April 25, 2011

FAO encourages climate-smart practices

The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has projected global demand for food to rise by 70% by 2050, and encourages farmers to take on "climate-smart" agricultural practices to ensure the future of food security, especially in developing regions.

Climate change affects agriculture, such as shifts in temperature and precipitation patterns, and prevalence of pests and diseases. Developing countries that get by with minimal productivity and limited technology are in danger of enduring lower and erratic production, aggravating animal feed supply, farmers' livelihood and the population's food supply.

"The needs of agriculture have to be encouraged in the international climate regime," said Deborah Murphy of International Institute for Sustainable Development.

In the 2010 report "Climate-Smart Agriculture," the FAO pointed out the interdependence of climate change mitigation and food security, encouraging developing nations to invest in climate-smart production systems that are designed to transform existing methods into more efficient, adaptive systems that ensure maximum yield with minimum carbon emission.

Conservation agriculture (CA) stands out among climate-smart practices that ensure productivity while building resilience to climate change.
 

FAO Senior Officer Theodor Friedrich said this practice reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of fossil fuel, fertilisers, and other agricultural inputs.

CA has a water infiltration system that adjusts to extreme weather conditions. In dry periods, it reduces the water requirements of crops by 30%, enhancing soil fertility to withstand extended droughts. During rainy periods, this method facilitates the course of rain water to prevent soil erosion and flooding. Today, about 8% of the global fertile cropland is being used for conservation agriculture.

In South Asia, where agriculture is dominated by the production of rice, wheat, and corn, CA has been important in addressing the decelerating productivity of cereal systems. The Indo-Ganges region, in particular, has suffered from terminal heat and drought during peak crop season, as well as loss of biodiversity due to climate change.

"We promote conservation agriculture as a vehicle that helps adapt and mitigate these stresses," said Mangi Lal Jat of International Corn and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in India. "In the long-term, we see lot of reductions in GHG emissions and facilitate carbon sequestration," Jat said.

The success in South Asia sets a feasible example of climate-smart agriculture. However, climate-smart strategies have yet to reach many farmers in developing countries who need to be informed of technologies that suit different climate change scenarios.