Innovation for drought and agriculture

19 June 2023. Innovation for drought and agriculture

The increasing impacts of climate change and the consequences of drought necessitate the development of adaptation and mitigation measures across various aspects of the agrifood systems. 

Research and technological innovation are considered essential means to avoid economic and social crisis and achieve sustainability. The actions should focus on cross-cutting activities, including policy, knowledge sharing, capacity development with specific considerations to health, nutrition, gender and youth empowerment relevant to drought management and mitigation in agrifood systems. 

The FAO-IRI joint event on innovation for drought and agriculture focused on participatory and innovative tools, methods and approaches relevant to drought management in agriculture.

The event contributed to the Memorandum of Understanding between FAO and the Italian Research Institutions CNR, CREA, ENEA and ISPRA, with the main objective to help developing countries in building stronger agricultural sectors through the knowledge generation from research and innovation. 

The main aspects that were discussed during the joint event included: 

1. key impacts of drought on agriculture and raising public awareness on this topic; 
2. initiatives related to innovations in technological, institutional, social, and policy dimensions to address the impacts of drought on agriculture for the transition towards sustainable agrifood systems.

Main resource: 

The FAO Drought portal is a global knowledge-sharing platform to support countries and stakeholders in enhancing the resilience of agriculture and improving food security. The Drought portal builds on the Integrated Drought Management (IDM) approach, to foster the transition from crisis-led and reactive responses to risk-based and proactive measures.

The Drought portal provides resources towards the following objectives:improve livelihoods’ resilience by presenting field-tested solutions and lessons learnt, ready-to-use tools and methodologies, and global knowledge resources on the three pillars of IDM;

1. respond to emergencies by showcasing crisis-driven responses and post-disaster toolkits;
2. support resource mobilization and allocation by hosting the Drought tracker tool; and
3. facilitate the learning by including innovative learning materials related to all aspects of drought management.