CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE

CSA is a continuous and iterative process of planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and advancement towards sustainable solutions. Agricultural production is directly linked with complex food chains and requires many stakeholders to participate in solving the daunting problems of the agriculture, food insecurity and climate change simultaneously. Climate Smart Agriculture triggers the most concern quarters to link agriculture production and its impact on environment, scientific knowledge and performance. In brief, the CSA process involves flexible but very clear guiding principles for effective use of science and technology for more sustained, productive and efficient agriculture to end hunger globally.

In coming 50 years, global agriculture needs to produce more food than in the previous 10,000 years, with little or no increase in resources including water.  By 2030, world needs to produce more than 50 percent food than being produced today. In 1961, world`s agriculture was liable to feed 3.5 billion people by cultivating 1.37 billion hectares of land. Since then world population increased more than 50 percent while crop area increased only 12 percent and almost no more availability if to maintain natural environment for sustaining climatic changes. Water has been emerging as the most precious commodity on earth as agriculture utilizes approximately 70 percent of the world’s fresh water and will need 17 percent more by 2020 to produce adequate food supplies. Currently, world has only 17 percent of arable irrigated land contributing nearly 40 percent of total agricultural output. Inadequate, old fashioned and traditional methods of food handling causing more than 30 percent food loss before reaching to the fork of end user and leaving many to sleep hungry every night. Addition to that, climate change is forcing to shift the agricultural development agenda across the globe. Changing temperature and precipitation and the rising frequency of extreme climate events are projected to significantly reduce global food production during the current century. Adapting agriculture to climate change is indispensable to achieve food security and dawdling climate change.

Competitive, innovative and adaption of climate smart agriculture seems viable to nurture extra and better food and help alleviate global poverty and hunger. Climate Smart Agriculture is an integrated approach to achieve food security in the face of climate change. But as a matter of fact, it is yet, just a concept and needs much elaboration and demonstration especially for developing economies including Pakistan. Climate Smart Agriculture needs support of research and development organizations, policy and decision makers, national and international financers and dedicated knowledge and experience worthy human resources for long term sustainability of agriculture. CSA confronts on three dimensional approaches to achieve the objectives of sustainable food production and eliminating climatic threats gradually:

Firstly, Climate Smart Agriculture is basically a process to convince the world`s influential stakeholders to change the past behavior towards climate and agriculture for sustainable future. So, CSA tries to bring together farmers, scientist, policy makers and other stakeholders for identifying, refining, dissemination and implementing fruitful actions to make a considerable difference.

Secondly, climate research has shaped certain expected facts like changing temperatures, changing precipitation and higher risk of extreme events. However, effects are expected to vary substantially across even relatively small regions. The design of appropriate changes in crop varieties and crop mix, infrastructure investments and policies must be context specific. Moreover, solutions that consider multiple objectives for agricultural activities, environmental quality and social well-being across a mosaic of ecosystems that prerequisite multiple partners and institutional arrangements.

Thirdly, CSA focuses on multiple goals of human well-being, also concentrating food security and agriculture production. These goals materialize the agriculture multi-functionality and include concern for livelihoods, impact on the poor and preservation of biodiversity, forests and environmental services. Emulsion of Science with policy provides appropriate tools for achieving these goals, which might differ from one place to the next and from one place to globally.

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