1) Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) aims to increase agricultural productivity and incomes while adapting to and mitigating climate change impacts. However, CSA implementation has focused more on mitigation through carbon sequestration, which is more suitable for large-scale farms in wealthy countries. 2) Many recommended CSA practices are not widely adopted, even in developed countries like the US. Industrial agriculture contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and soil degradation through monocultures and overuse of chemical inputs. 3) Agroecology is a more effective framework than CSA for smallholder farmers in Africa, as it rebuilds soil fertility and resilience through diversified practices like intercropping and composting,

1. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

2. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Strengthening Smallholder Farmers’
Resilience to
Climate Change:
Beyond Climate Smart Agriculture
Timothy A. Wise
Senior Researcher, Small Planet Institute
Research Fellow, GDAE, Tufts University
October 2017

3. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
What is Climate Smart Agriculture?
FAO: To achieve food security for a growing global
population that faces challenges related to climate
change through:
• Mitigation: reducing and/or removing
greenhouse gas emissions, where possible
• Adaptation - building resilience to climate
change; and
• Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity
and incomes (defined as mitigation and
adaptation)

4. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
CSA Implementation: Bias toward
mitigation, not smallholder resilience
• Mitigation through carbon sequestration:
• More appropriate for Global North
• More appropriate for large-scale farms
• Adaptation – goal is income stability for the poor, not the
adaptation of smallholders’ farms to climate change.
• Productivity gains - Mitigation through avoided
deforestation and land-use change; adaptation through
assumed increases in food and income availability.
Inadequate framework for African agriculture
Agro-ecology, a subset of CSA practices, a much more useful
guide for Africa.

5. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
What does CSA include?
Use of improved
crop varieties
No-till/reduced till
Improved
crop/fallow
rotations
Use of legumes in
crop rotations
Use of cover crops
Increased efficiency
of Nitrogen
fertilizer
Use of manure for
fertilizer
Incorporation of
residue
Live barriers or
fences
Drip irrigation
Bunds/Zai
Agroforestry
Terraces
Use of perennials
Information
utilization
Weather tracking
Crop insurance
Precision agriculture
Livestock integration

6. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
What is practiced? Bias of large farms
Use of improved
crop varieties
No-till/reduced till
Improved
crop/fallow
rotations
Use of legumes in
crop rotations
Use of cover crops
Increased efficiency
of Nitrogen
fertilizer
Use of manure for
fertilizer
Incorporation of
residue
Live barriers or
fences
Drip irrigation
Bunds/Zai
Agroforestry
Terraces
Use of perennials
Information
utilization
Weather tracking
Crop insurance
Precision
agriculture
Livestock integration

7. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Not Widely Practiced – even in U.S.A.
To gain the benefits of GHG mitigation from
no-till activities, other practices needed:
cover cropping, intercropping, beneficial
rotations.
• Only 40% of the corn, soybeans, wheat and
cotton are in no-till or strip-till systems
• Cover crops on less than 2% of cropland
CSA can cover for a range of practices that
can offer only temporary or marginal benefits.
From USDA
ERS

8. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Does this look “climate smart?”

9. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Does this look “climate smart?”

10. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Rejection of More Beneficial Practices
Marsden Farm Study: Boone County, Iowa
Typical U.S. industrial corn/soybean rotation
Farm trial with third rotation of clover or alfalfa,
incorporation of manure
• Increased Corn yield (productivity)
• Reduced N fertilizer use by 85% (mitigation)
• Long-term soil improvements (adaptation)
• Maintained profitability (adaptation)
No adoption – Threatened agribusiness profits: lower
sales (seeds, chemicals, etc), higher corn/soy prices
(livestock feed, corn ethanol, processed foods, soda)

11. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Problems of Industrial-Scale CSA
Industrial agriculture major source of GHG emissions
• 10-12% of emissions; 24% of increases in emissions
• Not just carbon dioxide –
• Methane – 50% from agriculture
• Nitrous oxide – 75%, excess N-fertilizer, 300 times
more heat-trapping than CO2.
• Chemical-intensive agriculture reduces diversity
• Promotes monocultures of favored commodity crops
• Pesticides damage diversity of non-target species –
beneficial pests, wild plants, etc.
• Carbon sequestration is temporary, not guaranteed.
(Payments are permanent.)
• Long-term damage to soil fertility

12. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Soil fertility key to climate resilience
Soil erosion made worse by industrial agriculture
• 10 million hectares of cropland lost each year
• 80% of global agric land – moderate-severe erosion
• Eroding 10-40 times faster than we can replenish it
• Industrial ag – to create 1 inch topsoil: 200 years!
Reliance on synthetic fertilizer can weaken soil fertility
• 50-60% not taken up by target crops
• Acidification – especially with soil compaction
• Reduces organic matter, soil microbial diversity, functions
• Denitrification – leaching, runoff, N2O emissions
Vicious cycle replaces nitrogen cycle –
• more fertilizer needed to get same yield, with more damage
to soil fertility and environment.

13. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Africa: Evidence of Losses Amid Successes
Large gains in maize productivity and production –
CSA success (productivity, adaptation) – FISPs
Increases monoculture maize
Decreases intercopping of legumes
Substitutes water-intensive maize for more drought-
tolerant crops – sorghum, finger millet
ISFM-Integrated Soil Fertility Management
has become
Intensified Synthetic Fertilizer on Monoculture
Evidence of “yield plateau” with monoculture maize
and intensive synthetic fertilizer.

14. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

15. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

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17. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

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19. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

20. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Agro-ecology – The best of CSA
Use of improved
crop varieties
No-till/reduced till
Improved
crop/fallow
rotations
Use of legumes in
crop rotations
Use of cover crops
Increased efficiency
of Nitrogen
fertilizer
Use of manure for
fertilizer
Incorporation of
residue
Live barriers or
fences
Drip irrigation
Bunds/Zai
Agroforestry
Terraces
Use of perennials
Information
utilization
Weather tracking
Crop insurance
Precision agriculture
Livestock
integration

21. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Agro-ecology: Rebuilds soil, resilience, nutrition
Raised beds, intercropping, incorporation of crop residues and
composted manure. (Marracuene, Mozambique)

22. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Agro-ecology: Rebuilds soil, resilience, nutrition
Intercropping pigeon peas with maize – later harvest;
diversifies risk; builds soil fertility. (Thyolo, Malawi)

23. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Agro-ecology: Rebuilds soil, resilience, nutrition
Nutrition diversity with crop diversity, reliance on improved local
seeds, high Vit A, reduced input costs. (Lobi, Malawi)

24. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Agro-ecology: a proven record of success
University of Essex (UK) study:
• Surveyed nearly 300 large ecological agriculture
projects across more than 50 poor countries
• Found average crop yield increases of 79%, with
decreasing costs and higher incomes
• Sustained increases over time with improvements
in soil quality
• Increased resilience to both drought and floods
with improved soils, water catchment
• Increased income and food security with cropping
diversity, which diversifies risk.

25. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
International Panel of
Experts on Sustainable
Food Systems
“From Uniformity to Diversity:
A paradigm shift from
industrial agriculture to
diversified agroecological
systems”
Olivier De Schutter initiative
http://www.ipes-food.org/reports

26. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
“We need drought-tolerant farms, not drought-tolerant seeds.”

27. © Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University