A failed maize crop in Ghana. A report by CCAFS is advising Africa’s farmers and policymakers to adapt to climate shifts now to ensure communities are protected from climate change devastations (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT).

The many adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture—from increasing droughts and floods, to more unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, to shorter growing seasons—threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa today.

For many African countries, dealing with climate change, which has shifted from the realm of academic discussion to that of high-profile policymaking, is now driving greater engagement in the global climate change debate.

That’s a good sign. An article this week (17 Jun 2013) in Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper reports that African countries are now arguing that climate change agreements, such as those under discussion in Bonn last week, should include ways of protecting and boosting agriculture. That’s to…