Mainstreaming Climate Change in Caadp Policy Processes in Malawi
MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE CHANGE IN CAADP POLICY PROCESSES IN MALAWI
Civil Society Agriculture Network
Anamwino House
City Centre
P.O Box 203
Lilongwe
Malawi
Tel: +265 1 770 479
Fax: +265 1 770 492
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August 2012
The work of producing this report was made possible with financial support from the European Union the International Food Security Network projects. The views raised in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the donors
(i) Abstract
Agriculture in Malawi and the world over is faced with a lot of challenges. However, it has been noted of late that one of the major causes of the current challenges that are affecting agriculture is the change taking place in climate globally (IPCC, 2007; Bie et al, 2007). Agriculture in Malawi is predominantly practiced in dry lands and is dependent on rainfall as opposed to irrigation. This has made it to be very vulnerable to climate change. Currently, the notable effect that climate change has brought, is the shrinkage of the rainy season where the decline has gone from seven months to about four months (Saka and Phiri, 2008). This distinct mark of seasonal variability has also come along with it, some weather extremes such as floods and drought that have increased both in frequency and intensity and in recent years have devastated the agriculture productivity in Malawi (Devereux et al, 2008).
Over the past four years, nations of Africa have adopted the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) as a harmonised policy document for the development of agriculture ion the continent and Malawi is a signatory to the statues of this program. To domesticate the CAADP, Malawi developed the Agriculture Sector wide Approach, which is a harmonised policy document for the development of Agriculture in Malawi. However, in addition to this policy document, the Malawi’s agricultural sector is currently being governed by about 23 policy documents. These policies cover all areas related to agriculture. One striking feature observed in all these policies documents about climate change is that they are either silent or do not say much on climate change and how policy is going to tackle its effects in agriculture. Though the ASWAp which is the most recent policy among the 23 has hinted on something on climate change but it is still wanting on the emphasis and process of how to mainstream these into the subsequent programs of this policy document. It has also been observed that most of these policies were written in the 80’s and 90’s when the issues to do with climate change were not much of an issues in the development discourse locally and internationally. However, as the shift is taking place towards the management of climate change in development, policies especially those in agriculture need also to respond by being redrafted to be inline with the current state of affairs.
This paper explores the current trends in Malawi as far as climate policy in agriculture is concerned. It will look at; who are the current players/actors and networks; what are their narratives and how are they framing the climate change problem in terms of increasing vulnerability of the agricultural systems due to variations in seasonality and disasters and what answers are they suggesting? What are the politics involved in all these (Between the civil society, donors and government). What spaces of policy engagement are available and what spaces are opening up? What role is research playing in informing the debate on climate change adaptation in Malawi in general and agriculture in particular and what is the role of the media and what has the media done so far? Of late the government of Malawi has put in place several social protection measures like the agricultural Input subsidies, what is their role in averting climate disasters and what is the position of the actors on this? This paper has also reviewedsome policies in agriculture and environment that talks about climate change and explore the gaps in these policies and also made recommendations on how they can be redesigned to respond to climate change and seasonal variability.
(ii) Contents list
(i) Abstract
(ii) Contents list
(iii) Acronyms list
Introduction.
2.0 Literature Review
3.0 Methodology
3.1 Desk Reviews
3.4 Conceptual framework
4.2.0 Actors, Networks and their narrative on the climate change question
4.2.1 Preamble
4.2.2 The Government
4.2.3 The Civil Society
4.2.4 Media
4.2.5 Private Sector
4.2.6 The Donors
4.2.7 The Academia/Research
4.3 Politics of Policy and Spaces for Engagement
4.4.0 A quick overview of some of the Agricultural and Environmental policies in relation to climate change
4.4.1 Preamble
4.4.2 National Irrigation Policy and Development Strategy
4.4.3 National Environmental Policy and Action Plan
4.4.4 The Malawi National Strategy for Sustainable Development
4.4.5 The National Water Policy
4.4.6 National Biodiversity Policy and Action Plan
4.4.7 National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA)
5.0 Conclusion and Policy recommendations
5.2 Strengthen the Role the Non-state Actors
6.0 References
(iii) Acronyms list
ADPAgricultural Development Programme
CAADPComprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme
CARDChurches Action for Relief and Development
CEPACentre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy
CISANETCivil Society Agriculture Network
CRSCatholic Relief Services
CSRCentre for Social Research
CURECoordination Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment
GDPGross Domestic Product
IRLADIrrigation, Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Development Programme
MEETMalawi Environmental Endowment Trust
MEGSMalawi Economic Growth Strategy
MGDSMalawi Growth and Development Strategy
MNSSDMalawi National Strategy for Sustainable Development
MPRSPMalawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
MRFCMalawi Rural Finance Company
MVACMalawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee
NAPANational Adaptation Plan of Action
NASFAMNational Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi
NBSAPNational Biodiversity Policy and Action Plan
NEAPNational Environmental Action Plan
NEPNational Environmental Policy
NEPADNew Economic Partnership for African Development
NORADNorwegian Agency for International Development
OIBMOpportunity International Bank of Malawi
SWAPSector Wide Approach
UNDPUnited Nations Development Programme
WSSDWorld Summit on Sustainable Development
Introduction.
Climate change has become an important phenomenon that is affecting development worldwide. Among the sectors that have become most affected by climate change is that of agriculture. This paper will therefore explore some of the recent developments and debates taking place in Malawi in as far as climate change policy in agriculture is concerned and how climate change issues are finding their way into agricultural policy process, especially the ASWAp. Since the late 70’s and the early 80’s it became apparent that the earth is undergoinga significant shift in climate. Accordingto IPCC (2007), it has now been generally accepted that this climate changeis indeed takingplace, and is to a greater extent as a result of human activities. Most climate change models predict that global temperatures will rise by about 1-30C by the year 2100 in response to a rise in carbon dioxide concentration levels. According to the same report, this projected change is larger than any other climate change over the last 10,000 years and is likely to have significant impact on global environment, such as a rise in sea levels, flooding, and droughts; with negative impact on food security, and undesirable consequences on physical infrastructures, economic activities, human settlements and health. These changes are likely to have a significant impact on food production and sustainable livelihoods of smallholder households, around the developing world.
However, theIPCC report furtherindicates that although the generaleffects of climate change may be known, it is not easy to predict them accurately in most local context. Such unpredictability has brought a lot of uncertainty to countries that are heavily dependent on agriculture like Malawi. Most of these countries have seen a rise in climate variabilities such as the increasing intensity of rain within a short period of time which has resulted in floods that have destroyed the crops and other sources of livelihoods. In Malawi, there have also been incidences of drought that have resulted in crop failure in most parts of the central and southern regions of the country (Bei et al, 2007; Saka and Phiri, 2008). The current changes in weather patterns in Malawi as observed by the Malawi Meteorological Service and noted by all farmers (Action Aid, 2006) include higher temperatures, delayed and shorter rainy seasons and increased intensity of rainfall. However it is difficult to say with certainty that these observed changes in patterns ofweatherreflect the trends in possible longer-term climate variability’s and their effects on Malawi’s agriculture.
Agriculture is a very important sector in Malawi as it provides about 40% of the GDP, 90% of all export earnings and it employs directly and indirectly about 80% of the entire workforce. Agriculture also account for about 60% of all rural income.Having such a core function to play in the economy, it is imperative that agricultural policies should address the issues and the challenges that are coming as a result of climate change as a priority. As pointed out earlier, the agricultural sector in Malawi is governed by about 23 policy documents covering different subsectorswhich include among others; crops, livestock, researchand extension. However most of these policies are virtually silent on climate change. This could be attributed to the fact that most of these policies were written in the 80’s and 90’s when climate change was not an issue in agriculture to seriously think about and address through a national policy. However, in 1997 the Government of Malawi in response to he dictates of the CAADP embarked on a process to develop the Agricultural Sector wide Approach (ASWAP). This is a harmonised policy document that will provide a basis for planning and also as a reference document for all agricultural programs for all sector players in Malawi. On issues of climate and agriculture in Malawi, there have been several efforts that have been carried out by the donor community, the civil society and the NGOs in spearheading the incorporation of climate change issues in the national policy and programmes. In general Malawi has three major overarching policy documents which provide a framework for all sectoral policies in agriculture. These policy documents are the Vision 2020, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS ll) and the ASWAp.
In this paper, chapter oneexplores why is climate change a concern to agriculture in Malawi, which may also be the case in most southern African countries. It will provide some background to agricultural growth in Malawi and how the issue of climate change is slowly taking centre stage in the policy debates taking place. It will highlight on how policy issues, on the interaction between environment and agriculture has evolved over time. Chapter two will provide the conceptual framework under which the researchwas conducted. This framework borrows some ideas from the concept used in Keeley and Scoones (2003) in analysing the relationship between policy narratives, actors and networks and also politics involved in the policy arena. Chapter three explores the actors and networks currently operating in Malawi’s agricultural sector. It looks at what are their narratives on climate change problem? and how do they frame the climate change problem surrounding agricultural production? Chapter four explores the politics and constraints/limitations relating to policy change according to the identified actors and what are their suggestions. It will also look as to what are the spaces currently opening up for policy engagement? What are the limitations for engagement? Chapter five provides some analysis of the policies in agriculture and environment concerning climate change and look at what are the issues being raised in these policies and how are these addressing the gaps in the ASWAp.
2.0 Literature Review
Several studies are being carried out worldwide to analyse and understand the effects of climate change on agriculture. It is interesting to note that some of these studies have indicated that climate change will affect agriculture both negatively and positively in the short to medium term. Devereux and Edwards (2004) and Parry et al (1999) indicated that the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and the tropical and sub-tropical regions, which are mainly in the southern half of the world, will be affected differently. The temperate region, especially the north America and parts of Europe and a large part of the Russian federation will experience an increase in agricultural land, the land that is currently too cold to be used for agriculture. Additionally, there will also be an increase in crop productivity due to the increased amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere through the process of CO2 Fertilisation which will enhance the amount of photosynthesis taking place in plants (Devereux and Edwards, 2004; Slater et al, 2007). However, other literature have challenged the CO2 fertilisation concept as being difficult to measure in practice unless subjected to agronomic experiments. It is also difficult to isolate the effects of Carbon Dioxide over time against a background of other agricultural technological developments that may also enhance productivity, taking also into consideration that atmospheric Carbon Dioxide will be evenly distributed in the world atmosphere. (Mendelson, 2000).
Climate change has not only affected crops but also other classes of agriculture like livestock and aquaculture which ASWAp is also promoting as a way of diversifying agricultural productivity in Malawi. The productivity of livestockis being affected directly as well as indirectly by changes inclimate.It has also been reported that domestic livestock, like other animals, have a certain climate thresholdbelow which they perform optimally.Beyond this thermal optimum, meat and milk production declines. Worst still, it has also been noted that there is limited potential forextending this limit through breeding. When the temperature limits arereached, cattle stop eating, movement such as walking to pasture and water are hindered,breeding is interrupted, and milk production drops (Field, 2005; Notenbaert et al, 2006: Rowlinson et al, 2008). The heat-induced loss of appetite can alsodelay the time an animal takes to reach market weight by a year or more (Notenbaert et al, 2006). The indirect effects of climate change on livestock may be those associated withfood and pasture production. There is some correlation between reduction in the number of livestock and rainfall, mostly the direct link has been through grass production. Low subsistence agricultural output has also translated in the reduction in numbers of animals that directly compete with humans for food such as pigs (Dandaula, 2008).
It is also important to note that the effects of climate change on agriculture is not only the changes in seasons, average temperature and rainfall but also the changes in the frequency, severity and recently the spatial distribution of extreme weather events that have been costly to agriculture. Climate change has led to weather variability’s and extremes like droughts which have mostly been as a result of La Ninaas was the case during the 2000/2001 drought that affected most of the southern Africa region and floods which have mostly been as a result of El Nino, one examplein point was the floods that affected the Zambezi basin during the 2000 and 2007 rainy season in central Mozambique (UNDP, 2007). However, it is argued in some literature that global warming is not a new phenomenon, it is not a thing of the future but rather a thing of the past, as a matter of fact Africa is much warmer today than it was some hundred years ago and the rate of warming has been about 0.5 degrees per century (Hulme et al. 2001). Farmers and African agriculture have been adapting to these changes in climate and seasonality using indigenous farming methods such as shifting cultivation and intercropping among others over a long period of time (Richards, 1985). However, the major challenge now is the destructive frequency and severity that is being associated with droughts and floods that are coming due to largely as a result of climate change
On the overall climate change is going to affect most of the efforts being carried out in poverty reduction because most of the poor people are directly involved in agriculture (Slater et al, 2007). However, projections are showing thatthe gross grain production in the world may not be affected much by climate change at least by 2080. This is because in as much as most of the southern countries will lose their agricultural land, there will be much gains in the temperate regions thereby balancing out the losses in the south (Devereux and Edwards, 2004). However, this will mean an increase in rural poverty levels in most of the southern communities whose livelihood is directly linked to agriculture.This agriculture-climate change-livelihood linkage has made Agriculture to be central for modelling the impacts of climate change on poverty.A study carried out by Davies et al (2009) that linked climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and social protection in agriculture demonstrated much more on this linkage. It indicated the importance of agriculture in ending rural poverty and how a greater understanding of this linkage in the agriculture sector can help in coming up with policies that help alleviate poverty.
3.0 Methodology
3.1 Desk Reviews
Thestudyreviewed a number of document including Government policies on agriculture and environment and other online documents. However the main document of reference was the ASWAp
Key Informant interviews
The study involved interviews with some key informants and that included, Dr Tennyson Nzengeza, the Officer in Charge of Lifuwu Research Station, The Mr. Phewa, Deputy Program Manager for Salima Agriculture Development Division. It also included interviews with NGOs, and Famer organisation.
3.4 Conceptual framework
The study analysed the agriculture policy environment in Malawi in the wake of climate change by using the concept, developed and applied in Keeley and Scoones (2003) which analyses the interaction between the policy discourse, in this case the ASWAp and narratives of the actors and networks working within a particular political environment with varying interest from the actors. As you may observe in the subsequent chapters, there have been different perspectives on climate change in agriculture and how it can be fully mainstreamed into ASWAp and other policies. There is a general view within the Ministry of Agriculture that climate change has brought in nothing new that warrants a radical policy change but the same old phenomena like floods and drought. However, there is a process that have been initiated within the newly established Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Affairs with support from UNDP to develop a National Climate Change Policy framework that will guide the mainstreaming of climate change into policies but also be used as a tool for awareness on climate change. Currently the different actors are still seen to be in the process of developing their narratives and positions on climate change and agriculture and there is an increased knowledge and understanding of climate change and its effects on peoles livelihoods in general and agriculture in particular. However it has been observed that the current dominant narratives among the actors are coming from the civil society and the government with the other actors like the media and the private sector being on the peripheral.