©FAO, 2019. Wind turbines, port, city and islands of Seychelles

Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau and Seychelles are part of a project contributing to FAO Interregional Initiative on small island developping States (SIDS), which targets SIDS countries from all regions of the world by promoting interregional and intraregional collaboration on sustainable agriculture development. The three first prioritized countries were chosen in consideration of their unique vulnerabilities as well as their heterogeneity, and subject to further consultation and prioritization with countries based on their Country Programming Frameworks and specific needs in target locations, for building climate change resilience within the agricultural sectors through various development pathways.

Agriculture was the main economic activity in Seychelles in the 1970s. However, the country’s development agenda took a turn to rely on tourism and fisheries as the main pillars after the development of the airport. The agricultural sector remains vulnerable to climate change and variability and suffers many challenges such as bush fires, soil erosion, soil fertility loss, insufficient financial investments etc.

While climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices exist in Seychelles, most of the practices are not widely adopted. At present, drip irrigation, inter cropping and conservation agriculture techniques seem to be the most adopted due to their low technology needs, private sector engagement and multiple benefits (food security, income diversification and improved resilience). However, other CSA practices such as anti-erosion structures, intercropping with legumes, direct seeding, manure management and water harvesting and irrigation are common and cover a very small proportion of the agricultural area and farmers.