Building the climate resilience of food insecure smallholder farmers through integrated management of climate risk (R4)

Increasing the resilience of vulnerable households in Senegal to climate-related risks through better risk management, water and soil conservation.

Greater variability of rainfall, often causing drought, along with rising sea-levels, increased soil erosion and salinization of agricultural land are all expected to increase in Senegal as a consequence of climate change. Food-insecure, climate-vulnerable households are often forced to sell assets in response to weather-related impacts, which hinders longer-term resilience. 

Risk-reduction activities such as water and soil conservation measures, increased water availability, livelihood diversification and training on climate-resilient practices will be undertaken. These activities will be complemented by risk transfer through a weather index insurance programme that will transfer risk to the international market and provide farmers with compensation in case of climate shocks. The government of Senegal will contribute half the cost of the insurance premium to enrolling households. Other activities to increase resilience will include creating risk reserves to provide farmers with the ability to save for greater sustainability, and facilitating the use of surplus production as collateral for loans to unlock credit for investment.

The project has an estimated lifespan of 4 years.