CSIR joined the FOCUS-Africa workshop on climate services for food and water security
On Wednesday, 1 June 2022, the CSIR team joined the Full-Value chain Optimised Climate User-centric Services for Southern Africa (FOCUS-Africa) workshop on climate services for food and water security. The main objective of the three-day workshop, which took place in Pretoria, was to get a better understanding of the local needs and requirements for related case studies in food and water security.
On Wednesday, 1 June 2022, the CSIR team joined the Full-Value chain Optimised Climate User-centric Services for Southern Africa (FOCUS-Africa) workshop on climate services for food and water security. The main objective of the three-day workshop, which took place in Pretoria, was to get a better understanding of the local needs and requirements for related case studies in food and water security.
On the first day of the workshop, Dr Bethuel Sehlapelo, the executive cluster manager of Smart Places from the CSIR, shared opening remarks during the plenary session, providing an overview on the food security project in South Africa.
The CSIR is one of the key partners of the FOCUS-Africa project, therefore, it was no surprise that there was a focus on two CSIR-led case studies.
“The workshop was impactful because it allowed project stakeholders, which included FOCUS-Africa consortium partners (research partners, service providers and fellow users), as well as National Meteorological Services within the Southern African Development Community region, to work together towards informing innovations in climate services. This workshop was especially for the benefit of the food security and water sector in South Africa and Mauritius,” said Shingirai Nangombe, Senior Researcher of CSIR Smart Places.
The workshop gave farmers from the North-West province an opportunity to contribute to the co-designing and tailoring processes for targeted climate services related to food security in South Africa. The information exchanged benefitted researchers, informed climate resilient farming practices and advances in credit modelling as implemented by the Land Bank, a partner in the FOCUS-Africa project.
The CSIR has invested in building capabilities to develop high-resolution seasonal forecasting, climate projections and impact modelling for various sectors of the economy such as food security, energy, water and infrastructure. The workshop served as a pathway for the CSIR’s investment in capability development and that of the FOCUS-Africa partnership.
