Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Climate Change: Alleviating Poverty Helps Developing Countries Adapt Joe DeCapua 02 December 2010 Addressing poverty is the âsingle best wayâ to help developing countries adapt to climate change, according to a new report from IFPRI, the International Food policy Research Institute. The study - Food Security, Farming and Climate Change to 2050 â was released Thursday at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico. IFPRI senior research fellow Jerry Nelson, lead author of the study, says, âIf you have higher income, youâre able to deal with whatever shocks come your way. Youâre able to finance shortfalls in your food production, for example. Or youâre able to invest in some productivity improvements, like small-scale irrigationâ¦new seed technology or management techniques.â While there would be a bit of uncertainty in those investments, he says, âIf you have the resources you can afford to do some experimentation. So, thatâs why for small farmers, and large farmers for that matter, having more incomeâ¦is a way to deal with uncertainties that we expect coming out of the climate change future.â Poverty first Some studies say to alleviate poverty, climate change should be addressed first. The IFPRI report takes a different approach. âI would not want to say that we should not look at climate change. In fact, I think looking at climate change is a critical activity for governments and for the private sector.â However, he adds, âWe have uncertainties about the specific nature of the climate change at any particular location. So, a small farmer in Madagascar, for example, may experience in 20 years more precipitation in a particular time of the year or less precipitation. And so, any particular investment thatâs targeted just for climate change runs the risk of being the wrong investment.â The report says by increasing farmer incomes, thereâs greater flexibility to deal with whatever happens. Finding ways to produce more food The IFPRI report finds âimproving crop productivity can counteract the negative effects of climate change on food production, prices and access.â Nelson says thereâs a variety of ways to do that, besides boosting crops per unit of land. âWe have to have products that can respond to a likely increase in variability of climate changes and temperature fluctuations and changes in precipitation,â he says. IFPRI makes similar recommendations for livestock, breeding hardy animals better able to deal with climate change. âBut we canât stop there,â Nelson says, âbecause a higher production by a farmer is no good unless he or she can get it to the marketplace. So governments need to invest in the physical infrastructure.â This includes roads and railroads. âAnd they also need to invest in the institutional infrastructure,â he says, âThatâs everything from marketing institutions that provide support to farmers and to the marketing system within a country to providing the human capital and the physical capital to take the research output from the international research centers and transform them to activities and products that are useful for small farmers.â Nelson says action on IFPRIâs recommendation should begin now because there is a âtime lagâ between the when you start and âwhen youâre actually able to put something in the hands of farmers.â Jerry nelson is also a team leader at the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Research Program at CGIAR, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. CGIAR is a global network linking development researchers and funders. .