Scientists at last week’s 2018 United Nation’s conference on climate change in Katowice, Poland, noted that the use of technologies and innovations like solar irrigation, digital agriculture, climate-smart agriculture and climate-smart breeding, is the only way to tackle the negative effects of climate change. Other technologies rooted for at the forum dubbed United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP24) were bio-fortification, use of climate-smart seed varieties and use of drones. However, with the Paris Agreement on climate change, which deals with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, there is an open window for farmers and entrepreneurs to access climate finance for further innovations and agricultural technology transfer. The experts further highlighted the importance of non-cereal crops in enhancing food and nutrition security, especially for the rural poor. These crops, which include banana, arrow roots, cassava, Irish potato, sweet potatoes and yams, have immense potential for reducing hunger and malnutrition and helping smallholder farmers adapt to climate change, said the scientists.

Source: Daily Nation December 14, 2018 17:58 UTC