Resilient Seeds

How do women and men farmers in different localities around the world perceive what is happening to the climate? Do they understand how changing climate dynamics are affecting their lives? Farmers must notice that the climate has changed, before they can identify useful adaptive practices and explore ways to implement them. The types and range of adaptation options available to farmers depend not only on their perceptions but also on a number of other factors, such as socioeconomic conditions at the household and community levels, the agro-ecology of the farming systems, cultural traditions and practices, and the policy and legal environment. To gain a better understanding of all these factors, a situational analysis must be carried out to lay the foundation for planning and designing an effective climate change adaptation process.

In this module, you will learn the key components of a situational analysis:

• How to conduct a participatory analysis of a community to gain a basic understanding of the baseline conditions and trends
• How to work with farmers to understand their perceptions of climate change, variability, and adaptation; the degree of risk they face; their crop diversity and vulnerability to climate change; and the roles of other institutional actors interacting with the community in relation to adaptation to climate change
• How to develop short, medium, and long-term strategies to increase the resilience of smallholders

By the end of this model, you will have created a plan with farmers that guides research interventions based on a common understanding of the current and desired situations.

Community profiling is a way to gain a basic understanding of the baseline conditions and trends in a community. It is an iterative process that involves the participatory analysis of a community based on four main components: analyzing the sociocultural aspects of the community; identifying agricultural activities and economic livelihoods; mapping landscapes, on-farm diversity, and agro-ecosystems; and identifying land-use characteristics and common resources within the community.

This is complemented by analyzing norms, attitudes and practices, including indigenous traditional knowledge and its application in the use, management, and conservation of agricultural biodiversity and climate change adaptation. An additional method that can be used is "traditional food ways" a participatory tool that captures the whole range of local 3 foods of a community, how food is sourced in the landscape, how it is prepared and consumed, and the roles of the household and community members involved.

The profile establishes the context for decision-making and planning. The profiling process is carried out with the active participation of the community, with the researcher acting as facilitator. The methods and data used for community profiling vary. For instance, one could use secondary sources of information, such as past surveys, or census data, which can provide useful socioeconomic information. Participatory tools, such as the transect walk and village resource mapping, support community participationin the process. A large number of useful tools exist from which a small number can be selected according to the particular characteristics of the community.

Analysis of climate change in a community can be done by examining weather data obtained from meteorological stations for trends and comparing this with farmers’perceptionsof changes in climate (i.e., longer-term weather dynamics).Documenting and analyzing farmers’ perceptions of climate change and its impact on agriculture are important in developing an adaptation plan. Farmers who do not perceive a change in climate or who lack knowledge about climate change will most likely have no interest or motivation to adapt. The most common way to assess how climate is changing is by using long-term meteorological observations, but these are not always easily available, let alone readable in a form that farmers can understand. Nonetheless, if these data can be collected, synthesized in a simple manner, and presented to farmers, they are a useful basis for discussing climate change with farmers.

In recent years, a number of researchers have developed methods for asking farmers about perceived changes in climate and discussing them. This kind of inquiry can reveal why there might be a discrepancy between meteorological observations and farmers’ perceptions as a result of socioeconomic factors and/or biotic stresses that may influence farmers’ decisions to adapt or to choose certain measures of adaptation. Qualitative studies often find that the sensitivity of agricultural systems to climate is rarely attributed solely to changes in some exposure or in adaptive capacity to respond to the exposure, as assumed in crop models. Instead, it can be better viewed as a trend over time, influenced by other factors in addition to climate and weather variability.

Various methods and approaches — both qualitative and quantitative — can be used to assess observed changes in climate and their impact on a community. Among them, the seasonal calendar is a tool that involves community members in the process and supports a discussion about significant changes concerning crops and climate. Other methods involve focus-group discussions with farmers.

Stakeholder analysis is used to identify relations between the community and the various organizations and institutions that work in or influence the community and the impact of these relations on the community. It can also be used to identify relations between the stakeholders that work in the community and how these present opportunities or threats to the adaptation process. This type of analysis is useful for clarifying the roles of local actors, 9 how they affect adaptation activities, and the possibility of improving the capacity of the local community to adapt to climate change. In the context of resilience and adaptation, organizations and institutions that can provide alternative measures, such as improved seeds, varietal testing, and general support to smallholders, are of special interest.

The analysis is done by listing and interrelating the various institutions in the area and mapping their relationships with each other and with the community. A number of approaches can be used to assess institutions: for example, the Venn diagram, pictorial representation, and mapping in terms of efficiency, relationships, distance, and access toservice. These methods can be complemented by key informant interviews.