Linking climate smart agriculture and good agriculture practices: case studies on consumption potatoes in South Africa, the Netherlands and Ethiopia

Recently, the concept of Climate Smart Agriculture has been coined in an attempt to overcome existing barriers among food security, adaptation of agriculture to climate change, and mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Because the goals of CSA ultimately need to be achieved by farmers it is important to link and integrate CSA goals with Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Although the general scope of GAP is clear, i.e. sustainable agricultural intensification, there is little common ground in what 'good' means in practice and how CSA goals should be addressed in GAP. Using the integrated framework, this report illustrates the integration of CSA and GAP in potato production systems in three contrasting economies with different biophysical and climatological conditions, i.e. The Netherlands (Flevoland) a high income economy in a temperate climate, South Africa (Sandveld) an upper-middle income economy in a Mediterranean climate, and Ethiopia (Rift valley) a low income economy in a semi-tropical climate. Related to the differences in economic development, physical conditions and expected impacts of climate change the cases illustrate the location-specific differences in current potato management, CSA options, and strategies to lift existing institutional and financial barriers hindering the realization of these options.