Conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems in Pacific countries - final report

Abstract

There is an opportunity and an urgent need for transformational change of the current farming systems in Pacific Island Countries (PIC) to increase food and nutritional security, to be better adapted to climate change and to be less emissive of greenhouse gases. Substantial global evidence indicates that Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification (CASI) systems are better adapted, but their effectiveness in PIC is yet to be fully evaluated. The overall aim of this Small Research Activity (SRA) was to undertake a targeted assessment to explore the opportunities for implementing CASI in smallholder farming systems as an adaptive and potentially transformational climate change response in PIC. This SRA was a Proof of Concept which identified and evaluated the research, technological, social and policy interventions required for future implementation and scaling of these more regenerative agrifood systems. It also identified key research and development sites for future work to compare the performance of CASI practices with the current commonly used systems.