANCE AND GENERAL CONTEXT............................................... 9 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Rationale ....................................................................................................................... 14 1.2.1 Baseline situation and projects ............................................................................ 14 1.2.2 Challenges ........................................................................................................... 17 1.2.3 Additional Reasoning .......................................................................................... 19 1.3 FAO’s Comparative Advantages ............................................................................... 21 1.4 Participants and Stakeholder Analysis ...................................................................... 23 1.5 Lessons Learned from Past and Related work (including evaluations) ................. 24 1.6 Links to National Development Goals, Strategies, Plans, Policy and Legislation, GEF/LDCF and FAO Strategic Objectives ..................................................................... 26 SECTION 2 – PROJECT FRAMEWORK AND EXPECTED RESULTS ...................... 29 2.1 Project Strategy ........................................................................................................... 29