Workshop report: Farm-household modelling with a focus on food security, climate change adaptation, risk management and mitigation: a way forward

The workshop entitled: ‘Farm-household modelling with a focus on food security, climate change adaptation, risk management and mitigation: a way forward’ focused on identifying the current strengths and weaknesses of farm and household-level models, and laying out practical pathways to improve these models. This activity followed a recent review on farm household modelling commissioned by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The workshop took place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 23–25 April 2012.

The most important conclusions of the workshop were:
1. It is possible to analyse household-level questions related to climate change in a reasonable short (6 months to 1 year) time span with existing tools and the expertise present in the group of participants.
2. Availability of component tools can be an issue; the tools are there but free usability of code and parameters is not always possible.
3. Activities to develop repositories of models and data are urgently needed to increase further development of household models and make better use of existing knowledge.

A set of activities will be developed to move the work forward in three CCAFS target regions (West Africa, East Africa and South Asia). The expectation is that the workshop will serve as a springboard for a multi-year initiative that will eventually involve a wide range of participants both within and outside the CGIAR.

The challenges associated with climate change, agriculture and food security are considerable, and household modelling has a key role to play in designing and evaluating adaptation, risk management and mitigation options that can help lead to the positive outcomes that CCAFS and research-for-development partners are seeking.