As per the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, climate-smart agriculture means “transforming” and “reorienting” agri-systems to effectively support the development and tackle the issue of food insecurity  in view of global warming and climate change.

An Integrative Approach

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) basically is an integrative approach to address the interconnected challenges of rising hunger and climate change, that clearly aims for:

• sustainably increasing farming productivity

• supporting equitable increases in farm incomes, food security as well as development

• boosting the resilience of agricultural and food supply chains to climate change at several levels

• reducing carbon emissions from agriculture and allied activities including livestock and fisheries

Actions needed to implement CSA

Governments and international organizations seeking to implement the concept of CSA can undertake several actions in order to provide a strong foundation for effective and efficient CSA across agricultural landscapes. CSA approaches include the following types of actions:

• Expanding the evidence-based and assessment tools to develop new agri-growth strategies

• Building an effective policy framework as well as consensus to support its implementation

• Strengthening national and regional institutions to enable adoption of context-suitable agri-practices and technologies

• Increasing the number of financing options, linking climate and agricultural finance

CSA & Climate Change

Many studies show that climate-smart agriculture has the potential to help farmers mitigate climate change.. For example, a multitude of CSA practices are being developed in Africa in order to meet the vagaries of the weather. Also, climate-smart farming practices can help peasants be more resilient to drought and other changing weather patterns.