FAO Digital Media Hub - FAO / CABO VERDE SOUTH-SOUTH PROJECT

Cabo Verde, a Small Island Developing State, boosts its resilience to climate change with the support of South-South Cooperation

Short version: Cabo Verde, a Small Island Developing State boosts its resilience to climate change with the support of South-South Cooperation

Drought within an ocean – Celestina’s story

Cabo Verde, um pequeno Estado insular em desenvolvimento aumenta a sua resiliência às alterações climáticas com o apoio da Cooperação Sul-Sul

Cabo Verde renforce sa résilience face au changement climatique grâce à la coopération Sud-Sud

Version courte: Cabo Verde renforce sa résilience face au changement climatique grâce à la coopération Sud-Sud

Cabo Verde, un pequeño Estado insular en desarrollo, potencia su resiliencia ante el cambio climático gracias a la cooperación Sur-Sur

Version corta: Cabo Verde, un pequeño Estado insular en desarrollo, potencia su resiliencia ante el cambio climático gracias a la cooperación Sur-Sur

Drought within an ocean – Willy’s story

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縮短版本：佛得角，一个小岛屿发展中国家，在南南合作项目支持下，不断加强抵御气候变化的韧性

佛得角，一个小岛屿发展中国家，在南南合作项目支持下，不断加强抵御气候变化的韧性。

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FAO / CABO VERDE SOUTH-SOUTH PROJECT

Climate change and prolonged droughts pose an ever-increasing threat to agriculture in Cabo Verde.
Through the FAO-China South-South Cooperation project, a group of Chinese experts pass on their knowledge and expertise to Cabo Verdean farmers and livestock producers to fight pests, manage soil and animal production, and offer other useful techniques in adapting to the effects of climate change.

Duration 5m25s

Edit Version International

Video Type Video News Release (VNR)

Date 05/24/2024 7:25 PM

File size 715.01 MB

Unique ID UF2WK8

All editorial uses permitted

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Shotlist FAO / CABO VERDE SOUTH-SOUTH PROJECT
TRT: 5:25
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: CREOLE /PORTUGUESE /FRENCH /CHINESE /ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 29 APRIL - 3 MAY 2024, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

SHOTLIST:

29 APRIL - 3 MAY 2024, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

1. Various drone shots, of the island of Santiago

1 MAY 2024, RUI VAZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

2. Wide shot, woman walking through dry hilly landscape
3. Wide shot, village on a side of a mountain
4. Med shot, woman working in a coop

29 APRIL, SANTA CRUZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

5. Various shots, Willy watering seedlings
6. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Willy Gonçalves, farmer, Cabo Verde:
“From 2017 onwards, we began to feel these climate changes more strongly here in Cabo Verde. We started having more pests, more difficulties and since then everything we've planted has been a struggle. Before, everything we planted we were able to harvest, now we can't because of climate change.”

2 MAY 2024, ASSOMADA, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

7. Various shots, market
8. Various drone shots of the area

30 APRIL, SANTA CRUZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

9. Close up, cassava plant
10. Wide shot, Willy working in garden

3 MAY 2024, PRAIA, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

11. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Gilberto Silva, Minister for Agriculture and Environment, Cabo Verde:
“In the framework of our cooperation with FAO, we have a South-South partnership with China. This cooperation allows us to reinforce our producers’ and technicians’ capabilities, bring in technology, share knowledge and technology between China and Cabo Verde with FAO’s help.”

2 MAY 2024, ASSOMADA, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

12. Various shots, training on horticulture
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yanhua Zeng, Chinese expert on horticulture and soil:
“After the trials, we will establish a standard for biological pest control, which will be promoted in Cabo Verde. This will greatly improve the efficiency of crop pest control on a large scale, significantly reducing the yield losses caused by pests and ensuring an increase in food and horticultural crop production.”
14. Various shots, training on animal fodder preservation
15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhiqi Li, Chinese expert on animal production and breeding:
“Cabo Verde is very rich in pasture resources and has a lot of stalks like corn stalks, but the people here don't utilize them enough.”

30 APRIL, SANTA CRUZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

16. Various shots, Expert Zeng, teaching Celestina animal fodder preservation
17. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Celestina Tavares, livestock producer, Cabo Verde:
“I found the training useful because it is very resourceful, as you can preserve the pasture, and you can feed the animals. Sometimes there was a lot of waste and residues left, now we can make use of everything (for the cattle feed.).”

3 MAY, PRAIA, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

18. Drone shot of the city
19. Wide shot, Chinese embassy
20. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jie Xu, Ambassador of China to Cabo Verde:
“The China-FAO-Cabo Verde South-South Cooperation Project aims to help Cabo Verde improve the food and nutrition system and promote the sustainable development of agriculture, livestock industry and blue economy through agricultural technical assistance and cooperation.”

29 APRIL, SANTA CRUZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

21. Various shots, expert Yanhua showing Willy the use of food traps for pests

3 MAY, PRAIA, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Ana Laura Touza, FAO Representative, Cabo Verde:
“They are looking with Cabo Verdean eyes, bringing Chinese expertise. To me, this is unique, this is very valuable, because countries that have faced similar situations and they have found possible solutions come to share, working along day by day for three years.”

29 APRIL, SANTA CRUZ, SANTIAGO, CABO VERDE

23. Various shots, expert Yanhua showing Willy the use of pheromone traps

Script Cabo Verde, an archipelago of ten islands, nine of which are inhabited, is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in West Africa. It is increasingly bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change.
In 2018, a severe drought hit the country where approximately one quarter of the population relies on agriculture for their main income. Since then, rainfall has been scarcer and more unpredictable than in previous years prior, leading to a significant drop in food production and grazing land losses. Coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the important tourism sector, it culminated in a peak of food insecurity across the country in 2022.
Willy Gonçalves, 29-year-old from the Cabo Verde’s main island of Santiago is a manager of a plant nursery that he has worked on since he was nine-year-old. He witnessed first-hand the effects of the climate change on the country’s agriculture.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Willy Gonçalves, farmer, Cabo Verde:
“From 2017 onwards, we began to feel these climate changes more strongly here in Cabo Verde. We started having more pests, more difficulties and since then everything we've planted has been a struggle. Before, everything we planted we were able to harvest, now we can't because of climate change.”

Like most other SIDS, Cabo Verde relies heavily on imports: 80 percent of its food is imported. This makes the country’s food security vulnerable to worldwide shocks like conflicts or disasters.
Though food security has since improved, food production and agriculture are still suffering.
With the changes in climate, soil erosion has augmented, and soil fertility plummeted, not to mention the explosion of plant pests in the country. The rising temperatures have made Cabo Verde a home where these new pests can thrive. Fall armyworm arrived in 2017 and has since wreaked havoc on maize crops. Fruit flies that attack mango harvests in particular, and tomato worms, named after their favored target, are other formidable foes.
Through FAO, Cabo Verde requested assistance in fighting these growing challenges, and that is exactly what China could offer, having lived through many of these challenges itself in the vastness of its own country.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Gilberto Silva, Minister for Agriculture and Environment, Cabo Verde:
“In the framework of our cooperation with FAO, we have a South-South partnership with China. This cooperation allows us to reinforce our producers’ and technicians’ capabilities, bring in technology, share knowledge and technology between China and Cabo Verde with FAO’s help.”

The South-South Cooperation project matches the technologies and experience of visiting countries with the needs and requests of host countries, transferring knowledge and expertise through partnership. China is passing on to Cabo Verde what it has learned in its own rural landscapes, remarkably similar to that of this small island’s interior.
The project has a pool of seven Chinese experts in different areas including pest management, soil and water management, fertilization and livestock production and they will work closely with Cabo Verdean farmers over the next three years.

SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yanhua Zeng, Chinese expert on horticulture and soil:
“After the trials, we will establish a standard for biological pest control, which will be promoted in Cabo Verde. This will greatly improve the efficiency of crop pest control on a large scale, significantly reducing the yield losses caused by pests and ensuring an increase in food and horticultural crop production.”

Cabo Verde, like many SIDS, imports the majority of its food products, including animal fodder. This makes the country very vulnerable to market shocks that affect food and feed price, thus making the increasing the domestic fodder production an important task for the project.

SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhiqi Li, Chinese expert on animal production and breeding:
“Cabo Verde is very rich in pasture resources and has a lot of stalks like corn stalks, but the people here don't utilize them enough.”

In the course of the training, Li has demonstrated how ammonification improves the nutritional value and digestibility of stalk and straw for animals. And after being digested by cows and goats, the ammonia-treated straw becomes organic manure which in turn can be used for the production of crops. This forms the circular agriculture.

For Celestina Tavares, a livestock producer, these lessons are very valuable; instead of going to waste, she can now turn the crop residues into nutritional animal fodder.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Celestina Tavares, livestock producer, Cabo Verde:
“I found the training useful because it is very resourceful, as you can preserve the pasture, and you can feed the animals. Sometimes there was a lot of waste and residues left, now we can make use of everything (for the cattle feed.).”

The government of Cabo Verde highlighted the management of horticulture and soil fertility, plant protection and the improvement of animal production and enhancement of animal genetics as some priority areas for South-South Cooperation assistance. Later this year, there will also be a study on the potential of seaweed cultivation and value chain enhancement for this product.

SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jie Xu, Ambassador of China to Cabo Verde:
“The China-FAO-Cabo Verde South-South Cooperation Project aims to help Cabo Verde improve the food and nutrition system and promote the sustainable development of agriculture, livestock industry and blue economy through agricultural technical assistance and cooperation.”

Innovations, shared expertise and replicable practices are key to facing these challenges. With all countries battling climate change in different ways, it is critical that experiences and solutions are shared among them. Partnerships, like the FAO-Cabo Verde-China one, are helping bring everyday solutions to the country’s farmers and smallholder livestock producers.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ana Laura Touza, FAO Representative, Cabo Verde:
“They are looking with Cabo Verdean eyes, bringing Chinese expertise. To me, this is unique, this is very valuable, because countries that have faced similar situations and they have found possible solutions come to share, working along day by day for three years.”

This is the way forward for the future for the island: finding more sustainable ways of using decreasing water resources, reducing reliance on imports and the sometimes-volatile prices and learning new methods for dealing with pests and other consequences of rising temperatures.