9 lessons for scaling up climate smart agriculture

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) and its principles have gained much traction in the political sphere over the last decade. Yet implementing successful innovations on a wider scale across districts and even nations remains a challenge. The three pillars of CSA: food security, mitigation and adaptation, are not meaningful if innovations are not adopted – whatever the reason for their neglect might be.

In this series of nine briefs, we explore successful CSA innovations which deliver on the three pillars while addressing a myriad of complex factors underpinning climate science. Our lessons can guide decision makers and prioritize limited climate investments for maximum impact at least cost, targeting vulnerable groups. The lessons, gleaned through the ͞Increasing Food Security and Farming System Resilience in East Africa through Wide-scale Adoption of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices” project in Uganda and Tanzania, are applicable globally and have already been used to scale successful practices to a wider set of beneficiaries.

Lesson 1 - Formulate equitable climate-smart agricultural policies

Lesson 2 - Design climate-smart agricultural interventions to be gender inclusive

Lesson 3 - Assess whole-farm trade-offs and synergies for climate-smart agriculture

Lesson 4 - Support farmer-to-farmer and community-wide social learning

Lesson 5 - Know what drives the adoption of climate-smart agriculture across different scales

Lesson 6 - Target the pathways to scale out climate-smart agricultural technologies to farming communities

Lesson 7 - Prioritize among climate-smart agricultural options and benefits for greater impact

Lesson 8 - Invest in climate-smart soil and land health

Lesson 9 - Monitor climate-smart agricultural interventions with a real-time participatory tool