Description:
Efforts to meet the growing demand for food across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has led to unsustainable land management practices that cause soil degradation and weaken the resilience of agricultural systems. Soil health is key to building more climate-resilient agricultural systems and can be improved through a range of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices.
Featuring presentations from Prof Andy Dougill, Dr Samuel Eze and Thirze Hermans, this webinar will focus on AFRICAP’s efforts to review and extend the empirical evidence base to inform context-specific CSA recommendations and policies for a resilient agriculture and food security in SSA. The use of soil health indicators as a measure of the effectiveness of implemented CSA practices such as Conservation Agriculture (e.g. cover cropping, mulching, crop rotation, intercropping, minimum/zero tillage, crop residue management) in maize-based systems and Soil and Water Conservation (contour planting, terraces and bunds, planting pits, irrigation) in Highland African systems will be discussed. The webinar will also explore strategies for upscaling CSA practices through enhanced farmer participation in the chain of CSA activities ranging from intervention design to community evaluation of impacts.
The webinar will close with a response from discussant, Dr Christian Thierfelder, Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist and Strategic Leader specializing in Conservation Agriculture systems research with CIMMYT, followed by a Q&A, facilitated by the event chair Prof Steven Banwart, Director of the Global Food & Environment Institute at the University of Leeds.
The event features presentations by the following speakers:
Prof Andy Dougill, Professor of Environmental Sustainability, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds
Dr Samuel Eze, GCRF-AFRICAP Research Fellow, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds
Thirze Hermans, PhD Candidate, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds
Chair & Discussant: Dr Christian Thierfelder, Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist & Strategic Leader in Conservation Agriculture Research, CIMMYT
For more information and to register, please visit the event page: