Exploring the dynamics of climate-smart agricultural practices for sustainable resilience in a changing climate

Abstract

Climate change presents a substantial challenge to global agriculture, which requires innovative approaches to ensure sustainable livelihoods and food security. In response to the concerns posed by a changing climate, climate-smart agriculture has appeared to be a strategic solution aimed at addressing climate challenges, enhancing agricultural productivity, and increasing agricultural resilience. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices encompass various practices, such as agroforestry, intercropping, mulching, row planting, crop rotation, water harvesting, and improved varieties. A more in-depth understanding of CSA and the determinants influencing its adoption is crucial for improving its adoption efficacy and implementation. In this paper, we focused on the determinants influencing the adoption of practices against climate change, such as CSA, and assessed their subsequent impact on the agricultural domain. Despite limited research on climate-smart determinants and impacts, our paper delineates five major themes: institutional, demographic, sociocultural, climatic, and economic factors. Therefore, the results underline the determinant factors, such as education status, age, household size, tropical livestock unit, farming experience, technical training, farm size, land tenure, access to information, credit and market, cooperative membership, perception and awareness of climate change, access to weather and climate information, and shock experience. Here, we have shown that the adoption of CSA practices by farmers leads to notable improvements in crop yields, improves farmer income levels, optimizes resource utilization efficiency, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and increases resilience against the implications of climate change. The incorporation of these practices yields synergistic benefits, empowering farmers to address climate-related challenges effectively while concurrently achieving various agricultural and environmental goals.

Keywords

• Climate-smart agriculture
• Climate change
• Adoption determinants
• Impacts
• Innovative approaches