At a time when the demand for food is steadily increasing and the impacts of climate change hang like the proverbial dark clouds in the horizon, it is not enough that we grow crops the usual way.
The new buzzword among experts, scientists and researchers nowadays is climate-smart agriculture, also known as CSA.
But how does this exactly relate to another buzzword, sustainable agriculture? And, more importantly, how does it support the global action to promote agriculture that is good for the earth and will produce enough to feed the world?
Defining CSA and Sustainable Agriculture
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) presents this definition of sustainable agriculture (alternatively, sustainable agricultural development):
“management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such development…conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally-non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable.”
Another definition is forwarded by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform.
"Sustainable agriculture is the efficient production of safe, high quality agricultural products, in a way that protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of farmers, their employees and local communities, and safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species.”
Climate-smart agriculture, on the other hand, is defined by the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) as “an integrative approach to address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change… aiming for three objectives:(1) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity; (2) adapting and building resilience of agricultural and food security systems to climate change at multiple levels; and (3) reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.” These are also alternatively identified as the triple wins of CSA: food security, adaptation, and mitigation.
It would appear that unlike the more general, broader concept of sustainable agriculture, CSA is more directed at responding and promoting resilience to the impacts of climate change. It is grounded on the premise that climate change impacts agriculture just as agricultural activities contribute to climate change. As the FAO emphasizes in the CSA Sourcebook, food systems must be efficient in the use of resources and resilient to shocks (like climate change) in producing enough food for all.
As an approach, it is not confined to a standard set of practices or to a particular agricultural system. Rather, it stresses the importance of actions and measures that will create the needed policy frameworks, and strengthen the capacity of institutions that support and teach farmers on the adoption of climate-resilient agricultural practices and technologies. It also includes measures that seek to enable farmers to overcome barriers to adoption and change, including credit and finance and land tenure.
The FAO also stresses that while the CSA does not advocate new policies, frameworks or technologies, it does emphasize harmonizing policies and technologies to address the intertwined challenges of agricultural production and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Concreteness of terms
But how can this be done? CCAFS and FAO have developed a number of resource materials to explain CSA. A primary reference is the CSA Sourcebook, a guide consisting of 18 modules that explain the CSA approach and detail ways and measures in managing agricultural resources and practices that are climate-smart.
Still, it appears that there is a need to further refine this concept of climate-smart agriculture. The SAI’s position paper on CSA, has called for a clearer definition of CSA, its scope and the practices it covers (and does not). An article from The Guardian has pointed out that CSA is easily being used to cover up practices that are in actuality damaging to the environment.
Farmer adoption
There is also the other matter of the farmers’ adoption of CSA. It has always been traditionally difficult to encourage farmer adoption of certain technologies, and with so many farming practices and technologies, how else could an ordinary farmer still distinguish between a sustainable farming practice and a climate-smart one?
There is no question that everyone is in agreement that more conscious agricultural practices that are responsive to the challenges and impacts of climate change are needed. The CSA is one approach, but what is also equally important is to see how we can leverage on the buzz created by CSA to further awareness, clarify misconceptions, lay down concrete measures, and encourage its widespread adoption.
Click on an icon to view projects.
