IFAD participated in the technology fair organized during the COP14 where over 8,000 participants were expected from 2-13 September 2019. IFAD displayed projects, publications and videos on its investments to support sustainable land management and restoration. On 5 September, Rasha Omar, IFAD country director for India, moderated a two-hour session during which three IFAD-supported projects presented the technologies they developed for sustainable land management. Researchers from the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture in India, as well as NGO representatives and journalists attended the presentations.
"We support our communities to transform environment threats into opportunities," said Soumaila Abdoullaye, the Coordinator of the Family Farming Development Programme (ProDAF) in Niger, which is one of the twelve projects of the Resilient Food Systems programme. Starting from the project's overall approach, Soumaila Abdoullaye shared tested practices in land and water management, such as improved "Zai", 'Half-moons', sand dune fixation, farmer managed natural regeneration and water harvesting. Through these affordable and community-led practices, more than 101,000 ha of degraded land have been restored in the country. As a result, 54 per cent of households in the project areas and beyond adopted sustainable land management practices that increased their crop yield of cereals from 300 to 800kg per ha. In the same way, rural exodus has been limited due to the improvement of the cropland productivity. The Niger project raised interest from many countries who are willing to build on or replicate these tested practices and approaches.
Ashish Anand, Additional Project Director, Jharkhand Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Project (JTELP), India, presented the weather based localised planning and implementation for improved food security. During this year’s kharif season, the project embarked on training around 18,000 farmers on the package of practices and providing close to 47,000 farmers with the required seed and bio-pesticide inputs to plant 68,100 acres in 616 villages. Nearly 45 per cent of the area is under paddy, a major staple crop in the tribal sub-districts where the project operates. A new developed this kharif season is the promotion of Direct Seeded Rice that the International Rice Research Institute has promoted in the State of Jharkhand as well as building on the practice of small farmer large fields. The main result expected from this intervention is improved food security, as only 70 per cent of households in the project area report they are food secure for 12 months.
Rasha Omar presented the two technologies from Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project (APDMP). Firstly, the navadhanya intercropping technique where redgram, castor, sorghum, millets, cowpea, field bean are intercropped in a specific pattern. This combination of crops supports a diversified diet, in addition to fodder for livestock, improved soil fertility, soil cover for nine months with different harvests and effective use of soil moisture. This technique is implemented in 4,000 Ha so far. Ultimately, the aim is to build the resilience of farmers to climate variability, especially for late onset of rainfall and extended dry spells. Secondly, regeneration of rangelands on degraded common land. The project explained how common lands are identified with the village councils and selected commons for rehabilitation are entered into Prohibitory Order Book. The village councils, with support from NGOs, develop detailed proposals for land restoration with focus on grassland regeneration, biomass development and aquifer restoration. Currently 10,000 Ha have been identified and the project target is to improve rangeland management on 43,000 Ha of common land by 2022.
The Technology Fair is a meeting space to promote the best SLM technologies and to reinforce the importance of developing and disseminating appropriate technology for the implementation of the UNCCD process.
IFAD held booth 39 at the exhibition hall of the COP14. The booth provided opportunity for daily interactions with hundreds of delegates and participants from NGOs, host country government officials, PSUs, CSO, journalists, etc. Meena Negi from IFAD ICO managed the booth through the week.