Climate smart agriculture, farm household typologies and food security

Although the transition to industrial agriculture in the 20th century resulted in increased agricultural productivity and efficiency, the attainment of global food security continues to be elusive. Current and anticipated impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector are likely to exacerbate the incidence of food insecurity. In recent years, climate-smart agriculture has gained recognition as a mechanism that has the potential to contribute to the attainment of food security and also enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, several conceptual and implementation shortfalls have limited the widespread adoption of this innovative agricultural system at the landscape scale. This manuscript argues for the use of ecosystem management as an overarching framework for the conceptualization and implementation of climate-smart agriculture. The manuscript focuses on clarifying the foundational assumptions and management goals, as well as the knowledge and institutional requirements of climate-smart agriculture using the principles of ecosystem management. Potential challenges that may be faced by the application of an ecosystem management approach to climate-smart agriculture are also discussed. Furthermore, the manuscript calls for a heightened focus on social equity in the transition toward an ecosystem-based approach to climate-smart agriculture. The US farm bill is used as an illustrative case study along with other examples drawn mostly from sub-Saharan Africa.

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Climate Smart Agriculture as Final Goal: Use of Improved Cereals Varieties in Cinzana, Mali.

Journal of Agricultural Studies ◽

10.5296/jas.v5i1.10582 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 50

Author(s):

Kalifa TRAORE ◽

Daouda SIDIBE ◽

Harouna COULIBALY

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Crop Production ◽

Heavy Rain ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Improved Varieties ◽

Farmer Organizations ◽

Conservation Technology ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Smart Agriculture

Climate variability and change are recognized as the greatest challenge to crop production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This work assesses farmers’ perception on the contribution of improved varieties of sorghum and millet in the search for food security in Cinzana rural commune of Mali in the current context of climate change.The methodology was based on focus group surveys with both, the decentralized technical services, administrative and municipal authorities, NGOs, farmer organizations and producers but also farmer exchanges visits on improved varieties tested in farmer’s field.The result shows that climate change is described by the majority of farmers (87%) as decrease in rainfall amount and length of rainy seasons, high increases in temperature and high deforestation and water scarcity. Unpredictability of climate, (80%), drought (70%) and heavy rain (65%) occurrence were identified as major perception of farmers on risks in climate for crop production and soil degradation. After farmers’ study tour, 80% of the participants mentioned a better growth of plants and increase of soil moisture with the use of contour ridges tillage as a water conservation technology. Adapted cycle (55%) and higher yield (37%) of improved varieties were farmer’s main drivers for adoption of improved millet and sorghum varieties.The study revealed that local farmers have substantial knowledge on climate variabilities and risks and also are aware of some adaptation strategies. However, for wide scale adoption of effective strategies, capacity strengthening appeared a prerequisite.

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Impact of climate-smart agriculture adoption on the food security of coastal farmers in Bangladesh

Food Security ◽

10.1007/s12571-018-0824-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 1073-1088 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Md Kamrul Hasan ◽

Sam Desiere ◽

Marijke D’Haese ◽

Lalit Kumar

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Smart Agriculture

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Farm Household Strategies for Food Security in Northern Ghana: A Comparative Analysis of High and Low Population Farming Systems

Sustainable Food Security in West Africa ◽

10.1007/978-1-4615-6105-7_6 ◽

1997 ◽

pp. 129-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R. Al-Hassan ◽

J. A. Famiyeh ◽

A. de Jager

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Northern Ghana ◽

Farm Household ◽

Household Strategies

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Achieving Food Security in a Changing Climate: The Potential of Climate-Smart Agriculture

Environmental Cost and Face of Agriculture in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-05768-2_2 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 27-42

Author(s):

Mohamed Behnassi ◽

Mohamed Boussaid ◽

R. Gopichandran

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Changing Climate ◽

Smart Agriculture

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Climate Smart Agriculture: A New Approach for Sustainable Intensification

Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology ◽

10.9734/cjast/2020/v39i2330862 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 138-147

Author(s):

Gayatri Sahu ◽

Pragyan Paramita Rout ◽

Suchismita Mohapatra ◽

Sai Parasar Das ◽

Poonam Preeti Pradhan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Food Security ◽

Agricultural Practices ◽

Sustainable Intensification ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Agricultural System ◽

World Population ◽

Resource Degradation ◽

Security Challenge ◽

Smart Agriculture

World population is increasing day by day and at the same time agriculture is threatened due to natural resource degradation and climate change. A growing global population and changing diets are driving up the demand for food. The food security challenge will only become more difficult, as the world will need to produce about 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed an estimated 9 billion people. Production stability, agricultural productivity, income and food security is negatively affected by changing climate. Therefore, agriculture must change according to present situation for meeting the need of food security and also withstanding under changing climatic situation. Agriculture is a prominent source as well as a sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs). So, there is a need to modify agricultural practices in a sustainable way to overcome these problems. Developing climate smart agriculture is thus crucial to achieving future food security and climate change goals. It helps the agricultural system to resist damage and recover quickly by adaptation and mitigation strategies. Sustainable Intensification is an essential means of adapting to climate change, also resulting in lower emissions per unit of output. With its emphasis on improving risk management, information flows and local institutions to support adaptive capacity, CSA provides the foundations for incentivizing and enabling intensification. Since climate smart agriculture is defined along three pillars (productivity increases, building resilience and adapting, and GHG emission reduction), key concepts such as productivity, resilience, vulnerability and carbon sequestration provide indicators for future empirical measurements of the climate smart agriculture concept.

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Assessing the Potential Contribution of Pfumvudza Towards Climate Smart Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A Review

10.20944/preprints202101.0619.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Never Mujere

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Nitrous Oxide ◽

Food Security ◽

Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽

Household Food Security ◽

Potential Contribution ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Household Food ◽

Smart Agriculture ◽

The Impact

Concerns of food and environmental security have increased enormously in recent years due to the vagaries of climate change and variability. Efforts to promote food security and environmental sustainability often reinforce each other and enable farmers to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change and other stresses. Some of these efforts are based on appropriate technologies and practices that restore natural ecosystems and improve the resilience of farming systems, thus enhancing food security. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) principles, for example, translate into a number of locally-devised and applied practices that work simultaneously through contextualised crop-soil-water-nutrient-pest-ecosystem management at a variety of scales. The purpose of this paper is to review concisely the current state-of-the-art literature and ascertain the potential of the Pfumvudza concept to enhance household food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation as it is promoted in Zimbabwe. The study relied heavily on data from print and electronic media. Datasets pertaining to carbon, nitrous oxide and methane storage in soils and crop yield under zero tillage and conventional tillage were compiled. Findings show that, compared to conventional farming, Pfumvudza has great potential to contribute towards household food security and reducing carbon emissions if implemented following the stipulated recommendations. These include among others, adequate land preparation and timely planting and acquiring inputs. However, nitrous oxide emissions tend to increase with reduced tillage and, the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is environmentally unfriendly.

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The Threats to Food Security

Food for All in Africa ◽

10.7591/cornell/9781501743887.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 61-84

Author(s):

Gordon Conway ◽

Ousmane Badiane ◽

Katrin Glatzel

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Nitrous Oxide ◽

Food Security ◽

Greenhouse Gases ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Rural Livelihoods ◽

Farm Household ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change ◽

Socioeconomic Challenges

This chapter explores threats to food security. It reveals many challenges arising from a range of threats external to the farm household, including severe biological threats from pests, disease, and weeds. Moreover, healthy, fertile soils are the cornerstone of food security and rural livelihoods, but African soils are degrading. Water is just as important for the productivity of plants, and lack of water leads to chronic and acute stress. Indeed, Africa is already battling the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures and variable rainfall are increasing the exposure of smallholders to drought, famine, and disease. Agriculture is an important emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs), not only carbon dioxide but also such powerful gases as methane and nitrous oxide. In addition, there are often severe socioeconomic challenges, including unstable and high prices of basic commodities. Finally, conflicts cause disruption to food security.

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