The Ghana Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), a science-policy dialogue platform, is to deepen awareness and to enhance knowledge on climate change among stakeholders.

It will also provide consistent research and development to support the mainstreaming of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), into Ghana's food and agriculture systems.
Ghana is one of three countries, including Mali and Burkina Faso, to benefit from the initiative to enhance Climate-Change adaptation within the food and agricultural systems in rural communities through the exchange of information, experience sharing and learning to influence policy.

The platform is hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-ARI) and was formed in 2012 through multi-stakeholder dialogue and launched on July 30, 2013, with strong ministerial support from Ministry of Food Agriculture, and the Ministries of Environment Science and Technology, and Trade and Industry.

Mr Vincent Ansah Botchway, the Executive Secretary of the platform, said the platform, in the past seven years, had helped to increase collaboration between the private sector, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the public sector to address climate change.

The platform with support from the ministerial and parliamentary levels made significant contributions to protect the environment by developing bye-laws at the district and community levels.

He said the frameworks were anchored by gender and value chain development considerations to guide district assembly in their development plans, particularly in tapping into the one-district-one-factory (1D1F) policy of the government.

Mr Botchway said the platform in partnership with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2017-2018 developed nine district-level CSA investment frameworks for the mobilisation of funds into the districts, and thereby responsive to the Ghana CSA-FSAP 2016-2020.

"To bridge observed climate change information, solutions and actions gaps between community people, researchers, policy decision-makers, the platform in collaboration with CCAFS West Africa, CARE International and MOFA mobilised for the establishment and launch of 10 subnational platforms in 10 districts in Ghana," he explained.

The districts are Nadowli-Kaleo, Lawra, Jirapa, Nandom, Lambusie-Karni, Ho West, Ada West, Tain, Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese and Birim South respectively to ensure policy advocacy and mainstreaming.

The concept was initiated by the CCAFS programme West Africa (ICRISAT, Bamako- Mali) to promote food-secure nations through the provision of science-based efforts that support sustainable agriculture and enhance livelihoods while adapting to Climate-Change and conserving natural resources and environmental services.

Through the work of the platform, the draft financial plan to address the CSA and Food Security Action Plan (CSA-FSAP, 2016-2020) has become a relevant input for the development of Ghana CSA Investment Plan (CSAIP) by the World Bank through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), and which will be linked to the Adaptation of African Initiative.

Dr Botchway said the platform would support improved food and nutrition security for health, contribute to building resilient agro-systems at the sub-national level through active participation in action research and CSA promotions.

He said CSA aims to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; adapt and build resilience to climate change, and reduce and/or remove greenhouse gas emissions.

CSA provides the means to help stakeholders from local to national and international levels identify agricultural strategies suitable to their local conditions and it is one of the 11 Corporate Areas for Resource Mobilisation under the FAO's strategic objectives.

"This year CCAFS West Africa in collaboration with Ghana CCAFS platform is supporting the capacity building of CSA actors in the existing platforms to enable them to develop proposals to attract local and international funding to address climate-change-related challenges within their respective farming systems," he said.

The CCAFS is a member of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA) and also member of West Africa CSA Alliance and an active participant of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA)-NEPAD activities on climate-smart agriculture on the continent.