December 2018 | CSALP South Asia Quarterly Newsletter | Issue 19
CCAFS Climate-Smart 
Agriculture Learning Platform, 
South Asia
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Nepal state government officials present their future plans to 
invest in large scale Climate-Smart Village programmes at a 
workshop held in New Delhi 
Setting the stage for 
south-south learning
Arun Khatri-Chhetri and 
Nitya Chanana (CCAFS)
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CSALP South Asia, Quarterly Newsletter  |  3
Nepal is a hotspot of global climate change affected by multiple risks such as floods and rising minimum 
temperatures across different parts of the country. With an 
economy heavily dependent on agriculture, the newly formed 
provincial governments are in the process of strengthening their 
climate change adaptation plans, especially for the agriculture 
and allied sectors.
With a goal of building climate resilient agricultural systems, 
senior government officials from two of Nepal’s provincial 
government visited New Delhi during 1-2 October to attend a 
workshop titled, ‘Designing and Implementing the Climate-Smart 
Village (CSV) approach at the State Level of Nepal’, organized by 
the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture 
and Food Security (CCAFS). The objective of the workshop was 
to promote south-south knowledge sharing among different 
stakeholders and learning from field-based experiences. 
Strategizing future investments
The first day of the workshop began with setting the context 
with a brief introduction about the need and objective of the 
workshop, followed by an overview of CCAFS’s work in South 
Asia and how CCAFS can work with the Nepal government to 
help tackle climate stress in agriculture. Representatives from 
two states of Nepal, namely Gandaki and Province 5, then spoke 
about their plans to initiate programmes to promote climate-
smart agriculture in their respective districts. They mentioned 
that Province Gandaki has budgeted for the implementation of 
the CSV approach in 36 villages, to be approved by the provincial 
government while, province 5 has a total budget of 260 million 
NPR to develop the same in 52 villages in the province.
Presentations by CCAFS scientists explained how best to design, 
implement and prioritize the investments announced by the 
governments. They highlighted that given the governments’ 
objective of improving farmers’ yields and income in a changing 
climate, it is necessary to focus on three key areas; closing the 
yield gap, knowledge and technology transfer, resilience 
building and developing linkages with the market and 
the private sector. Representatives from the Agriculture and 
Forestry University of Nepal also presented the potential areas of 
collaboration between governments with research centres.
A glimpse of the Indian fields
Understanding the farm level climate-smart interventions in Mathura’s 
Climate-Smart Village, India (Photo credits: CCAFS South Asia)
The second day’s agenda comprised of a field visit to Mathura 
in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where participants witnessed the 
portfolio of interventions being implemented in a CSV supported 
by the United States Agency for International Development. 
They interacted with the members of the all-women Custom 
Hiring Centre (CHC) who explained how the CHC model 
works to transfer technologies to poor and marginal farmers. 
Interactions with the Village Climate Management Committee, 
also highlighted the role of local farmer organizations in leading 
and managing multiple climate-smart interventions. A visit to the 
pearl millet crop field and fodder field exposed the participants 
to the practices of line sowing, nutrient management, fodder 
management, insurance and agro-advisory which are helping 
farmers in improving crop yields and incomes.
The participants appreciated the guidance and knowledge 
shared by CCAFS and its partners and expressed their keen 
interest in continuing to strengthen their relationship with CCAFS 
and its local implementing partners in India. As next steps, 
the two provincial governments plan to organize a workshop 
in the coming months to finalize their implementation plans 
and strategies for setting up the budgeted CSVs, with CCAFS 
expected to be a key knowledge partner for extending this 
approach.
New study discusses business models of small and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) as a mechanism for scaling climate-
smart agriculture in Punjab, India  
Change agents for climate 
resilience in agriculture
Annemarie Groot,  
Jaclyn Bolt,  
M.L. Jat and  
Tripti Agarwal (CIMMYT)
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In a recently published paper, ‘Business models of SMEs as a mechanism for scaling Climate Smart Technologies: 
The case of Punjab, India’ by Wageningen University and 
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center 
(CIMMYT), supported by the CGIAR Research Program on 
Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), 
critical issues and drivers of SMEs’ business models supporting 
or hindering the adoption and scaling of CSA have been 
identified.
The intention of the study is to inform policy makers and 
development practitioners about the potential of SMEs to 
act as change agents for the uptake of CSA technologies 
where their business models may be seen as adoption and 
scaling mechanisms. The study provides recommendations 
for changing the current government subsidy scheme as 
being a major factor hindering adoption and scaling of CSA. 
It highlights the need for flexible and targeted (financial) 
incentives and advices research and extension to support 
SMEs in the acquisition of new CSA related knowledge and 
skills, which they can in turn share with their customers.
Adoption and scaling from a business perspective
There is growing interest in studies looking into the private 
sector as delivery mechanism for CSA and supporting its 
scaling. This study takes a business perspective and examines 
the business models of two types of SMEs, i.e. farmer 
cooperatives and individual service providers who sell 
climate-smart services to smallholder farmers. The study 
applies the Business Model Canvas (BMC) as a lens to identify 
critical issues and enabling factors in the way both SMEs 
create value, relate to their customers and generate revenue 
from selling and/or hiring out a package of CSA technologies. 
This package includes the following technologies: Land Laser 
Leveller, Happy Seeder, Zero-till multi crop planter, Combined 
Harvester and Tractor.
The study takes the discussion further on to scaling, both, 
scaling out (spreading geographically) and scaling up which 
occurs in multiple dimensions. Scaling CSA quantitatively 
and functionally typically requires scaling politically and 
organizationally as well as involving multiple actors and layers. 
Scaling from a business perspective is about market scaling 
requiring a supportive institutional and policy environment.
Key findings
Drawing upon extensive fieldwork in Punjab, India during 
which over 100 respondents have been interviewed, the 
study shows that SMEs’ business models can be seen as a 
mechanism for adoption of CSA technologies. This is enabled 
by the presence of a mix of drivers including scientific and 
practical evidence of CSA technologies, good partnership 
between SMEs and researchers, good customer relationships 
and effective channels through farmers’ field trials and 
demonstrations in Climate-Smart Villages. All together 
creating a clear value to their customers, i.e. farmers and 
therefore supportive to the adoption of CSA. Distortive 
government subsidies on energy and the lack of market 
intelligence negatively affect the profitability of the business 
model and as such adoption.
SMEs’ business models, as mechanism for scaling requiring 
favourable institutions and policies is less evident. Good 
partnership, customer relationships and effective channels 
in combination with favourable regulations facilitate SMEs 
to support scaling of CSA. However, a lack of market 
intelligence, difficult socioeconomic circumstances and 
distortive government subsidies limit the role of SMEs 
business model as mechanism for scaling. 
To strengthen SMEs’ role as change agents for CSA, policy 
makers should reconsider current subsidy regime and ensure 
flexible and targeted (financial) incentives. Research and 
extension services can help SMEs in the acquisition of new 
knowledge and skills, which they can in turn share with their 
customers. 
From a scientific perspective, the novelty of the study 
is the distinction between adoption and scaling of CSA 
technologies. Previous literature on business models 
supporting CSA focused on adoption only. By introducing the 
concept of scaling, the paper explicates the institutional and 
political dimensions of large scale adoption at different levels 
involving multiple actors to bring about the societal changes 
needed to address climate change impacts and enhance food 
security.
A project launched with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für 
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH aims to evaluate 
diverse solar irrigation systems for their scalability in India
Understanding baseline situations 
for clean energy promotion in 
agriculture
Nilanjan Ghose and 
Diego Senoner  
(GIZ, India) and  
Paresh Shirsath (CCAFS)
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The issue of solarization of the agriculture sector in India, has steadily risen through the policy agenda over the last 
few years. The country has diverse agro-climatic zones, which 
is why, the energy rich and water scare regions in the western 
part of the country needs a very different approach than that of 
the ground water rich and energy scare regions in the eastern 
and north-eastern parts of the country to address the irrigation 
demand through solar pumps. Different solar water pump centric 
deployment models are being piloted by different stakeholders 
across India. Apart from the government supported subsidy-
based deployment models to replace the off-grid diesel pumps, 
there are bank-financed deployment models, grid-connected 
solar pumps with the option of earning revenue through selling 
of excess energy and different ‘water-as-a-service’ models being 
piloted across the country. However, a comprehensive synthesis 
of such pilots leading to identifications of factors of success and 
barriers for adoption has not yet been developed. Therefore, 
there is a limited understanding of the existing deployment 
models for promotion of solar water pumps. 
Partnership between CCAFS and GIZ 
There is a growing concern that rapid deployment of solar water 
pumps (in addition to the existing electric or diesel irrigation 
pumps) would lead to increased depletion of ground water levels. 
The sustainable use of solar powered irrigation pumps primarily 
depends on the understanding of the irrigation demands of 
the farmers. The subsidy-based deployment model does not 
necessarily factor in the demand for irrigation water by the 
farmers and therefore there is a mismatch between what a 
farmer needs (in terms of the technical solution) and what he/
she gets as a solution for irrigation. To understand the irrigation 
demands, there is a need to understand the geographical region, 
existing ground water table, solar radiation in the region, land 
size, crops grown, water requirements for the crops for each of 
the irrigation cycle, rainfalls over the past couple of years etc.  
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture 
and Food Security (CCAFS), is working towards spearheading 
‘Climate-Smart Agriculture’ and is trying to address the issues 
relating to climate change from the agricultural side. Indo-
German Energy programme- Access to Energy for Rural Areas 
(IGEN-Access) project of GIZ is trying to create an enabling 
environment for promotion of solar powered irrigation projects 
and trying to increase the use of clean technologies for 
agriculture. Both the organizations are trying to address the 
problem from two different sides. Hence, CCAFS is a natural 
partner for IGEN-Access project of GIZ to contribute to the overall 
goal of attaining a climate resilient-agricultural space for future. 
Project objectives and potential impacts
The project is comprised of the following key objectives for 
research and development on use of solar power in rural areas of 
India:
• To develop a compendium of major solar irrigation pilot 
projects in India; and
• To carry out a systematic review of existing piloted models 
for their scalability; 
The project intends to develop a scientific assessment of the 
existing solar irrigation deployment models and to identify the 
factors of success and barriers to large scale adoption. The 
lessons learned will be of great use for various stakeholders 
attempting to scale up solar irrigation with optimal resources. 
Thus, the collaboration would address the existing knowledge 
gap through designing a compendium for the present operational 
models along with the potentials for replication. The findings 
would also form the foundation for future interventions in this 
space.
Integrating gender inclusion in all stages of 
project strategy and framework for climate-smart 
agriculture adoption
Flowering growth through seeds of 
inclusion
Nitya Chanana,  
Arun Khatri-Chhetri, 
Kunal Pandey (CCAFS) and 
Rajashree Joshi (BAIF) 
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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its support towards scaling the Climate-
Smart Village (CSV) approach in India, has also helped set sail the 
ship for gender inclusion and empowerment in agriculture. With 
a strong focus on integrating gender aspects in all stages of the 
project, there is an attempt to leverage the conspicuity of women 
farmers in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh for inclusive 
development. Conscious efforts have been taken to include 
women and young farmers as not just beneficiaries but also as 
active participants across the key stages of the project, from the 
baseline to scaling up activities.
Point of commencement
Gender-disaggregated data served as the starting point for 
initiating an informed integration of women farmers into the CSV 
approach implementation. For instance, disaggregated data on 
labor days revealed higher women’s participation in activities such 
as transplanting, weeding, harvesting and threshing in rice crop. 
Data on decision making for agricultural activities also highlighted 
women’s equal participation in taking decisions throughout the 
cropping activities. Additionally, women were found to be active 
members of locally established self-help groups (SHGs) in the 
project villages. 
An analysis of the climate vulnerabilities linked to their roles and 
socio-cultural norms facilitated designing of appropriate gender 
specific weather resilient technologies to be implemented as 
part of the project activities. A prioritization exercise with men 
and women groups exhibited that technologies and practices 
related to water management and conservation were given 
higher preference by both women and men, given the climatic 
conditions and water scarcity. In addition, improved seeds, 
weeding machine and zero-tillage were prioritized by women 
farmers while men prioritized livestock insurance, use of farm-
yard manure and weeding. 
Interventions and results
To implement the prioritized portfolio of CSA, three categories 
of farmers, namely Super Champion (1 woman), Champion 
(14 women) and CSA (134 women) farmers were selected 
from 25 villages. Institutions, in the form of a Village Climate 
Management Committee (VCMC) as well as Custom Hiring 
Centers (CHC), were formed for successful implementation of 
gender inclusive interventions in the CSVs. About 80 women 
SHGs, involving a total of 900 women farmers across 25 
villages are represented through the VCMCs. This committee is 
responsible for the management of the CSV project activities. The 
CHCs, on the other hand, are women led groups that provide 
relevant climate-smart technologies and practices at a rental to 
farmers in the region. 
As a result of these activities, farmers in the district have been 
provided with a varied set of CSA technologies, practices 
including improved seeds, clean energy technologies (solar 
pump and biogas), cattle development services (including 
artificial insemination, mineral mixture, pasture management, 
vaccinations and deworming), climate information and advisory, 
and crop insurance among others. In addition, the project is also 
promoting income generation activities such as preparation of 
bio-fertilizers and vermi-composting and vegetable farming on 
commercial level for income generation for women farmers. The 
institutions of VCMC and CHC are also providing a platform for 
scaling out potentially effective CSA options to other farmers 
through private sector involvement and convergence with other 
government schemes.
So far, more than 3,700 farmers in 25 villages have become 
part of this project funded by USAID. They now have access 
to daily weather based agro advisory through SMS and Voice 
call along with CSA related capacity development and training 
activities being conducted in their villages. Average yield of 
major crops such as Wheat have improved by more than 35% 
with simultaneous average gross income improvements of more 
than 40%. More than 50 hectares of land and 250 farmers have 
witnessed this yield and income increase. Most importantly, 
women have been at the forefront of this project, adding to the 
holism and robustness of the entire approach.
A workshop brings together CCAFS project leaders and 
national partners to assess current developments and future 
strategies for scaling climate-smart agriculture in South Asia
Adding to the swing of climate-
smart agriculture in South Asia
Shehnab Sahin (CCAFS)
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CSALP South Asia, Quarterly Newsletter  |  11
Effective collaborations and collective action are fundamental aspects of the CGIAR Research 
Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’s 
(CCAFS) approach towards agrarian distress management under 
a changing climate. There is strong consensus across regions and 
flagships that synergies need to exist in the efforts of multiple 
stakeholders to confront global challenges to food security due 
to climate change. The line-up of interventions and impact are 
not simply resilience building in agriculture but also supporting 
better livelihoods, disaster management and gender inclusive 
agricultural systems. 
To assess the progress made so far through various projects and 
strategize future plans for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) scaling 
in the South Asia region, CCAFS alongside the International 
Water Management institute (IWMI) organized a regional meet 
bringing together project leaders and national partners from 
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The three day workshop 
held in Colombo, included in its agenda, panel discussions, 
project presentations, thematic group discussions and country 
strategy development.
The present opens up the future 
Several project and co-project leaders utilized the workshop 
forum to present the on-going advances in their existing 
projects while delineating future strategies for strengthening the 
same. These projects cover a wide spectrum of climate-smart 
interventions within broader themes of agrarian risk management 
through insurance, big data application, scaling CSA in different 
agro-ecologies, capacity development of farmers, fishers as well 
as gender inclusiveness in CSA to institutions and policy shaping 
through south: south collaboration. Some of the developments to 
look forward to in the period 2019-21 include but are not limited 
to: Leveraging the ‘big-data’ revolution for directing CSA research 
across the region. Some elements to anticipate are, increased 
digital surveys, customized CSA agro-advisory at scale, interactive 
digital outputs like CSA dashboards for wide sharing among 
next users etc.; Strengthening the modus of delivery of context 
specific, real-time climate information to millions of farmers and 
fishers through information and communication (ICT) technology 
fed decision support tools; ‘Smartening’ agricultural insurance 
in the region by developing smart solutions for conducting 
loss assessments for yield index, rationalization of number of 
crop cutting experiments, bundling of CSA with insurance 
and devising ways to reduce basis risk in weather based crop 
insurance; Closely integrating climate risks in the aquaculture 
space and undertake scaling of interventions through bilateral 
projects and partnerships; Advancing and formalizing south: 
south learning between South Asia and Africa on CSA; Aligning 
CSA research with national and global agendas and attaining 
convergence with Nationally Determined Contributions as well as 
Sustainable Development Goals in the area. 
Collective discussions foster collective resolve for action
An objective of the workshop was to gather the collective 
opinions of CGIAR scientists and national partners to draft 
future strategies for CSA scaling in the region. These combined 
knowledge sharing sessions were done through theme based 
group discussions as well as country-wise strategy groups. Three 
themes that were accorded to participants along with resultant 
action plan are as follows:
• CSA Technologies, Practices and Policies:  
In this area: To prioritize big data investment planning; 
Envisage a cross-regional CSA consortium; Create 
mechanisms for enhanced data sharing within region and; 
Foster higher collaborations with policy projects.
• Climate Services and Safety Nets:  
In this area: Strengthen research support to enhance 
reliability of climate- forecast information to farming 
communities; Foster closer ties with public MET and private 
companies; Assess the effectiveness, types of products and 
costs in the insurance space and; Augment regional skills for 
differential forecasts and expand access to global data.
• Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion:  
In this area: To ensure research and extension services 
in support of women’s entrepreneurship; Explore gender 
related opportunities in the insurance space; Policy 
information to prioritize labour saving technologies to help 
women farmers in the region.
The country-level discussions were steered towards assessing the 
extent of alignment between research agendas of CGIAR and 
NARS and intra-country coordination between agencies. There 
was common consensus that partnerships should be made more 
expansive with higher incidences of participatory science-policy 
dialogues and rapid conversion of agriculture and climate change 
research into scalable interventions and models throughout the 
region. 
About CCAFS
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is a research initiative seeking to overcome the threats to 
agriculture and food security in a changing climate. CCAFS invests in research to address the crucial tradeoffs between climate change, agriculture, 
and food security and works to promote more adaptable and resilient agriculture and food systems in five focus regions: South Asia,Southeast 
Asia, West Africa, East Africa and Latin America. CCAFS work is carried out with support from CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding 
agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors. The views expressed in this document cannot be taken to reflect the official 
opinions of these organizations.
The CCAFS South Asia Office is hosted by:
Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), New Delhi, India
https://ccafs.cgiar.org/regions/south-asia
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For more information, contact:
South Asia Regional Program Leader South Asia Science Officer South Asia Communications Specialist
Pramod K. Aggarwal Arun Khatri-Chhetri Shehnab Sahin
E: p.k.aggarwal@cgiar.org E: A.Khatri-chhetri@cgiar.org E: s.sahin@cgiar.org
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©CCAFS South Asia 2018