2012 will be the second year of operation of the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The 2012 business plan lays out the key activities in 2012, situated within the larger strategic framework of CCAFS. At the time of writing, many of the overarching principles for the operation of CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) are still being produced by the Consortium Office (e.g. monitoring and evaluation strategy), so some of the proposed activities in 2012 may need to be modified as the year unfolds.

The CCAFS Regional Program for Southeast Asia (CCAFS-SEA) organized a convergence meeting involving CGIAR CCAFS focal persons and selected partners on 11-13 December 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. About 24 participants from collaborating CGIAR Consortium Centers (Bioversity, CIAT, CIP, ICRISAT, IFPRI, IRRI, IWMI, World Agro-Forestry Center and WorldFish Center), CCAFS-SEA and selected partners participated in this undertaking. The main purpose of this activity was to establish the groundwork for collaborative work on climate change R4D among Centers in SEA.

In November 2011 the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) held its first Independent Science Panel meeting in Colombia.

The 2014 business plan of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) lays out the key activities in 2014, situated within the larger strategic framework of CCAFS.

Quick comments from some of the participants in an east and southern Africa inception workshop for the CGIAR Research Program on Drylands. The meeting was held at the Nairobi headquaters of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) 5-7 Jun 2011.

Summary Report from the workshop held in Rome 27-28 October 2011

The University of Aberdeen and CCAFS are developing a simple tool for practitioners to quickly identify and compare mitigation options for agriculture. The CCAFS-MOT tool takes account of current farming practices and growing conditions to suggest a wide range of

mitigation options. The Excel-based tool is free and downloadable from the CCAFS website.

The Lesotho cattle industry is characterized by overstocking, range degradation, low marketed offtake, low fertility, and high mortality. The overstocking situation is paradoxically accompanied by an ownership pattern which leaves many households with an insufficient number of cattle for draught purposes, and the abscence of a large commercial beef sector. In this setting a number of analysis have suggested that the increased provision of market outlets would allow Basotho to sell surplus culled animals which would in turn promote reduced stocking and increased productivity.