Climate Smart Agriculture

 Climate smart agriculture is a set of agricultural practices and technologies which simultaneously boost  productivity, enhance resilience and reduce Green House Gas emissions. It is a holistic approach to end food insecurity and promote sustainable development while addressing climate change issues.

Objectives of Climate smart Agriculture

  • Productivity; To improve food and livestock production for current and future generations thereby increasing farm incomes and guarantee food security.
  • Adaptation; To adapt and build resilience of agricultural and food systems to climatic change at multiple levels.
  • Mitigation; To reduce Green Gas house emissions from agriculture ( including crops, livestock and fisheries.
Climate Smart Agriculture Practices
Cultivating climate resilient crop varieties
Conservation Agriculture; it involves  the following;
  • Zero or minimum tillage; In minimum tillage, about 30% of the soil surface is kept covered with crops to reduce the erosive impact of rain drops and to conserve the soil moisture by maintaining soil or organic carbon. 
  • Balanced application of chemical inputs Pests and diseases can be controlled by pesticides administered using knapsack sprayer with minimum soil and cover crop Interference.
  • Cover Crops This practice involves growing cover crops with high canopy density to prevent soil erosion. Examples include cow peas, green gram, black gram, groundnut among others. 
  • Crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing different types of crops in succession on the same field to get maximum profit without impairing the soil fertility. 
  • Intercropping Intercropping is a practice that involves cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously in the same field with a definite or alternate row pattern.
  • mulching This is a practice that involves using organic or non-organic material to cover the soil surface to protect the soil from soil erosion, reduce evaporation, increase infiltration, regulate soil temperature, and conserve soil moisture. 
  • Contour farming Contour farming involves planting crops along contour lines. 
Water harvesting and Irrigation; Water harvesting involves tapping rain or groundwater for use in crop and livestock production.
Water harvesting technologies include Retention ditches and basins, Catch pits, Drip irrigation and others.

 Soil Fertility Management
Agroforestry is the planting of trees along with annual or perennial crops on the same land, at the same time. It may involve a combination of food products including crops and fruits, fodder, mulch/green manure, and timber.
Management of Pests & Diseases; it includes integrated pest management, biological, visual monitoring of pests and diseases and others.
Management of Pests & Diseases
Biogas production.
 Poultry Management
 Fisheries and Aquaculture
 Post harvest management
Value Chains.
In conclusion, Climate smart agriculture is highly relevant today because it offers  a crucial approach to address the growing challenges of climate change with the agricultural sector aiming to simultaneously increase food production, build resilient weather conditions and reduce GHG emissions thus ensuring food security in a changing climate.

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