Climate Smart Agriculture Project

The project “Promoting sustainable livelihoods among Eastern Caribbean farmers” was implemented in partnership between Pro NGO! e.V., Koeln, Germany and the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), Bridgetown, Barbados.

Project objectives:

To enhance opportunities for sustainable livelihoods amongst rural agricultural farmers in Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Grenada.

The project aimed:

• To improve the financial and operational sustainability of small scale farmer operations;
• To ensure the implementation of sustainable/cost effective farming practices among rural farmers;
• To improve the opportunities for access to finance to support the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices in agricultural production; and
• To enhance the enabling policy environment for sustainable agriculture.

Main target groups of the action included small scale rural farmers, with a special focus on women and youth farmers; representatives of farmers’ organization; and private sector agencies working in the renewable energy sector.

The project consisted of three main components:

• Capacity building: composed of workshops on marketing, financial management, and record keeping; mentoring and individual coaching; workshops on climate smart agriculture; and implementation of a sustainability SWOT analysis with clear options for actions for more sustainable farming practices.
• Financing: offering financial support and technical assistance to 10 rural women and young farmers (mini-grants).
• Enabling policy framework: developing a model policy framework on sustainable agriculture to guide national policy development.

Short-term Impacts included:

• Improved operational and financial sustainability of farmer operations;
• Strengthened capacity of small scale farmers in the application of climate smart agricultural practices;
• Enhanced opportunities via CSR for the establishment and financing of sustainable farming practices by designing CSR roadmaps; and
• Enhanced policy environment to support sustainable agricultural production.

Medium & long-term Impacts included:

• Sustainable small scale farmer’ operations and sustainable farming practices;
• Improved management of small scale farms;
• Increased farm income,
• Improved livelihood security;
• Adoption of climate smart approaches and technologies on farms;
• Increased participation of women and youth in the agricultural sector;
• Improved policy environment for sustainable agricultural approaches; and
• Improved private investment in the agriculture sector.

Project Activities

Since the launch of the project in 2017, workshop series were conducted by CPDC and our partners Pro NGO! e.V. Germany in the participating countries of Barbados, Grenada and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. These workshops focused on topics such as:

• The Introduction to Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Technologies and Renewable Energies;
• The use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a strategy and communication tool in CSA; and
• Design Thinking

In addition to the CSA workshops, another component of the project which was undertaken during the period 2017 – 2018, was the Sustainable Agriculture Policy Framework. Through a combination of desk research of existing regional and global agricultural policies, along with interviews of farmers and persons operating in the agricultural sectors in the Barbados, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a comprehensive Sustainable Agriculture Policy Framework was developed and presented to farmers in the participating countries. The policy was disseminated amongst government agencies, agricultural organisations and farmers in the three project countries, with the goal of improving the existing policies to be more inclusive of sustainable agriculture.

The sub grant component which is the major activity of the project, was also launched in 2017. Eight grants were awarded across the 3 project countries to female and young male farmers, to implement projects utilizing climate smart technologies and techniques. Four grants were awarded in Barbados, two in Grenada and two in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Project Website: http://www.ngo-at-work.org/barbados/