Harare — Leading agricultural research scientists from seven African countries are meeting in Harare to map out strategies to enhance the capacity of smallholder farmers to adapt to pressures of climate change in the region.

The experts, who began their three-day workshop on Tuesday, are also set to discuss activities to be pursued during a three-year project to be implemented in the seven participating states, namely Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The University of Zimbabwe is leading the project in collaboration with the Soil Fertility Consortium of Southern Africa and the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Centre.

Officially opening the workshop on Tuesday, Secretary for Environment and Tourism Mrs Margaret Sangarwe said climate change had recently become the most significant threat to sustainability of human livelihoods, including health and the environment.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states in its Third and Fourth Assessment Reports that Africa will suffer the most from the impact of climate change and that scientific evidence of human-induced global warming is unequivocal, worse than previously estimated," she said.

Mrs Sangarwe said climate change posed one of the most serious challenges to food security in Africa, which is predicted to record a 30 percent decline in agricultural productivity this century.

She said the high prevalence and intensity of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa was likely to amplify the negative impact of climate change, particularly on rural and peri-urban populations.

Mrs Sangarwe said any short- or long-term climate change would force farmers to adopt new agricultural practices including choice of crop varieties, timing of major operations and designing of alternative food supply systems.

"It therefore becomes imperative to build capabilities of households, communities and relevant institutions to appropriately respond to these changing conditions in order to reduce vulnerability and future threats to food security and environmental integrity," she said.

She said Government viewed global climate change as a serious issue and was vigorously exploring adaptation strategies to mitigate the diverse and complex impact of climate change on food security and the environment.

The Government, Mrs Sangarwe added, had started working on a project to quantify greenhouse gases, assess the levels of vulnerability of communities to climate change, assess the impact of climate change and advise on adaptation strategies for the country.

She said the three-year project to enhance adaptive capacities of local communities to pressures of climate fed well into other climate change initiatives the Government was implementing. -- New Ziana.