Institutional Perspectives of Climate-Smart Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review

The Progress of the Development of a Climate-smart Agriculture in Europe: Is there Cohesion in the European Union?

The development of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is crucial in ensuring the creation of a low-carbon society and mitigation of climate change. These tasks require concerted actions from multiple stakeholders since the very concept of CSA is rather complex and requires multi-dimensional consideration. This study defines and applies various indicators to evaluate the development of CSA in the European Union (EU). To do this, three different multi-criteria decision-making methods, namely Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR; multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution), were employed for the construction of a composite indicator. A combination of both objective (entropy) and subjective (Analytic Hierarchy Process) weighting techniques was utilized to derive the weights of the indicators. The leaders in the EU in terms of CSA are Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, whereas the countries with the lowest levels of CSA development are Cyprus, Greece and Portugal. This study also revealed divergence in the development of these practices in the EU-24 for the period 2004-2019. Thus, a more inclusive approach is needed to ensure the spread of climate-smart ideas in European agriculture sectors.

Multi-criteria assessment to screen climate smart rice establishment techniques in coastal rice production system of India

Introduction

Conventional rice production techniques are less economical and more vulnerable to sustainable utilization of farm resources as well as significantly contributed GHGs to atmosphere.

Methods

In order to assess the best rice production system for coastal areas, six rice production techniques were evaluated, including SRI-AWD (system of rice intensification with alternate wetting and drying (AWD)), DSR-CF (direct seeded rice with continuous flooding (CF)), DSR-AWD (direct seeded rice with AWD), TPR-CF (transplanted rice with CF), TPR-AWD (transplanted rice with AWD), and FPR-CF (farmer practice with CF). The performance of these technologies was assessed using indicators such as rice productivity, energy balance, GWP (global warming potential), soil health indicators, and profitability. Finally, using these indicators, a climate smartness index (CSI) was calculated.

Results and discussion

Rice grown with SRI-AWD method had 54.8 % higher CSI over FPR-CF, and also give 24.5 to 28.3% higher CSI for DSR and TPR as well. There evaluations based on the climate smartness index can provide cleaner and more sustainable rice production and can be used as guiding principle for policy makers.

Climate change adaptation options to inform planning of agriculture and food systems in The Gambia: A systematic approach for stocktaking

Identifying and assessing adaptation options are key pre-requisite steps to adaptation prioritization and effective adaptation planning. In this paper, we presented a systematic approach for adaptation stocktaking, combining a systematic mapping and an outcome-oriented and evidence-based assessment, illustrated using the case of The Gambia. This study systematically mapped 24 adaptation options that can potentially inform adaptation planning in The Gambia agriculture and food systems and assessed how the identified options contribute to the pillars of Climate-Smart Agriculture. Because of the paucity of evidence sources from The Gambia, we collated evidence from both The Gambia and the West Africa region. We found that many of the documented options, such as climate-resilient crop varieties, crop diversification, climate information use, and weather indexed-based insurance have the potential to increase agricultural productivity and income while building resilience to climate change. While several options, such as soil and water conservation practices can positively contribute to climate change mitigation, others such as manure and inorganic fertilizers can have no or negative impacts on mitigation. Agroforestry practices and System of Rice Intensification have the potential to make a triple impact. The paucity of evidence from The Gambia and the highly contextual and differential impacts of the identified adaptation options underscore the importance of careful consideration of barriers and enablers when developing and deploying policy and interventions to sustainably increase productivity and income while building resilience to climate risks and reducing GHGs emissions. Stakeholder engagement and participatory research action are crucial in selecting and testing the priority adaptation options which can maximize their potentials in specific agricultural and food system contexts, such as in The Gambia. Because of the heterogeneity in household vulnerability and socioecological circumstances, targeting options to the right contexts will also be crucial to avoid maladaptation. We highlighted key knowledge gaps in the understanding of the effectiveness and feasibility of the identified adaptation options in The Gambia. Beyond The Gambia, the approach can also be useful for and replicated in other least developed countries in the West African region, that are currently developing their National Adaptation Plan.

PROTOCOL: Interventions promoting resilience through climate-smart agricultural practices for women farmers: A systematic review

This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows: the primary objective of this review is to synthesise evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to promote climate-smart agriculture to enhance agricultural outcomes and resilience of women farmers in low-and-middle-income countries (research question 1). The secondary objective is to examine evidence along the causal pathway from access to interventions to promote climate-smart agriculture to empowering women so that they can use climate-smart technology. And such outcomes include knowledge sharing, agency improvement, resource access and decision-making (research question 2).

Assessment of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Interventions towards the Avenues of Sustainable Production–Consumption

In the current scenario, climatic adversities and a growing population are adding woes to the concerns of food safety and security. Furthermore, with the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 by the United Nations (UN), focusing on sustainable production–consumption, climatic vulnerabilities need to be addressed. Hence, in order to map the sustainable production–consumption avenues, agricultural practices need to be investigated for practices like Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). A need has arisen to align the existing agricultural practices in the developing nation towards the avenues of CSA, in order to counter the abrupt climatic changes. Addressing the same, a relation hierarchical model is developed which clusters the various governing criteria and their allied attributes dedicated towards the adoption of CSA practices. Furthermore, the developed model is contemplated for securing the primacies of promising practices for the enactment of CSA using the duo of the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP). The outcomes result in the substantial sequencing of the key attributes acting as a roadmap toward the CSA. This emphasizes the adoption of knowledge-based smart practices, which leaps from the current agricultural practices toward the CSA. Furthermore, by intensifying the utilization of the improved and resilient seed varieties and implying the fundamentals of agroforestry, we secure primacy to counter the adversities of the climate.

The Economic Benefits of Supporting Private Social Enterprise at the Nexus of Water and Agriculture: A Social Rate of Return Analysis of the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development

This article attempts to evaluate the comparative socioeconomic benefits of funding performance-based private sector social enterprises and posits that the social rate of return of such investments is significant and exceeds expectations for similar investment portfolios. Using the case study of the Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development, we perform a social rate of return analysis on 16 water conservation technologies (WCTs) in 10 nations. Through using an extensive benefit cost ratio, we obtain the Marginal Internal Rate of Return whereby the discounted value of future benefits is equal to the reinvestment cost of capital for the SWFF portfolio. This allows the impact of SWFF to be comparable to other investments and serve as a benchmark. The resulting social rate of return metrics exceed the conservative expectations of impact investment funds as well as comparable foreign aid investments. The reasons behind this high rate of social impact are further explored and recommendations are provided accordingly for an alternative performance-based investment model of foreign aid disbursement that prioritizes scalable small and medium-sized social agribusiness enterprises in developing nations.

Does the Adoption of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices Impact Farmers' Income? Evidence from Ghana

People's lives, particularly farmers', have been affected by extreme weather conditions that have reduced the yield of numerous crops due to climate change. Climate-smart agriculture practices can reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and have the propensity to increase farm income and productivity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to ascertain whether CSA practices impact farmers' income. This study includes all cocoa farmers in the selected districts in the Ashanti Region. The population includes those who live in the six cocoa production villages. The multistage sampling procedure was considered based on the dominants of literature. The study used an endogenous switching regression framework to examine the effects of the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) on farmers' income. While estimating treatment effects, telasso uses lasso techniques to select the appropriate variable sets. The results revealed that gender, farm experience, age, household size, and farm size do not significantly influence the adoption of irrigation and crop insurance. The study revealed a significant positive impact of access to credit on adopting irrigation and crop insurance. The adoption of climate-smart practices has a positive coefficient. This indicates that if all respondents in each region adopts these practices, their income would increase significantly. This study shows that adopting irrigation practices leads to an increase in household income of 8.6% and 11.1%, respectively, for cocoa farmers. Crop insurance has a positive coefficient and is statistically significant on household income, on-farm, and off-farm. This paper shows that climate-smart practices such as crop insurance can positively influence farmers' income in Ghana. We also conjecture that crop insurance is the most effective and efficient climate-smart practice among the various agricultural practices. The study suggests that access to credit and mass awareness should be compulsory modules coupled with the consistent training of farmers on new technologies for effective policy implementation. Expanding access to extension officers could enhance farmers' adaptive capacity and warrant the efficiency of implemented practices.

Development of KOSEN Weather Station and Provision of Weather Information to Farmers

In recent years, environmental information monitoring in the agricultural field has become an important issue. There is an increasing demand for meteorological information in local areas such as a rice field, a greenhouse, etc., owned by an agricultural worker. Conventional research has been actively conducted on weather stations in local areas. However, weather stations that are inexpensive, highly accurate, and have achieved stable measurements indoors and outdoors for long periods of time (over a year) are not reported. In addition, there is a lack of research that simultaneously acquires weather information, stores weather information, and provides weather information to farmers. These three functions are important in the agricultural field. In this paper, we discuss the development of a meteorological observation device, the construction of a cloud server for storing meteorological information, and the provision of information to users. First, we develop the novel meteorological observation device (KOSEN-Weather Station), which applies a simple Aßmann’s aspiration psychrometer for highly accurate temperature and humidity measurements. To evaluate the reliability of KOSEN-WS, we compare the weather information measured by KOSEN-WS with that of WXT520. As a result, it is shown that KOSEN-WS is viable. Then, KOSEN-WS is installed in the field, and the stability and durability of KOSEN-WS are examined. As a result, the KOSEN-WS has been operating stably over 19 months and provides weather information to users. Then, it is shown that the KOSEN-WS is able to operate continuously under the environment of −16.5 °C to 44.9 °C. Next, for the storage of meteorological information, we construct the cloud server. Then, a webpage is created to provide easy-to-understand weather information to farmers. Furthermore, to prevent damage to crops, if the current temperature is lower than the set temperature, or if the current temperature is higher than the set temperature, an alert is sent to the farmers. As a result, the system is highly evaluated by agricultural workers and JA staff. From the above results, the effectiveness of this system is shown.

The Role and Perspective of Climate Smart Agriculture in Africa: A Scientific Review

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is gaining a wide acceptance as a laudable approach that can assist farmers to maximize the potential of the farming systems in Africa. A number of practices have been identified as CSA practices, and successful outcomes of CSA technologies are being reported. However, CSA uptake among African farmers remains low despite its proven potential. The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of CSA in Africa and identify the constraints to the uptake of the practices among smallholder farmers. This paper synthesizes a subset of literature between 2010 and 2020. The key findings are that the response to climate change and the pattern and extent of adoption of CSAs differs from one macro-area to another. Factors such as resource constraints, institutional instruments, climate and ecological settings, and farmers’ characteristics, such as farmers’ experience and access to extension services, are significant determinants of CSA adoption. Socioeconomic constraints, poor availability of data and mastery of CSA approach, inadequate labour, and the wide diversity of the farming systems in Africa are challenges militating CSA uptake in the system This paper argues that it is crucial to ensure that limited resources available are systematically harnessed to achieve the triple-win benefits of CSA. Furthermore, there is the need to identify and prioritize locally suitable CSA practices and provide an enabling environment needed for CSA uptake and sustenance in the African farming systems.

A Bibliometric Network Analysis of Recent Publications on Digital Agriculture to Depict Strategic Themes and Evolution Structure

The agriculture sector is one of the backbones of many countries’ economies. Its processes have been changing to enable technology adoption to increase productivity, quality, and sustainable development. In this research, we present a scientific mapping of the adoption of precision techniques and breakthrough technologies in agriculture, so-called Digital Agriculture. To do this, we used 4694 documents from the Web of Science database to perform a Bibliometric Performance and Network Analysis of the literature using SciMAT software with the support of the PICOC protocol. Our findings presented 22 strategic themes related to Digital Agriculture, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA), among others. The thematic network structure of the nine most important clusters (motor themes) was presented and an in-depth discussion was performed. The thematic evolution map provides a broad perspective of how the field has evolved over time from 1994 to 2020. In addition, our results discuss the main challenges and opportunities for research and practice in the field of study. Our findings provide a comprehensive overview of the main themes related to Digital Agriculture. These results show the main subjects analyzed on this topic and provide a basis for insights for future research.

Are local development plans mainstreaming climate-smart agriculture? A mixed-content analysis of medium-term development plans in semi-arid Ghana

In Africa, climate change impacts including, but not limited to, erratic rainfall and prolonged droughts are already affecting farmers’ productivity and disrupting households’ livelihoods. Following this realization are recommendations for implementing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as adaptation and resilience pathways to address the negative ramifications of climate change impacts. While CSA mainstreaming is strong at the global and national levels, it remains a challenge at the local level. To understand CSA mainstreaming at the local level, this paper utilizes mixed-content analysis to deconstruct eleven local development plans for the 2018–2021 plan period for the Upper West Region, a semi-arid region of Ghana. Results show that CSA mainstreaming is a challenge, despite a general awareness of climate change impacts on agriculture. The plans lacked adequate data on local climate change trends and impacts leading to discrepancies among CSA problematization, development goals, objectives, and strategies—raising serious concerns about ownership and localization of CSA in semi-arid Ghana. Also, awareness of climate finance opportunities to support CSA interventions was absent in the plans. This paper suggests a review of the national guidelines for preparing local development plans by integrating resources for CSA, climate assessment and information systems, and climate finance opportunities. This should be complemented by building institutional capacity and partnerships with nongovernmental organizations as well as other development partners working on CSA at the local level.

Climate-Smart Adaptations and Government Extension Partnerships for Sustainable Milpa Farming Systems in Mayan Communities of Southern Belize

There are disproportionate adverse impacts related to climate change on rural subsistence farmers in southern Belize, Central America who depend directly on natural resources for their food and livelihood security. Promoting a more resilient farming system with key climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adaptations can improve productivity, sustainability, and food security for Mayan milpa farming communities. Once a sustainable system, the milpa has become less reliable in the last half century due to hydroclimatic changes (i.e., droughts, flooding, hurricanes), forest loss, soil degradation, and other factors. Using interviews with both milpa farmers and Extension officers in southern Belize. This qualitative study finds several socio-ecological system linkages of environmental, economic, socio-cultural, and adaptive technology factors, which influence the capacity for increasing CSA practices. Agriculture Extension, a government service of Belize, can facilitate effective CSA adaptations, specifically, an increase in mulching, soil nutrient enrichment, and soil cover, while working as partners within Maya farming traditions. These CSA practices can facilitate more equitable increases in crop production, milpa farm system sustainability, and resilience to climate change. However, there are several institutional and operational barriers in Extension which challenge their efficacy. Recommendations are presented in this study to reduce Extension barriers and promote an increase in CSA practices to positively influence food and livelihood security for milpa communities in southern Belize.

Intervention of Climate-Smart Practices in Wheat under Rice-Wheat Cropping System in Nepal

Besides a proper agronomic management followed by Nepalese farmers, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production has been severely affected by changing climate. There are many interventions, including climate-smart practices, to cope with this situation and possibly enhance crop and soil productivity. Field experiments were set up in a randomized complete block design with six treatments (TRT) with four replications in three locations (LOC) during wheat-growing seasons in Nepal from 2014 to 2016. Treatments included (i) Controlled Practice (CP), (ii) Improved Low (IL), (iii) Improved High (IH), (iv) Climate Smart Agriculture Low (CSAL), (v) Climate Smart Agriculture Medium (CSAM), and (vi) Climate Smart Agriculture High (CSAH), whereas those LOC were Banke, Rupandehi and Morang districts. There was a significant main effect of TRT and LOC on grain yield and a significant interactionn effect of TRT × LOC on biomass yield in 2014–2015. About 55.5% additional grain yield was produced from CSAM treatment compared to CP in 2014–2015. Among locations, grain yield was the highest in Banke (3772.35 kg ha−1) followed by Rupandehi (2504.47 kg ha−1) and Morang districts (2504.47 kg ha−1). In 2015–2016, there was a significant interaction effect of TRT × LOC on grain and biomass yields. The highest grain yield was produced from CSAH treatment in Banke district in 2015–2016. Overall, grain yield and other parameters showed a better response with either of the climate-smart interventions (mostly CSAH or CSAM) despite variability in geography, climate, and other environmental factors indicating the potential of climate-smart practices to improve wheat production in southern plains of Nepal.

How to Improve the Diffusion of Climate-Smart Agriculture: What the Literature Tells us

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a technologically innovative response to the challenges faced by agriculture due to climate change. Its implementation needs a change of mentality in the direction of an approach that takes into account how the increase in technologically induced productivity affects climate change. In the belief that the in-depth analysis conducted by scientific research plays a fundamental role, we explore the characteristics, actors, and pillars of CSA, examining both the scientific literature and financed projects. Specifically, through a systematic review of the literature we address both the application and barriers to implementation at a global level, and then we focus on a case study of the geographical distribution of CSA projects in Europe. Our results show a heterogeneous framework in which we can note discrepancies among countries. Finally, as conclusive remarks, we consider the type of policies that could be implemented to improve the diffusion of CSA in the near future.

Climate-Smart Agriculture in the Northeast of Brazil: An Integrated Assessment of the Aquaponics Technology

The purpose of this study is to determine if aquaponic systems can reduce food insecurity in the semi-arid regions of Brazil and generate income for the beneficiaries. Aquaponics is a potentially sustainable way to produce food based on gardening, hydroponics and aquaculture. A case study, based on a project called Aquaponova, was developed. The aquaponic systems currently used in the project are non-commercial and designed for households with limited resources. The data based on six existing systems within this project were used to compare the costs and the benefits. The cost–benefit analysis covers four scenarios and three financing options. The results show that aquaponic systems have a large potential and can reduce food insecurity in semi-arid regions while generating income for the beneficiaries. Even if the system only produces 40% of the total estimated production, the system will still be feasible. However, the low opportunity cost of labour is an essential factor for obtaining these positive results. Moreover, the social benefits, such as a community spirit and the health benefits of the system, should not be underestimated.

The Dynamics of Climate Change Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Climate-Smart Agriculture among Small-Scale Farmers

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as a credible alternative to tackle food insecurity under the changing climate is gaining wide acceptance. However, many developing countries have realized that concepts that have been recommended as solutions to existing problems are not suitable in their contexts. This paper synthesizes a subset of literature on CSA in the context of small-scale agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa as it relates to the need for CSA, factors influencing CSA adoption, and the challenges involved in understanding and scaling up CSA. Findings from the literature reveal that age, farm size, the nature of farming, and access to extension services influence CSA adoption. Many investments in climate adaptation projects have found little success because of the sole focus on the technology-oriented approach whereby innovations are transferred to farmers whose understanding of the local farming circumstances are limited. Climate-smart agriculture faces the additional challenge of a questionable conceptual understanding among policymakers as well as financing bottlenecks. This paper argues that the prospects of CSA in small-scale agriculture rest on a thorough socio-economic analysis that recognizes the heterogeneity of the small farmer environment and the identification and harnessing of the capacities of farming households for its adoption and implementation.

Climate-Smart Agriculture and Non-Agricultural Livelihood Transformation

Agricultural researchers have developed a number of agricultural technologies and practices, known collectively as climate-smart agriculture (CSA), as part of climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. Development practitioners invest in scaling these to have a wider impact. We use the example of the Western Highlands in Guatemala to illustrate how a focus on the number of farmers adopting CSA can foster a tendency to homogenize farmers, instead of recognizing differentiation within farming populations. Poverty is endemic in the Western Highlands, and inequitable land distribution means that farmers have, on average, access to 0.06 ha per person. For many farmers, agriculture per se does not represent a pathway out of poverty, and they are increasingly reliant on non-agricultural income sources. Ineffective targeting of CSA, hence, ignores small-scale farming households’ different capacities for livelihood transformation, which are linked to the opportunities and constraints afforded by different livelihood pathways, agricultural and non-agricultural. Climate-smart interventions will often require a broader and more radical agenda that includes supporting farm households’ ability to build non-agricultural-based livelihoods. Climate risk management options that include livelihood transformation of both agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods will require concerted cross-disciplinary research and development that encompasses a broader set of disciplines than has tended to be the case to date within the context of CSA.

Analysing the Institutional Setting of Local Renewable Energy Planning and Implementation in the EU: A Systematic Literature Review

Due to the liberalisation of the European Union’s (EU) electricity sector, stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in local energy planning and implementation are not well-defined in legislation anymore. To investigate what local energy planning and implementation processes look like in the post-liberalisation era we conduct a systematic literature review by addressing the question ‘which institutional settings of local renewable energy planning and implementation in the EU’s post-liberalisation area has prior empirical research identified?’ For this systematic analysis we conceptualised the analytic concept ‘action situation’ (as developed by Elinor Ostrom), from an energy governance and energy policy perspective. The literature review was conducted in two cycles: A systematic database search and snowballing. Four clusters of search terms were used to search two databases. The selected articles were coded using Atlas.ti. Our in-depth qualitative analysis revealed the institutional arrangements used in the reported local energy planning processes were found to not be ideal for the introduction of renewable energy technologies. No type of actor group seems actively to support the realisation of renewable energy projects. Moreover, a high dependence on financial subsidies was found. These results are useful for practitioners and policy-makers as they show which possibilities and limitations stakeholders encounter in the changed level playing field of local energy planning. The article also presents propositions for future research.