Shifting to Conservation Agriculture to Build Resilience to Climate Change, Moldova,

Presentation by: Dr.Victor Rosca

Director CPIU-IFAD, Moldova

Global warming is the challenge of the millennium

• The phenomenon is affecting not a single country;

• Population growth and increased consumption food, materials, goods lead to growth impact on environment, which, if no action will be taken, can lead to a collapse of global climate system;

• The climate change it is not any more only a topic for discussion, it is a common action to save the Earth, and by this to save our self.

Global warming is the challenge of the millennium

• The scientific community faces the dilemma of finding a compromise between economic development and its effect on climate change;

• The problem of climate change can only be tackled with the joint efforts of all states in the world, with no any limitation to the size of the country and experience it has, political orientation or economic growth of it.

• Today meeting give us a chance to share solutions and models, which can be replicable in other part of the world.

Geographical position of Moldova

MOLDOVA

Projections

• Moldova has one of the most fertile soil Cernozems, which is over 80% of the arable land and which it is the most “fragile” in the condition of climate change.

• IFAD it is present in Moldova for over 13 years, knowing needs and working closely with Government of Moldova, has design and implemented measures to reduce the impact of climate change on agriculture.

Conservation agriculture – a feasible method for facing climate change effect

• Conservation agriculture is an alternative to both conventional and organic farming with application of modern technologies to improve the production and simultaneously protecting land resources, reducing production costs and making the agriculture production less stressed to the climate change.

Pillar I: Minimum intervention on soil structure and compaction

Soil compaction on conventional farming

Pillar II. Crop rotation, and crop diversification

Pillar III: Mulching

IFAD interventions

• Provide long term investment loans for procurement of agriculture machines for CA,

• Provide TA to farmers wishing to convert farms from conventional to CA,

• Provide on farm professional training and consultation,

• Establishment of Demonstration Plots,• Establishment of partnership between CA

farmers and research and education institutions.

On farm consulting and training

Results of interventions• increased area under CA from 40.000 ha to 70.000 ha in

2012-2013,• 4 demonstration plots upgraded with agriculture machines,• Over 600 farmers were trained on principals of CA and are

wishing to convert theirs farms.• Youth entrepreneurs are supported though a grant schema

to purchase equipment for CA,• GoM is reimbursing partly cost for purchase of equipment

for CA.

Economic efficiency of solutionCOSTS, USD/HA

Conventional technology

Conservation Agriculture

Fuel 72 24

Depreciation 110 60

Maintenance and spare parts 22 10

Pesticides 35 45

Total costs per 1 T 125 95

Will survive not the strongest , will survive the most adaptive