What Are The Benefits of Climate-Smart Agriculture? It’s a fact that agriculture is increasingly feeling the effects of climate change. Changes in weather patterns, including drought and an increase in extreme weather events, negatively affect the productivity of farms and forests. It threatens the production of the required amount of food and farmers’ income.
However, today there are solutions to help agriculture adapt to climate change and increase production sustainably. Climate-smart practices also reduce emissions from farming and livestock production and reduce the use of fuel, energy, fertilizers, and pesticides. This approach also includes increasing the diversity of agricultural land, which also helps to make it more resilient to climate change.
Climate-smart agriculture is an amalgamation of various sustainable practices that help address the challenges posed by climate change. The first step in addressing these issues on a given farm is to assess climate risks, such as prolonged water shortages or occasional floods.
It also considers the landscape’s vulnerability, taking into account local ecosystems and the crops grown. It is necessary to choose a combination of methods that increase the farm’s resistance to weather conditions to solve the climatic problems of a particular farm. This fact makes climate-smart farming smart.
The three pillars of CSA
The first important task of climate-smart practices in agribusiness is to increase productivity sustainably. The main goal, in this case, is to ensure food security and reduce the negative impact on the environment. This point is crucial, as the world’s population continues to grow and by 2050 is projected to be more than 9 billion people. Population growth leads to increased demand for food, which can be challenging to meet in the face of extreme weather and climate instability.
This farming concept also aims to adapt farmland to climate change. A critical task at this stage is to reduce vulnerability to various risks, including drought, pests, and diseases. Adaptation also means improving plant resilience in the face of long-term stresses.
Mitigation is also possible through CSA techniques. The application of this concept contributes to reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. Soils and forests should be managed in ways that will maximize their ability to absorb and retain CO2. Efforts should be made to reduce emissions per calorie or kilogram of food produced. It is also vital to avoid deforestation due to the expansion of agricultural land.
Climate-smart farming is based on the principles, knowledge, and technologies of sustainable farming. However, this is not the same thing since the efforts of climate-smart agriculture are primarily focused on the problems of climate change. The concept systematically considers the interrelationships and trade-offs between all of the above.
Benefits of climate-smart practices
The diversity of agricultural systems makes them more resilient to climate change. Agroforestry, silvopastoral systems and rotation crop practices can protect farmers from crop loss. Mixed production allows farmers to receive income from different sources and satisfy the demand of a more considerable number of consumers. In addition, crop rotation and cover crops improve soil health and develop the soil’s ability to retain greenhouse gases.
An essential advantage of climate-smart practices is optimizing nutrient and organic cycling, increased infiltration, and reduced leaching. Crop diversity also enhances biodiversity, and growing trees on agricultural land enhance soil carbon storage capacity. Together, these practices help use resources, including water, fertilizers, and pesticides, more efficiently. Reducing the use or elimination of pesticides has another meaningful result, namely reducing the negative impact on the environment.
Conclusion
Climate-smart agriculture is a set of principles and practices aimed at increasing production, adapting to climate change, and addressing the impacts in sustainable ways. Climate-smart systems also allow farmers to use resources as efficiently as possible and reduce the negative impact on the environment. Implementing sustainable practices provides an opportunity to make plants more resilient to climate change even as extreme weather events become more frequent.
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