World Bank Officials visit Farm Field School at Thirappane, Anuradhapura

 The World Bank Delegation led by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) & Mission Leader visited the Farm Field School, which is being built at Thirappane, Anuradhapura, to inspect the ongoing construction work recently.  Mr. S.M. Seelarathne, Deputy Project Director-North Central Province accompanied the World Bank Officials to the construction site with the CSIAP staff. Instructions were given to complete the construction works in a very successful manner by Mr. Salau. The World Bank Delegation consisted of Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist.

Story and Photographs by Upali Rathnayake (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NCP, CSIAP

Farmers in Giribawa receive over Rs 14.8m worth of inputs for Home Gardening

The Climate Smart Irrigation Agriculture Project (CSIAP) gives Rs 14.8 million worth of inputs to farmers in Giribawa to boost Home Gardening Production in North Western Province (NWP) under the Contingency Home Gardening programme. Inputs such as Seeds, Compost, Electric Fence Energizer and Parachute trays were given to 150 farmers recently at the Divisional Secretariat, Giribawa.

This programme is planned to enhance household food security and nutrition in areas where the CSIAP is being implemented. There are around 3254 farm families in the Giribawa Divisional Secretariat, Kurunegala district and a total of 15,762 farm families are with this programme in NWP.

Mr. H.M.Bandara, Divisional Secretary & 08 Officers of the Divisional Secretariate, Giribawa,  Mr. A.P. Pradeep, Divisional Officer,  Rajanganaya ASC, Mr. W.M.S. Wijesinghe, Deputy Project Director (NWP) & officers of the CSIAP, 15 Grama Niladaries, 15 Agriculture Research and Production Assistants, 10 Economic Development Officers, 13 Samurdhi Development Officers and 150 farmers attended this event.

Story and Photographs by Chamara Basnayake (Agriculture Facilitator), Rajanganaya ASC, NWP

The World Bank observes Pallai Kulam Tank being rehabilitated by the CSIAP in NP

The World Bank Officials visited Poonakary, Kilinochchi yesterday (25th) to observe Pallai Kulam Tank which is being rehabilitated by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP). This mission was arranged to monitor the activities of the project implementation. Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader, Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Mr. George Babu , Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province)  Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were on this mission.

Photographs by A.K.C. Amarathunaga, PMU-CSIAP

The construction work of the FFS at Thirappane is being completed

The Frame Field School (FFS) at Thirappane being built by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) will be used to train farmers and give hands-on experience on CSA practices and technologies to the beneficiary farmers of hot spot areas in 11 districts of six provinces. The FFS is located at Mannakkulama Village of Thirappane in Anuradhapura District. Direct beneficiaries of the FFS are 2,700 selected male and female farmers and 150 extension staff of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Development. The FFS project costs Rs 117M and the Ministry of Agriculture is the primary agency responsible for executing the project which is financed by the World Bank.

Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, the CSIAP supervised the construction process of the FFS yesterday (24).

Photographs by A.K.C. Amarathunaga, PMU-CSIAP

The WB workshop on the restructuring of the Result Framework of the CSIAP

A special workshop began this morning (21) in the World Bank Office, Colombo to discuss the restructuring of the Result Framework of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) for the rest of the project period. This workshop was chaired by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) & Mission Leader of the World Bank.

 Mr. John. C. Keyser, TTL  of the CSIAP , Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Senior Officials of Ministry of Agriculture, Department of External Resource and Department of Agrarian Development, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Provincial Deputy Project Directors and Subject Specialists of the CSIAP were present in this programme. Please click Images to see more photos of the workshop.

The World Bank Officials review the current progress of the CSIAP

The World Bank assesses the overall development progress of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) and its effectiveness in delivering project development objectives.  The World Bank Team headed by Mr. John. C. Keyser, Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP arrived in CSIAP’s head Office, Colombo this morning (20^th) to evaluate progress, review and get updated on the current status of the CSIAP. Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, CSIAP welcomed the World Bank Officials and presented the overall progress of the CSIAP. This meeting was also an opportunity for Subject Specialists in the Project Management Unit (PMU) to reflect on progress in each of their subjects and the overall performances of the CSIAP.

Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- TTL of the CSIAP & Mission Leader, Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Environmental Consultant Ms. Sithara Athapatthu, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist, Mr. Shanek Fernando, Social Development Specialist, Ms. Nadeera Rajapaksha, Environmental Specialist, of the World Bank, Provincial Deputy Project Directors, Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP attended this meeting. The World Bank Officials outside Sri Lanka joined the meeting virtually too. Please click Images to see more photos of the event.  

Photographs by Gayani Dassanayake, PMU-CSIAP

The World Bank reviews the modernization of Agrarian Service Centers

The World Bank Team headed by Mr. John. C. Keyser, Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) discussed the current modernization process of 47 Agrarian Service Centers located in eleven districts where the CSIAP is being implemented. The main objective of the modernization of Agrarian Service Centers (ASCs) is to convert the Community Centre into a One-Stop Service Centre that caters for the real needs of the farming community in the area. This is considered as one of the biggest sub-projects, which comes under the CSIAP. It has many components and therefore this project will involve implementing major interventions with a view to developing the ASC as a One-Stop Service Centre, which provides modern services to the farmers to become resilient to the changing climate situation and thereby overcome the issues that hinder their productivity.

The following main areas have been identified as priority basis for the modernization of ASCs in all six provinces. The major 03 interventions are;

• Renovating, expanding and refurbishing existing 47 office buildings of the ASCs within areas of the CSIAP to function as attractive and productive One-stop Service Centers
• Establishing a full pledged ICT unit within each of the 47 ASCs with trained officials and the necessary equipment to provide required data related to weather forecasts, markets, and new technology for farmers under the digitalization of ASCs.
• Establishing a Farm Machinery Hub (FMU) in each of the 47 ASCs managed by the Agrarian Development Committee (ADC) of the ASC to prevent the exploitation of farmers from the middlemen and also to provide an opportunity for the ADC to develop the Agrarian Fund.

The review meeting held this morning (19th) at the Department of Agrarian Development (DAD) was chaired by Mr. A. H. M. L. Abeyrathne, Commissioner General of Agrarian Development. Mr. Vijayakumar Rajaratnam, Commissioner (Development), DAD pointed out the modernization process of 47 ASCs. Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- TTL of the CSIAP & Mission Leader of the World Bank also commented on the ASC modernization process.

Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Mr. D.V. Bandulasena, Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist, Mr. Samantha Mallawaarachchi, IEC & ICT Specialist and Mr. Christy Perera, Agri-Business & Market Linkage Development specialist of the CSIAP were also present in this meeting.  Please click Images to see more photos of the event.

Empowering women for ensuring the Nutritional Food Security of Household

Empowering women for ensuring the Nutritional Food Security of the Household and increasing farmer income 
under the Prevailing Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka

“Implementing Contingency Climate Smart Nutrition Sensitive Home Gardening (CERCSNSHG) program in climatically the most vulnerable Hotspot areas of 11 districts in Sri Lanka commenced in 2022 with 64, 407 households beneficiaries in 2 phases: for ensuring food & nutrition security and increase farmer income under the prevailing economic crisis in Sri Lanka”.

Background
The basic concept of the home garden system evolved thousands of years ago. The basic structures of the home garden varied from place to place, based on their ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural settings. The structure and crops of the home gardens are almost the same in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Generally, home gardening is practiced on a small scale of land close to the dwelling premise. The produce from the home garden is usually added to the daily nutrient supplements of the family members. Home garden is a kind of farming technique, which does not involve the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and therefore promotes nutritional and organic food safety.

Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) aims to enhance climate resilience, crop productivity, and farm income of smallholder agriculture in climatically most vulnerable regions (hotspots) of Sri Lanka by focusing on three core areas: agricultural production, market, value chain development, and water storage and management. This overarching goal is to be realized by promoting: Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices, market-responsive and diversified crop patterns, secure and dependable irrigation systems, proactive input and extension supports, women empowerment for economic decisions and collective bargaining, access to processing, storage, and value chain networks.

Since nutritional food security cannot be divorced from the resilience, productivity, and economic adaptability of agricultural production systems. Although food systems form only a part of agricultural production systems, given their significance for rural livelihoods and national consumption, they have impacts far beyond the agricultural sector. CSIAP does have an underlying, but fundamental, need to equally transform the food systems.

Therefore, Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) is now implementing the 2^nd phase of the Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Gardening (CSNSHG) program as the name of Contingent Emergency Response Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Programme – 2022 for ensuring nutritional food security of the household and to increase farmer income under the prevailing economic crisis in Sri Lanka. This program is primarily focusing on women who are living in climatically vulnerable hotspots in rural areas in Sri Lanka. 

Opportunities and Challenges for implementing the Contingency  Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Programme – 2022
Factors within the agriculture sector that impede rural women’s economic and social empowerment include lack of ownership of productive resources such as land, lower wages, limited program focus on female farmers, and poor avenues to engage in the decision-making process in the agriculture sector. Through these home garden activities, women are encouraged to undertake the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and condiments in their home gardens achieving household food & nutritional security while opening avenues to have a sustainable source of income for the household. By being effectively involved with this home gardening program women can contribute to fulfilling the family’s nutritional food requirements through the home garden, improving the family’s food consumption pattern, and minimizing the cost of food requirements of the family. This subproject is not only a significant milestone of rural women's empowerment in the selected hotspot area but also helps to ensure nutritional food security during the country’s current economic crisis.

At the same time, food & nutrition are very important concepts. The National Nutrition Policy (NNP) in Sri Lanka iterates, ‘The nutritional well-being of a population is influenced by determinants that cut across the areas of responsibilities of different sectors and agencies. Household food insecurity, for example, is influenced by factors such as health, education, employment, food availability, and food affordability, and leads to malnutrition. Therefore, home gardens and nutrition-related subprojects are most relevant to improve the existing situation and conditions of the rural community. Also, this subproject will respond to the relatively low levels of nutrition among children, pregnant ladies, elders, young children, men, and women and ensure higher standards of nutrition for all citizens in Sri Lanka. Nutrition levels of children are a key concern, as well as those of younger women.

Considering all the above facts, the CSIAP is implementing Contingent Emergency Response Nutrition Sensitive Home Gardens (CERNSHG) in 2022 with farm women as a strategy for increasing nutritional food security through women empowerment during the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Women who will be involved with the project are familiar with the cultivation of vegetables and other food crops in their home gardens but failed to utilize their resources sustainably.

Interestingly, the disruptions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the current serious economic crisis in Sri Lanka have exposed some of the challenges and fragilities of contemporary nutritional food systems. These issues include problems of access to affordable, safe, and nutritious food supply under lockdown and closed market situations, food loss from delayed cultivation/harvest due to movement restrictions, the vulnerability of farmers growing high-value, labour-intensive, and perishable crops, and livelihood risks of those engaged in informal food value chains and supply chain networks.

The disruptions in food systems will create opportunities to drive positive and long-term-oriented changes. To begin with, by exposing how responsive or otherwise the different segments of existing food systems are, the crisis did provide an opportunity to identify weak spots and take corrective actions. The uncertainties caused by disturbances in imports and distant supply sources have also underlined the importance of closer and more flexible supply sources and shorter and predictable value chains. There is an impetus to rely more on alternate input sources and localized markets, and create resilient food supply chains through decentralized storage, inventory management, and spaced investment options. The current crisis has also provided a new thrust, ensuring food security and context for protecting agricultural ecosystems and biodiversity as a natural buffer for food systems against diseases, anthropogenic risks, and natural imbalances.

Food Systems Transformation Through Home Gardening: What and Why?
Food systems involve not just food production systems but the entire gamut of ecological, infrastructural, institutional, and policy environments within which they operate. In this sense, the key components of food systems are the production system and its landscape and ecology, irrigation, input and extension infrastructures and institutions, value chain, marketing, and supply chain networks, and overall policy environment. Home gardening is needed to transform these components to make the food systems not only economically efficient & ecologically sustainable but also climatically resilient, nutritionally sensitive, accessible to the needy, and flexible and responsive to emerging changes and uncertainties.

Since the home gardening program is a key part of the overall attempt of CSIAP to transform the entire smallholder agriculture itself there are many operational linkages & functional synergies between the objectives of the home garden and the overall project development objectives of CSIAP.

Further, the current economic crisis and the COVID -19 pandemic limit the future food supply of the country through the limited availability of food items and also owing to the unhealthy financial status of the country. During the field visit, women farmers highlighted the need for home gardens to meet family consumption and minimize the malnutrition problem in rural areas with climatic vulnerability. They have pointed out that the surplus production may give additional income or savings to farming families while supplying reduced pesticide/ pesticide-free fresh fruits and vegetables to the end users for their daily consumption.

In addition to the above fact, based on the country’s current economic crisis, there is a critical need to promote and maintain sustainable home gardens in the most climatically vulnerable hotspot areas to ensure nutritional food security and reduce hunger and malnutrition all over the country. Therefore, CSIAP has already implemented the CSNSHG program in 11 climatically most vulnerable hotspot areas with 5,545 in 2020/21. The second phase of the CERCSNSHGP is currently implemented by addressing lessons learned from the first phase of the HG programs in the hotspot areas.

The beneficiary of CERCSNSHGP – 2022

Table no. 01 indicates the number of households selected for implementing the Contingency Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Gardening Program 2022. It was identified that approximately 82,692 farmer households are located in the climatically vulnerable hotspot areas and out of that 5, 545 households benefitted under the CSNSHG Program in 2020/21. In addition to that considering the prevailing economic crisis of the country 64,407 households were identified for the Contingency Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Programme – 2022 under the CSIA project. The 1^st phase of the program is being implemented in the early Maha Season of 2022 and 2^nd phase of the same program will be implemented in the late Maha season of 2022.   

Table no. 02 is indicating that conducted awareness/ meetings/ discussions which held with the officials on the Implementation of the Contingent Emergency Response Home Garden Programme – 2022 to accelerate the program in the climatically most
vulnerable hotspot areas. The acceleration and the successful implementation of this program were with 19 awareness/ meetings/ discussions/ progress reviews with the relevant officials of the project and still, it’s going weekly. 

Table n0. 03 is indicating that conducted IEC & ICT Campaigns for the Contingent Emergency Response Home Garden Programs for the Public. The project support increasing agricultural productivity for both men and women sustainably. Therefore, IEC & ICT campaigns build on men's and women's knowledge of local resources and climatic condition/ weather information, awareness on increasing women's access to advisory services, education, and information on sustainable agriculture, by training female extension agents, using specific methods appropriate and accessible for women (announcements, public campaigns, disseminating information leaflets and posters), and planning training and demonstrations in venues convenient for both women and men, Support men's and women's organizations and networks, and strengthen the capacity of women's groups, offering matching grants for enterprise and business development which facts were informed to the public through the IEC & ICT campaign. 268 IEC & ICT campaigns were conducted with the participation of 27854 public out of 18498 (66%) were rural women in climatically most vulnerable hotspot areas. 

Rural women are empowered on the CSA options/ practices which are stress tolerance varieties, conservation agriculture, improved home garden, on-farm tree planting, and composting. Stress-tolerant varieties are bred to be adapted to specific climate challenges, such as droughts, floods, submergence, saline or acidic soils, and pests, so they can be effective in improving food security by reducing the risk of crop failure. However, stress-tolerant varieties are often expensive and require new technologies and more inputs to grow, which could be a challenge for women, who face more constraints than men in accessing resources and knowledge.

 Small-scale irrigation systems, like rainwater harvesting, and agro wells can provide a secure supply of water for domestic use and home gardens, even in times of drought. Such systems enable year-round home garden cultivation and improve nutritional food security for families. They can also reduce the time women spend collecting water, thus allowing them to invest freed time and energy in education and productive work, and giving them access to and control over the additional income and benefits brought by these systems.

In this way, men and women in were received technical training on soil conservation, rainwater harvesting, crop mulching, using grow bags for cultivation, and preparing compost and liquate fertilizer in the climatically most vulnerable hotspot area under this program. 284 technical training conducted so far and 18529 public participated and out of that 11680 (63%) of them are rural women from climatically most vulnerable hotspot areas.

Women’s adaptation ability can be affected by labor requirements from Climate-Smart Agricultural practices. Therefore, the project helps to reduce women’s workload and time poverty. For example: Promote labor-saving technologies and methodologies (such as machinery and tools easily handled by women and children), and adopt household methods to discuss within families on labor concerns of men and women. Therefore the following items are providing to the farmers free of charge in 2022.

Under this program selected all beneficiaries (100%) receive inputs like a variety of vegetable seeds (Chili, Tomato, Brinjal, ladies finger /Okra, Long beans, Capsicum (O.P), Bitter gourd, Snake gourd, Wing bean, Radish, Cucumber, Luffa, Spinach¸ and Grow Bags & Compost bag (25 kg), Planting Materials and Poultry Chicks distribute among 50% of identified beneficiaries, Tool kit (Water spraying can, Wheelbarrow, Mamoty, Hand Fork, Jungle knife) will be distributed 25% of identified beneficiaries in 11 districts which are Kurunegala, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Ampara, Batticaloa, Hambantota, Monaragala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu districts and 37 Divisional Secretariat Divisions, 49 Agrarian Service Center Divisions and 256 Grama Niladhari Divisions in the 06 Provinces.

Conclusion
Hotspot Area agri-food systems are threatened by climate change at a time when demand for food is increasing and the country’s markets are disrupted by COVID-19 and the economic crisis. The result is a loss of livelihoods and growing unemployment, hunger, and malnutrition. Women are disproportionally affected yet have limited opportunities to participate in adaptation efforts.

Mainstreaming gender-smart investments in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) presents great opportunities to mitigate risks, amplify impacts, and reduce gender inequality. This can better inform investment decisions and identify market opportunities by focusing on building capacity and increasing access to finance for women-owned and women-led agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs), promoting gender equality within agribusinesses and across their value chain partners, and offering products or services which significantly improve the lives of women and girls.

CSIAP has identified four key dimensions for promoting gender equality in the context of CSA: participation in decision-making at the household, community, national and global levels, Access to, control of, and ability to use productive resources such as agro-climatic information, technology, credit, and income, Decreased workloads that free up time and ease physical burdens and collective action is a platform for women to share information and resources, support each other, express their voices, and participate in community decision-making.

Successful mainstreaming of gender-smart CSA investments requires four interdependent actions:
·       CAPACITY BUILDING: Scaling gender-smart CSA options require building capacities of all actors in the food ecosystem, including farmers, SMEs, corporations, financiers, and public bodies – 284 training programs conducted this year.
·       GENDER-RESPONSIVE PRODUCTS AND PROGRAMS: As gender norms and biases exist across societies, organizations, and systems, gender analyses are needed to identify gaps, develop innovative products, and transform processes and value chains to foster gender equality – 198 programs have already been implemented from 2019.
·       PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT: Partnerships to leverage resources and knowledge are crucial for faster collective action.
·       SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Developing and using sex-disaggregated data is essential to identify new gender-smart CSA business models and investment strategies.

Written By:
Sharmila Shanmuganathan
Gender Development Officer
Project Management Unit, CSIAP

Empower Women to Address Food and Nutrition Security in Sri Lanka

October 15 is the “International Day of Rural Women” which recognizes the crucial work of women and girls in the food systems of the world.  This year’s theme is: “Rural Women Confront the Global Cost of Living Crisis.” For Sri Lanka, it reflects the fact that the current disruptions in food markets and food price inflation are worsening gender disparities in food insecurity and malnutrition. In addition to their low decision-making power, the food and nutrition crisis is hitting women harder because they bear the brunt of households’ coping strategies in tough times. Empowering women farmers can serve as a transformative tool to boost food production. Yet, this hasn’t been a straightforward solution owing to barriers that constrain women’s productivity.

Women also spend more time on care work and household management than men, leaving them with less time to devote to farming, supervising labour and participating in reciprocal labour groups. Finally, limited access to markets is a binding constraint for women farmers due to their lower cash reserves, restrictions on mobility, and potential safety concerns. Women also face greater obstacles in accessing storage facilities and new digital solutions that could strengthen market links. Strengthening the linkage to the market, improving transportation, and information technology services are pivotal. Alongside this, boosting investments in storage and technology can help mitigate the risks of post-harvest losses. Providing financial (or other) incentives to directly buy from women in the supply chain could also be considered.

Many of these interventions that have been initiated by CSIAP in climatically vulnerable hotspot areas are highly cost-effective, making them scalable and sustainable solutions to address food insecurity without adding pressure on limited fiscal space. While these solutions can directly help boost production, it is equally important to build resilient food systems, especially in the face of climate change. Fiscal policies targeted at providing financial and social assistance to women alongside capacity-building programs and public investments in infrastructure can increase the adoption of climate-smart crops, livestock, and technologies. 

Gender Unit
Project Management Unit
Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project

The 08th NPSC of the CSIAP commences

The 08th National Project Steering Committee (NPSC) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) chaired by Mr. M.B Rohana Pushpakumara, the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture held today (05th) at the Auditorium of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The NPSC is set up at the Ministry of Agriculture, which takes the overall responsibility for executing the project. The NPSC will consist of key officials of the major stakeholder agencies of the central government, and provincial government mainly to provide policy guidance to the project and to ensure achieving the project’s objectives.

Chief Secretaries of the six provinces where the CSIAP is being implemented, Senior officials of the World Bank, implementing agencies, and Provincial Deputy Project Directors of the CSIAP  joined the meeting virtually and senior officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Development and Subject Specialists of the CSIAP were present physically in this meeting. Please click Images to see more photos of the meeting.

Photographs by Gayani Dassanayake, PMU-CSIAP

Request for Expression of Interests (Consultancy Service- Firms Selection)

 
Consultancy Service for Conducting Training of Trainers (TOT) Programs for Selected Officers of Provincial Department of Agriculture and CSIAP Project, for Farmer Business School (FBS) Programmes and Consulting Services to Prepare a Agro-ecological Landscape Resilience Plan in the Monaragala Hot Spot Area. Please click https://csiap.lk/request_for_expression_of_interests to obtain more information.