Climate applications and agriculture: CGIAR efforts, capacities and partner opportunities

Climate variability creates risk in rainfed farming. Risk in turn discourages investment by farmers, governments and development agencies. For instance, in dry regions recurrent droughts debilitate and destabilize poor, agricultural-based societies, and contribute to land degradation by reducing vegetative cover and water supplies. Drought triggers the exploitation of diminishing resources in order to survive (Cooper 2004). Climate change caused by global warming is likely to increase the frequency of climatic extremes in the future and result in changes in cropping practices and patterns over time and spac