Climate resilient agriculture is a collection of farming activities that ensure food security during extreme weather changes, rising temperatures, and other climate hazards that harm crops and foods.
Such events have already started worldwide, causing a shortage of productivity and healthy food. The government survey has warned that the food supply will be cut by 35% by 2025. Climate-resilient agriculture in such a phase is critical to feeding the growing population.
Climate-resilient agriculture has three main objectives:
| 1. | Sustainable growth in agriculture productivity. |
| 2. | Adapting strategies to resilience climate change. |
| 3. | Avoiding greenhouse gases. |
15 Practical Ways to Build Climate-Resilient Agriculture Systems
Table of Contents
1. DNA Modified Crops
Also known as (GM) crops, their DNA is modified to grow plants that don’t grow naturally in species. Biotechnology can help us develop highly resistant crops to pesticides, extreme climate changes, floods, droughts, and diseases. This can involve genetic engineering or conventional breeding.
2. Promote Potential Crops
This can be achieved by promoting neglected crops, which often contain a higher level of protein, nutrients, and anti-oxidants than the daily consumption of typical food, and these species have the potential to resist climate change.
3. Preserve Crop Genetic Diversity
Global warming has impacted our climate through unpredictable changes. At this rate, preserving crops’ wild relatives and their future breeding needs is vital to guarantee a future supply chain.
4. Perform Smart Breeding
Use today’s advanced crop breeding techniques, such as marker-assisted selection, genomic editing, and genomic selection, to grow different crop varieties resistant to climate change. It is another critical component of Resilient agriculture.
5. Conservation Agriculture
In this agriculture method, the soil is made healthy by increasing nutrients and soil resilience through cover crops, mulching, no-till farming, and crop rotation. With this approach, the farmers can prevent the release of greenhouse gases into the climate.
6. Increase Soil Organic Matter
To increase productivity and to get high-yield crops, mixing organic matter into soil annually helps to increase climate resilience by improving soil fertility rate and water holding capacity.
7. Implement Precision Irrigation
Technologies are helping farmers by inventing devices such as sensor-based irrigation and drip irrigation systems, which use water efficiently to avoid drought-like conditions on land.
8. Keep Soil Saline
Crops can generally die due to the quantity of salt present in the soil than required. Applying organic matter is necessary to improve the quality of the crops’ salt-tolerant water.
9. Diversify Cropping System
Growing various crops simultaneously and enhancing soil nutrient levels can prepare crops resilient to climate change.
10. Agroforestry
Growing trees and shrubs near crops can improve soil health. Shredded leaves and branches from trees work as organic matter for soil, providing shelter to crops from heat and high-speed winds. Agroforestry, in general, helps reduce soil erosion and keep soil healthy.
11. Integrated Pest Management
IPM is a technique that helps keep pest levels in check. Instead of depending on chemicals, IPM uses strategies such as preventing pests, monitoring pest levels, and setting the acceptable level of pests.
12. Organic Farming
Organic farming can be performed using many techniques. Still, the primary objective of organic agriculture is to apply a strategy that can avoid using fertilizers that are harmful to the environment.
13. Campaign for Farmers
A small act of campaign guidance for farmers can significantly change their agriculture practices. At the campaign, they can learn many skills vital to climate conditions. They can learn about the varieties of crops resilient to harsh climates, farming practices, and how to keep soil healthy.
14. Secure Supply Chain
When climate change hits hard, it becomes difficult for farmers to get a high-yield crop, which causes a crisis of food shortage in the global market. Farmers should reduce their dependency on distant markets and develop local supply chains.
15. Forecasting Climate Changes
Weather forecasting technology can help farmers predict weather changes that could avoid considerable crop losses.
Conclusion
In the face of extreme climate changes, adopting climate-resilient agriculture is vital to ensure food security and productivity. By adopting these 20 ways to do climate-resilient agriculture, farmers can bring vast amounts of climate change.