Climate-smart agriculture: A review of sustainability, resilience, and food security
https://doi.org/10.26832/24566632.2024.0904028
Abstract
This paper investigates Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), a comprehensive strategy aimed at improving agricultural efficiency and sustainability while addressing the challenges of climate change. It examines the economic advantages of CSA for adopters compared to traditional farming methods and assesses CSA's role in mitigating climate change, adapting to its impacts, and enhancing food security. The study reviews essential CSA practices, including agroforestry, conservation agriculture, water-efficient irrigation technologies, crop diversification, improved livestock management, and soil carbon sequestration, as well as the barriers to adoption, such as limited funding, arable land, land tenure issues, and insufficient expertise. Agroforestry and crop rotation have shown encouraging results, with agroforestry serving as a cost-effective solution for food production and environmental preservation. Dairy companies boosted milk consumption from 529,000 to 3 million liters, while farmer profits grew from $0.2 to $0.3 per liter. Rice yields have increased, from 3-4 tons to 7.5 tons per hectare. In cotton farming, CSA adopters cut input costs compared to traditional methods, resulting in long-term economic gains. Crop rotation increased maize productivity by 5–10%, while new irrigation techniques improved water efficiency by 5–35%. However, regions without CSA methods experienced significant livestock losses, highlighting the importance of widespread adoption to ensure resilience. Despite CSA’s advantages, its widespread adoption is hindered by financial and knowledge barriers. Future research should focus on optimizing multiple cropping systems, crop diversification, and no-till agriculture. CSA, particularly when integrated with technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), offers a promising path toward more adaptive and resilient agricultural practices. Broader adoption will require investments in research and resources to effectively scale CSA innovations.
Keywords:
Adaptation, Agriculture , Climate, Food security, Mitigation, SmartDownloads
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