Agriculture sits at the centre of the climate challenge in Africa. It is highly exposed to droughts, floods and shifting seasons, it supports the livelihoods of most rural households, and it is also a source of emissions through land-use change, livestock and fertiliser use. Governments, development partners and agribusinesses are therefore investing in approaches that can increase food production sustainably while strengthening resilience, yet many initiatives struggle to move beyond pilot plots to widespread adoption.

The Best Practices in Climate-Smart Agriculture & Food Systems Training Course gives practitioners a systematic way to choose, implement and scale interventions that work. It begins with climate risk in agriculture and the food systems perspective that connects production, processing, markets and diets. It then covers crop, soil, water and livestock practices with strong evidence behind them, followed by landscape and watershed approaches. Later sessions look past the farm gate at storage, value chains and nutrition, and the final day addresses how to prioritise options, mobilise finance, track results and design extension and policy support that leads to adoption at scale.

Field case studies from dryland, highland and coastal farming systems anchor the discussion. Participants leave with a prioritised portfolio of climate-smart interventions for a farming system or programme they know well.

Participants will be equipped to:

• Assess how climate change affects crops, livestock, water and food systems in a given agro-ecological zone.
• Select climate-smart crop, soil, water and livestock practices suited to local conditions.
• Apply landscape and watershed approaches that link farms with natural resource management.
• Design post-harvest, value-chain and nutrition interventions that reduce losses and improve diets.
• Prioritise CSA options using structured frameworks and cost-benefit analysis.
• Integrate climate information services and index insurance into farmer support programmes.
• Develop indicators and MRV arrangements to track adoption, resilience and emissions outcomes.

Practitioners who design, deliver or fund agricultural and food security work will benefit, among them:

• Agricultural extension officers and agronomists
• Livestock and animal production specialists
• Food security and livelihoods programme managers in NGOs
• Agriculture and environment planners in national and local government
• Agribusiness and farmer organisation staff
• Climate adaptation and resilience advisers
• Researchers and lecturers in agricultural institutions
• Development partner officers funding agriculture and food systems

Outputs participants carry forward include:

• A climate risk profile for a farming system they work with.
• A shortlist of climate-smart practices with suitability notes for local conditions.
• A CSA prioritisation matrix scoring options on productivity, resilience, mitigation and cost.
• An extension and adoption plan built on farmer field schools and peer learning.
• An indicator set and simple MRV plan for a climate-smart programme.
• A prioritised investment portfolio ready to discuss with funders or management.

Teaching is grounded in field realities and the decisions farmers actually make. The programme draws on:

• Field case studies from dryland, highland and coastal farming systems
• Group design exercises for integrated farm and landscape plans
• Prioritisation workshops using scoring matrices and simple cost-benefit tools
• Analysis of farmer adoption data and extension programme records
• Peer review of each participant's investment portfolio

Participants receive a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy after attending all sessions and presenting their prioritised climate-smart portfolio.