There is no longer any doubt about the urgent need for climate-smart agriculture in southern Africa. Recognising this challenge, the African Development Bank (AfDB), in partnership with the Global Centre for Adaptation (GCA), is launching the Digital Climate Advisory Services (DCAS) Training Course. It will take place online from Johannesburg from 27 to 28 September 2023 and will benefit from the expertise of the Dutch organisation Weather Impact and the South African scientific platform Aqualinks.
At the end of the courses and workshops, the pre-selected participants will be able to propose concrete solutions to prevent food insecurity in their home countries, namely South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia. The modules will combine the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to help increase agricultural yields and incomes and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in value chains.
“The main aim will be to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, best practices and experiences, and to explore the latest innovations and approaches to ensure resilience in crop production and distribution in the sub-region”, says the AfDB. The initiative is part of its African Adaptation Acceleration Programme (AAAP), which will be launched in 2021.
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With the war in Ukraine and prolonged droughts, people’s livelihoods are under threat. Digital solutions should therefore help to boost agricultural productivity on the continent by using sensors to optimise irrigation, disseminating weather data to farmers and connecting them with industries to speed up the sale of their produce. This could also make the profession of agricultural engineer more attractive.
For more information on the course, click here.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi