Mountain development course delves into farming
21.07.2014
Twenty-four mountain development practitioners and researchers from 21 countries learned about promoting sustainable farming in mountain regions from 8 to 18 July 2014 in Ormea, Italy. The ten-day course, called the International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas (IPROMO), was organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the University of Turin, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) with financial support from the City of Ormea and a contribution from the FAO International Year of family Farming Unit.
This year the annual course provided an overview of the economic, social and environmental aspects of small-scale mountain agriculture in observance of the International Year of Family Farming, as 2014 has been proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. University professors, researchers and international agency development and work group discussions addressed “Promoting Sustainable Farming in Mountain Regions”.
Because agriculture is an activity whose performance is affected by weather, climate and water availability, it is vulnerable, especially as events become more extreme, explained Marcela Olmedo, an instructor at the University of Kent. She went on to provide an example of how cheese producers in the Italian Alps are adapting to climate change. To cope with more intense and concentrated rain, higher temperatures and snow scarcity in Valle D’Aosta, herders graze their livestock upland for less time, integrate purchased hay and have installed new irrigation systems.
Understanding climate change in mountain areas is complex because current climate change models do not take account the level of variability and extreme events, said Hans Schierer, a professor at the University of British Columbia, who focused on water management issues. For a country’s agricultural production to be sustainable, he suggested, the activities chosen should suit the water resources available, whether they be ‘blue’ or ‘green’, meaning from the ground or greenery.
Emilie Vandecandelaere, FAO Agribusiness Economist, proposed marketing high quality mountain products and small enterprise development as ways to improve mountain peoples’ livelihoods. She cited producing goods and establishing their high quality through certification or other branding and having better access to markets as ways small-scale farmers in mountain areas can boost their incomes.
A two-day field trip to Valle D’Aosta allowed IPROMO participants. most of whom are Mountain Partnership member governments and organizations, to visit the Alps and see some mountain enterprises in action. "I come from a tropical country and seeing the glaciers of the Alps was a great discovery for me as well as understanding their importance in safeguarding the mountain landscape and fundamental ecological functions for agriculture,” said Valérie Ramahavalisoa, Environment Executive of Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment, Ecology and Forests.
“I now understand that sustainable agriculture interventions and the responses to effects of climate change on mountain production systems, such as agriculture, livestock and forestry, are different from other terrains and warrant individualistic and not a generalized approach,” said Emmanuel Muligirwa, National Project Manager at FAO’s country office in Rwanda. Read more
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Photo: Nasir Hussain
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