Climate-Smart Agriculture

Climate-Smart Agriculture

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is defined by the World Bank as an integrated approach to managing land cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries - that addresses the interrelated challenges of food security and increasing climate change. CSA has three intended outcomes:

1. Increased productivity: To produce more and better food to improve food security and boost incomes.

This will primarily benefit the 75 percent of the world’s poorest population who live in rural areas and are largely dependent on farming. 2. Increasing resilience: To reduce vulnerability to drought, pests, disease and other climate-related risks and shocks. At the same time, efforts are being made to improve growth and adaptability in the face of long-term stress factors, such as shorter seasons and erratic weather patterns. 3. Lower emissions: To aim for lower emissions per calorie or kilogramme of food produced, prevent agricultural deforestation and find ways to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Although CSA builds on existing knowledge, technologies and principles of sustainable agriculture, it differs in several ways. First, there is an explicit focus on tackling climate change. Second, CSA systematically takes into account the trade-offs between productivity, flexibility and moderation. Finally, CSA can lay hold of new financing options to close the investment gap.28

ZOA offers training courses (CSA-T) in countries such as Liberia, Iraq and Uganda on climate-resilient agricultural techniques. For example, with crop rotation, different crops are planted every year on a certain plot of land, so that the soil is not depleted. Green manures can also be used: plants that enrich the soil. Drip irrigation is a dropby-drop, highly targeted method of irrigation via hoses on the ground, which saves water. Agroforestry is a cultivation system that combines trees and agriculture on the same piece of land to improve biodiversity and soil fertility. People also get access to seeds that are more drought resistant. An example is ZOA’s CSA-T in Iraq (Anbar) for returning refugees (see chapter 5). Another approach to CSA-T is the Participatory Integrated Planning method, also known as the PIP method. The PIP method is an inclusive, bottom-up approach that was developed by Wageningen University that engages people in environmental conservation and sustainable change.29 In East Africa, this approach has motivated thousands of farmers to tackle land degradation and invest in their land. On the basis of their PIP, the integrated household farming plan, these farming families become agents of change, determined to make their vision a reality. They want a more resilient farm as the foundation of a more sustainable future. The PIP method can also be applied in areas with high levels of poverty and conflict and where the consequences of climate change are clearly present. This is manifested in landslides, deforestation and increased pressure on natural resources due to increasing numbers of refugees. With the PIP method, a small project team can reach a large number of farmers with behavioural change and the associated direct impact on land management. The result is a chain reaction in which nearby farmers often end up copying successful approaches.

28 World Bank (2021). 29 “De PIP-aanpak: het fundament voor duurzame verandering.” Accessed 19 May 2022. https://www.wur.nl/nl/Onderzoek-Resultaten/Onderzoeksinstituten/Environmental-Research/Programmas/Duurzaamlandgebruik/Duurzame-landbouwproductiesystemen/De-PIP-aanpak-het-fundament-voor-duurzame-verandering.htm