Climate-Smart Agriculture: Modern Useful Practices

Photo: cropler.io

The effects of climate change are everywhere. Weather patterns are changing, droughts are more common, and temperature extremes are increasing. Farming is becoming more difficult as a result, and climate-smart agriculture practices help address several challenges due to a thorough approach.

What Is Climate-Smart Agriculture?

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a technique used by commercial and small-scale farmers to mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture. It is a comprehensive approach that aims to increase productivity and profitability and help farmers counter the negative impacts of global warming. CSA helps strengthen food security, creates agricultural resilience, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It represents a set of sustainable farming techniques adapted to specific areas to counteract climate challenges.

The Benefits of Climate-Smart Agriculture

There are three main benefits of climate-smart agriculture:

• Increased productivity: Farmers, including those in underdeveloped countries, can improve the quality and quantity of agricultural products.
• Resilience to climate change: Smart agricultural measures that reduce susceptibility to climate-induced changes such as droughts, flooding, and extreme temperatures.
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions: Sustainable agricultural practices that increase carbon sequestration.

Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices

The one aspect of climate-smart agriculture practices that sets them apart from traditional agriculture is a holistic approach uniquely adapted to the region’s climate and socio-economic conditions. These practices include sustainable water management, no-till farming, crop rotation, growing climate-resilient varieties, and the use of integrated pest management, among others. Some common techniques are described below.

Conservation Agriculture Techniques

Conservation agriculture is based on three principles:

1. Minimized disturbance to the soil. For example, planting machines can be used to drill small holes for seeds rather than plowing the entire field.
2. Regular crop rotation. It helps foster diversity, improves soil fertility, and reduces crop disease.
3. Sustained ground cover. For example, by not clearing dead stalks, which allows natural plants to grow, and by planting cover crops, which prevents erosion and the leaching of nutrients from the soil.

Cultivating Climate-Resistant Crops

Since the climate is changing, farmers may start facing challenges even with crops that have been better suited to the local climate for a long time. Where possible, farmers should try new varieties and optimize agricultural practices to help current plants adapt. It’s also important to keep local climate records, particularly concerning temperature extremes and precipitation patterns, to make informed decisions regarding suitable crops. The use of an agriculture camera that records both the plant growth process and environmental aspects can help farmers monitor the condition of their crops and determine the best times to plant, water, or fertilize.

Agroforestry

Growing indigenous trees along the sides of the fields provides needed shade, creates windbreaks, and helps make the landscape more robust. Trees also capture carbon dioxide, improve soil fertility, and increase biodiversity.

Management of Soil and Water

The adoption of drip irrigation techniques as opposed to irrigation booms helps reduce water use in areas with poor rainfall and limited water storage resources. Simple practices such as creating a small depression around plants or using earth mounds to collect and slow the flow of water improve moisture retention.

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management techniques use biological and benign chemical treatments rather than pesticides. This approach protects the ecosystem, prevents harm to beneficial organisms, and improves biodiversity. Also, growing pest-resistant crops reduces infestations as does crop rotation.

Nutrient Management

Farmers can make significant financial savings through careful nutrient management supported by remote crop monitoring tools. These tools help farmers know when it’s the right time to apply fertilizers. The use of natural organic fertilizers should be encouraged as they are environmentally friendly and cause no harm to the soil.

Livestock Farming Adjustments

Livestock farming typically entails a mixture of grazing and specialized feed formulations. Using monitoring tools, farmers can efficiently check plant cover in their fields to determine the best time to move livestock to new pastures.

Climate-Related Information and Education

Local and government resources and programs can help farmers better understand climate-related issues that affect them. They can use weather and climate projections and climate-smart agricultural technologies to make informed farming choices that build resilience to climate change.

Climate-Smart Agriculture Challenges

Farmers may naturally resist new and untried farming methods. Despite first-hand experience of the effects of climate change, many are skeptical about future weather patterns. They can be put off by the initial costs associated with changes to historical farming practices and concerned by their ability to recover these higher costs. In some countries, government policies discourage CSA, while in other areas there’s a dearth of relevant information. 

Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change

It’s essential to look beyond the immediate future and accept that the climate in many parts of the world is changing. Records show the world is getting hotter, as are the intensity of natural disasters and events.

Photo: cropler.io

Farmers can better understand the impacts of these changes through real-time crop monitoring solution that provide unbiased data on the condition of their crops. They can use this information to make changes that positively impact plant yields and counter the impact of climate change on their crops.