CCAFS-MOT - A tool for farmers, extension services and policy-advisors to identify mitigation options for agriculture

Abstract

CCAFS-MOT is a tool to support farmers, policy advisors and agricultural extension services on the choice of management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) without risking food security. It is an Excel-based tool which brings together several empirical models to estimate GHG emissions in rice, cropland and livestock systems, and provides information about the most effective mitigation options. Greenhouse gas emissions are estimated in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent per hectare (kg CO2eq ha− 1) and carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of product (kg CO2eq kg− 1). Baseline management practices are chosen by the user and a set of mitigation options are ranked according to their mitigation potential. The tool allows different levels of input to be specified from an introductory to detailed level, depending on objectives and issues like to accommodate users with different backgrounds and details concerning input data. As such it allows for product and region specific assessments of GHGs and mitigation potentials to be made without the need for expert knowledge or for lengthy model set-up and calibration.