DEPARTMENT: RURAL

DEVELOPMENT AND
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
CORSE NAME: INTRODUCTION
TO CLIMATE AGRICULTURE
CODE: RDAE 252
CHAPTER TWO - FOUR
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CHAPTER TWO

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 2: Introduction to Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)

2.1. Concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture

2.2. Why is climate-smart agriculture needed?

2.3. How is climate-smart agriculture implemented?

2.4. The pillars of CSA

2.5. The climate-smart agriculture approach

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 2.1. Concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture

• Climate-smart agriculture is an approach to help guide actions to

transform and reorient agricultural systems to support

development and food security effectively and sustainably under a

changing climate. “Agriculture” is taken to cover crops, livestock

production, fisheries and forests.

• Climate-smart agriculture is not a new production system, but a

means of identifying which production systems and enabling

institutions are best suited to respond to the challenges of climate

change for specific locations, in order to maintain and enhance the

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capacity of agriculture to support food security in a sustainable
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•Some examples of climate-smart agriculture production systems

include:
o Soil and nutrient management – practices that increase organic
nutrient inputs and retention and reduce the need for synthetic
fertilizers;

o Water harvesting and use – pools, dams and retaining ridges to

harvest water and irrigation systems to use it efficiently;

o Agroforestry – using trees and shrubs in crop and livestock

production and land management systems;

o Conservation agriculture – incorporating practices such as

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minimum tillage, direct seeding, mulching and crop rotation;
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o Livestock production efficiency and resilience – improvements in

animal husbandry and application of contextually appropriate
practices in nutrition, reproduction and health control.

o Innovative practices such as better weather forecasting, early-

warning systems and risk insurance. It is about getting existing
technologies off the shelf and into the hands of farmers and developing
new technologies such as drought- or flood-tolerant crops to meet the
demands of the changing climate.

o As the links between climate change adaptation and mitigation and

agriculture have become better understood, policy efforts to support
agricultural adaptation and mitigation have intensified. 9
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• Four key functions that inclusive CSA programs, projects,
and practices will need to fulfill in order to engage and
benefit smallholder farmers are:
o Information about changing climatic conditions as well as
possible responses,

o Innovation to develop and disseminate new practices and

technologies,

o Investment in physical infrastructure and/or in learning new ways,

o Insurance to cope with risks due to climate shocks and risks of

adopting new practices. 10
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 2.2. Why climate-smart agriculture?

•Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) helps address a number of

important challenges:

1. CSA addresses food security, misdistribution and malnutrition

•Despite the attention paid to agricultural development and food

security over the past decades, there are still about 800 million
undernourished and 1 billion malnourished people in the world.

•At the same time, more than 1.4 billion adults are overweight and
one third of all food produced is wasted.

•Before 2050, the global population is expected to swell to more than

9.7 billion people (United Nations 2015). 12
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•At the same time, global food consumption trends are

changing drastically, for example, increasing affluence is
driving demand for meat-rich diets.

•If the current trends in consumption patterns and food waste

continue, it is estimated we will require 60% more food
production by 2050 (Alexandratos and Bruinsma 2012).

•CSA helps to improve food security for the poor and

marginalized groups while also reducing food waste
globally. 13
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2. CSA addresses the relationship between agriculture and poverty

•Agriculture continues to be the main source of food, employment and

income for many people living in developing countries.

•Indeed, it is estimated that about 75% of the world’s poor live in rural
areas, with agriculture being their most important income source (Lipper
et al. 2014).

• As such, agriculture is uniquely placed to propel(make forward with

force) people out of poverty.

•Agricultural growth is often the most effective and equitable strategy

for both reducing poverty and increasing food security (CCAFS and
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FAO 2014).
 3. CSA addresses the relation between climate change and agriculture

•Climate change is already increasing average temperatures around the

globe and, in the future, temperatures are projected to be not only
hotter but more volatile too.

•This, in turn, will alter how much precipitation falls, where and when.
Combined, these changes will increase the frequency and intensity of
extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves,
snowstorms and droughts.

•They may cause sea level rise and salinization, as well as perturbations
across entire ecosystems. All of these changes will have profound
impacts on agriculture, forestry and fisheries (FAO 2013a). 15
 2.3 How is climate-smart agriculture implemented?

•Designing a national climate-smart agriculture approach

requires the coordination of activities of a wide range of
stakeholders.

•This clearly includes the private sector, as it will be individual

agricultural producers, both large-scale and small-scale, who will
need to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices, as will other
enterprises involved in the food value chain.

•The financial sector and possibly governments will need to be

involved in the provision of credit for investment in activities
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that contribute to climate-smart agriculture objectives.
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•Governments at all levels will need to establish an enabling policy
and regulatory environment for the private sector to stimulate the
scaling up of climate-smart agriculture.

•Research institutions and rural agricultural extension services will

need to be included in the policy-making process, and generate and
disseminate of information on climate variability and its economic
and social implications.

•Climate-smart agriculture activities can range over a very broad

spectrum, depending on the relative importance of its three objectives
– food security, adaptation, and mitigation – in a given country.
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How is climate-smart agriculture implemented
Way of implementation Responsible body
1. Coordination of activities of a Governments at all
wide range of stakeholders. levels
2. Generate and disseminate of Research institutions
information on climate variability and rural agricultural
extension services
3. Establish an enabling policy and Governments at all
regulatory environment for the levels
private sector to stimulate the
scaling up of climate-smart
agriculture
4. Provision of credit for investment The financial sector and
possibly governments
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 2.4. Principles for definition of CSA
•CSA is, fundamentally, “smart agriculture informed by climate
science.”

•It encompasses how agriculture affects and is affected by climate

change, and aligns this integration with food security objectives
(reduction of hunger and poverty, improved nutrition).

•USAID’s definition of CSA incorporates aspirational principles as

well:
o Systems approach: CSA is not a practice or list of practices, but a
continuous process that considers challenges that arise at the intersection
of climate change and agriculture holistically, including identifying and
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addressing barriers to adoption.
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o Intentionality: CSA deliberately considers how climate change will impact

activities (adaptation) and, how activities will impact climate change
(mitigation), both on and off the farm field, even where no further action is
taken.

o Multiple benefits: CSA seeks to integrate approaches and options in ways that
maximize synergies(cooperation) and reduce tradeoffs.

o Context specific: CSA is specific to the relevant geography and climate

change impacts as well as socio-economic, political, cultural, and
environmental factors.

o Long-term perspective: CSA acknowledges and addresses short term needs

while encouraging a long-term perspective to consider future climate
change impacts and their uncertainties, and takes advantage of new
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 2.4. The pillars of CSA
•CSA has three pillars:

1)Increasing agricultural productivity and incomes;

2)Adapting and building resilience to climate change; and

3)Reducing or removing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

A. Productivity: Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and

incomes

•CSA aims to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes from

crops, livestock and fish, without having a negative impact on the
environment. This, in turn, will raise food and nutritional security.

•Increasing productivity makes CSA an approach that promotes crop yields.

This is important for agriculture-dependent communities that derive much
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of their livelihood from agriculture and agribusiness
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•Around 75 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and agriculture is their
most important source of income. Increasing productivity as well as reducing
costs through increased resource-use efficiency are important means of
attaining agricultural growth.

•“Yield gaps” indicating the difference between the yields farmers obtain on
farms and the technically feasible maximum yield, are quite substantial for
smallholder farmers in developing countries (FAO, The State of Food and
Agriculture, 2014). Similarly, livestock productivity is often much lower than it
could be.

•Reducing these gaps by enhancing the productivity of agro-ecosystems and

increasing the efficiency of soil, water, fertilizer, livestock feed and other
agricultural inputs, offers higher returns to agricultural producers, reducing
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poverty and increasing food availability and access.
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•It is possible to reduce and even avoid these negative impacts

of climate change – but it requires formulating and
implementing effective adaptation strategies.

•Reducing risk exposure through diversification of

production or incomes, and building input supply systems
and extension services that support efficient and timely
use of inputs, including stress-tolerant crop varieties,
livestock breeds and fish and forestry species are also
examples of adaptation measures that can increase
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 B. Adaptation: Building resilience to climate change

•CSA aims to reduce the exposure of farmers to short- term risks, while also
strengthening their resilience by building their capacity to adapt and prosper in the
face of shocks and longer-term stresses.

•Particular attention is given to protecting the ecosystem services which ecosystems

provide to farmers and others.

•The practices applied in CSA should enable farming systems survive in both short-
and long-term risks.

•There is already an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, such as
drought, heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding and high maximum temperatures.

•The increased exposure to these climate risks, already being experienced in many parts
of the world, poses a significant threat to the potential for increasing food security and
reducing poverty amongst low-income, agriculture-dependent populations.
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 C. Mitigation: Developing opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
compared with expected trends

•Wherever and whenever possible, CSA should help to reduce and/or

remove greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This implies that we
reduce emissions for each calorie or kilo of food, fiber and fuel
that we produce

• Agriculture, including land-use change, is a major source of

greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for around a quarter of total
anthropogenic GHG emissions.

•Agriculture contributes to emissions mainly through crop and

livestock management, as well as through its role as a major driver of
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deforestation and peat land degradation.
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•Non-CO2 emissions from agriculture are projected to

increase due to expected agricultural growth under business-
as-usual growth strategies. There are three main GHG
mitigation options in agriculture:

•Increasing carbon dioxide storage in soils and biomass;

•Reducing emissions during agricultural production; and

•Indirectly, reducing the required volume of agricultural

production.
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•Reducing emission intensity (e.g. the CO2eq/ unit product) through sustainable
intensification is one key strategy for agricultural mitigation.

•Another important emissions reduction pathway is through increasing the carbon-sequestration

capacity of agriculture. Plants and soils have the capacity to remove CO2 from the
atmosphere and store it in their biomass – this is the process of carbon sequestration.

•Increasing tree cover in crop and livestock systems (e.g. through agroforestry) and reducing
soil disturbance (e.g. through reduced tillage) are two means of sequestering carbon in
agricultural systems.

•However, this form of emissions reduction may not be permanent – if the trees are cut or the
soil plowed, the stored CO2 is released.

•Despite these challenges, increasing carbon sequestration represents a huge potential source of
mitigation, especially since the agricultural practices that generate sequestration are also
important for adaptation and food security. 27
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 2.5. The climate-smart agriculture approach

•Climate-smart agriculture is an approach for transforming and reorienting

agricultural production systems and food value chains so that they support
sustainable development and can ensure food security under climate change.

•Climate-smart agriculture has three main objectives: sustainably increase

agricultural productivity and incomes; adapt and build resilience to climate change
and reduce and/or remove greenhouse gas emissions, where possible. This does not
imply that every practice applied in every location should produce 'triple wins' that
deliver positive results for each of these three objectives.

• Rather the climate-smart agriculture approach seeks to reduce trade-offs and

promote synergies by taking these objectives into consideration when
agricultural producers, policy makers and researchers make decisions at the
local, subnational, national and global levels about short- and long-term
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strategies to address climate change.
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•The programmes promoting the climate-smart agriculture approach need to
include capacity development for local stakeholders to help them tap into
sources of funding for agricultural and climate-related investment.

•Innovative financing mechanisms that link and blend climate and

agricultural finance from the public and private sector are critical for the
implementation of climate-smart agriculture.

•These innovations will only be realized if climate-smart agriculture is

integrated into policy-making processes at all levels, and there is cross-sectoral
coordination in policy design and implementation.

•The scaling up of context-specific climate-smart agriculture practices will

require effective institutional and governance mechanisms to facilitate the
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dissemination of information and ensure broad participation.
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•It is in line with the FAO vision for sustainable food and agriculture and supports
the Organization's goal to make crop and livestock systems, forestry, and fisheries
and aquaculture more productive and more sustainable.

•Climate-smart agriculture is not a set of practices that can be universally

applied, but rather an approach that involves different elements that are
embedded in specific contexts and tailored to meet local needs.

•Climate-smart agriculture builds on sustainable agriculture approaches, using

principles of ecosystem and sustainable land and water management and
landscape analysis, and assessments of the use of resources and energy in
agricultural production systems and food systems. This is particularly important in
developing countries, where agricultural growth is generally a top priority.

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CHAPTER THREE

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3: Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Practices and Technologies

3.1. Definition of CSA Practices

3.2.CSA practices as a strategy to reduce climate risk in agriculture

3.3. Major components of CSA Practices and Technologies

3.3.1.CSA practices for water management

3.3.2.CSA practices for Soil Management

3.3.3.CSA practices for Crop production management

3.3.4.CSA practices for Livestock and range land Management

3.3.5. CSA practices for Sustainable forest management

3. 4. Role of agricultural extension to scaling up of CSA practices.

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 3.1. Definition of CSA Practices

•CSA practices present opportunities

for addressing climate change
challenges, while simultaneously
supporting economic growth and
development of the agriculture
sector. 35
 3.3. Major components of CSA Practices and Technologies

 Soil management

 Crop management

 Water management

 Livestock management

 Integrated systems

 Energy management

 Nutrient management

 Conservation and management of genetic resources 36

 3.3.1.CSA practices for water management

•As water plays a crucial role in food production and the management of
ecosystems, water management is a critical component of climate-smart
agriculture strategies.

•The implementation of adaptation and mitigation options in water

management for agriculture requires an understanding of the potential
impacts climate change will have on water resources and the vulnerability of
rural populations to these impacts.

• The agriculture sectors, which are responsible for 70 percent of total

freshwater withdrawals globally, are the main users of water resources.

•Water management practice such as Irrigation improvements can reduce GHG

emissions, contributing to mitigation; increase crop and grassland productivity;
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and support adaptation
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 Climate-smart approaches to water management include:

•Water harvesting

• Groundwater development

•Construction or enhancement of dams

• Irrigation (e.g. modern technology, accurate scheduling)

•Drainage and flood management

•Restoration of riparian habitat or creation of rivers

•Improved hydrological monitoring and weather forecasting capacity. Climate

change adaptation options for water management will necessarily combine
policies, institutions, investments, crop and water management practices and
capacity development. 38
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 3.3.2.CSA practices for Soil Management

•The impacts of climate change will contribute to land and soil

degradation and reduce the productivity of these natural resources.

•However, there are immense opportunities to lessen the negative

impacts of climate change on land and soil resources and
optimize the potentially positive effects of climate change.

•Sustainable soil and land management encompasses Practices that

increase soil organic carbon maintain productive soils, require
fewer chemical inputs and support important ecosystem functions
such as nutrient cycling, contributing to enhanced productivity,
adaptation, mitigation and building resilience to climate change. 40
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These Soil Management practices include

• Zero-tillage, minimum-tillage or conservation tillage

• Erosion control (such as reducing the degree and length of

slopes through progressive and bench terracing)

•Protective soil cover from mulch, crop residues or cover crops

•Soil compaction management

•Restoration of degraded soils

•Fallowing. 41
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 3.3.3. CSA practices for Crop production
management
•For each crop system, there are countless climate change adaptation and mitigation
options that can sustainably improve yields and minimize the harmful
environmental impacts of production.

•They will differ for each farming household, depending on its coping and adaptive
mechanisms.

•Management practices and technologies for climate change adaptation and

mitigation include practices with an explicit focus on adaptation and practices with
a broader scope on reducing production risks and reducing emissions.

•Pollination management can improve landscape level ecosystem resilience

• Planting nitrogen-fixing crops can contribute to adaptation and reduce costs to

farmers. 44
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•Specific climate-smart approaches to crop production include:

• Crop diversification

•
Crop rotation

• Intercropping (e.g. with leguminous plants)

• Increasing the use of perennial crops and grasses • Growing nutrient-use efficient
crop varieties

• Integrated pest and/or weed management

• Breeding and using crop varieties with increased resistance to extreme conditions such as
droughts

• Mulch or cover cropping

•Rice intensification and improved cultivation techniques

• Landscape-level pollination management 45

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 3.3.4.CSA practices for Livestock and range land Management.

 Climate change presents a range of challenges for livestock producers.

 Livestock production will be directly affected by changes in temperature and

water availability.

 Climate change will also affect livestock production through it impacts on the
supply and quality of pasture and forage crops, the production and prices of
feed grains, and modifications in the distribution ranges of livestock diseases
and pests.

 Livestock is also responsible for 14.5 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse

gas emissions. Although associated with relatively high greenhouse gas
emissions, livestock can reduce the vulnerability to climate change risks
for millions of poor livestock keepers.

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•The practice of rotational grazing, which involves regularly moving livestock
between paddocks/plot of grounds, intensifies grazing pressure for a relatively short
period of time (e.g. 1 to 3 days for ultra-high stocking density or 3 to 14 days for
typical rotational grazing), but leaves a rest period for regrowth in between rotations.

•Diversification of incomes from livestock management can increase adaptation

•Incorporating livestock manures can support adaptation and reduce costs to

farmers

•Improved pasture and grassland management, including rotational grazing can

boost resilience, contribute o mitigation and increase productivity and food security.
The potential CSA practices for Livestock and range land Management include:

•Grazing management on pastures or rangelands (such as rotational grazing,

adjusting stocking densities to feed availability, and altering plant species)
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•Feed management (such as improved feed quality, diet supplementation, using improved grass
species and forage legumes, and low cost fodder conservation technologies such as baling and
silage)

•Assisted natural regeneration and/or fire management of grazing systems

•Manure management (such as recycling and bio digestion, composting, and improved storage)

• Animal breeding (such as for heat-tolerant and locally adapted breeds)

•Disease surveillance and control

•Vaccines

•Weather warning systems and weather-indexed insurance

•Infrastructure (such as housing and shade)

•Temperature control systems

•These activities can be realized through management options that sustainably intensify livestock
production, promote carbon sequestration in rangelands and reduce emissions from manure. A reduction
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 3.3.5. CSA practices for Sustainable forest management

•Forests are areas of land with trees higher than five meters and a minimum
canopy cover of 10 percent, excluding land that is mainly used for agriculture or
urban use.

•The potential impacts of climate change on forests include changes in

species composition, shifts in forest ecosystem boundaries and species ranges,
changes in growth rates, increased flora(all the plant life in a particular period)
and fauna(all the animal life in a particular period) migration, loss of
biodiversity, increased frequency and intensity of forest fires, and increased
reliance on trees and forests for survival, leading to over-exploitation.

•Increasing the resilience of forest systems to maintain and enhance the flow of
the ecosystem’s goods and services, mitigating emissions from the sector by
reducing deforestation and increasing forest cover and agroforestry. 52
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•Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is a responsive
measure for climate change mitigation and adaptation,
and also contributes to sustainable food security in a
number of ways.

•Climate-smart forestry requires widespread application of

SFM principles and practices.

•Mainstreaming climate change into forest policy and

practice will entail the identifying of synergies and
managing trade-offs with other forest management goals.
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3.4. Role of agricultural extension to scaling up of CSA practices

•Capacity development should develop skills, knowledge and attitudes

on CSA for both extensionists and farmers and is one of the strategies
that can be best employed to scale up CSA.

• According to Bolger (2000), capacity development is defined as

“approaches, strategies and methodologies used to improve
performance at the individual, organizational, network/sector or
broader system level”.

• Effective capacity development goes beyond training, technical

assistance and policy support, it also aims to facilitate a sustainable and
endogenous development process, rooted in national empowerment that
enables the recipients of development intervention to be in the driving seat
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of their own destiny (FAO, 2013).
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•The role of extension agents is often perceived as providing a crucial link

between food producers and necessary sources of information and tools
allowing food systems to be prepared for climatic changes.

•In order to provide effective support to farmers, extension agents

themselves need to be supported by a conducive environment formed by
appropriate policies, governance, legislation, infrastructure, resources (both
human and financial), and strongly linked with local communities.

•According to Rasheed Suleiman of the Global Forum on Rural Advisory

Services (GFRAS), extension agents need capacity strengthening at three
levels to effectively fulfil their role within CSA:

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•a) Enabling environment: Extension agents should be well connected with

other relevant actors that are key to climate smart agriculture. They also need to
engage with local institutions to gain political commitment to promote the
CSA approach.

• b) Organizational level: Extension agents should be more aware of national

level policies and action plans and interact more with national authorities.
Advocacy for rural advisory services (RAS) could help in identifying funding
opportunities for CSA work with farmers.

•c) Individual level: Extension agents currently experience weak technical

knowledge on climate change. Stronger communication, networking,
facilitation and partner engagement capacities would help agents to work
more efficiently when supporting farmers in implementing CSA
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approaches.
CHAPTER FOUR

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4: Policies, Strategies and Institutions relevant to CSA practice in

Ethiopia

4.1 Policies and Strategies for CSA

4.2. Key institutions for CSA initiatives

4.3 Effectiveness of CSA Policies, Strategies and Institutions

4.4. Key challenges for Implementing CSA in Ethiopia

4.5. Untapped Opportunities for Implementing CSA

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 4: Policies, Strategies and Institutions relevant to CSA practice in Ethiopia

4.1 Policies and Strategies for CSA

• Ethiopia has a consistent set of policies and
strategies for agriculture and rural development
that reflect the importance of the sector to the
economy and livelihoods of its people.
• While the country does not have a standalone
climate-smart agriculture strategy or
programme, significant efforts have been made
to develop policies and strategies pertinent to
climate change 59
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Key policies relevant to CSA in Ethiopia
Policy Developed Intention or goal
Year

Environmental Policy 1997 Overall guidance in the conservation and

of Ethiopia sustainable utilization of the country’s
environmental resources.
Environmental Impact 2002 Ensure that the environmental implications are
Assessment taken into account before decisions are made.
Proclamation
National Adaptation 2007 The NAPA represented the first step in
Program of Action coordinating adaptation activities across
(NAPA): government sectors.
CAADP Compact 2009 One of the pillars of CAADP is extending the
area under sustainable land management and
reliable water control systems.
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Growth and Transformation 2010 The GTP recognizes that the environment is a vital pillar of
Plan (GTP) sustainable development.

Agriculture Sector Policy and 2010 The goal of the PIF is to “contribute to Ethiopia’s
Investment Framework (PIF) achievement of middle-income status by 2020”. The
development objective is to “sustainably increase rural
incomes and national food security”. This objective
embodies the concepts of producing more, selling more,
nurturing the environment, eliminating hunger and
protecting the vulnerable against shocks.
Agriculture Sector 2011 The Agriculture Sector Adaptation Plan to Climate Change.
Programme on Adaptation to
Climate Change (APACC)

Ethiopian Programme of 2011 More programmatic approach to adaptation planning

Adaptation to Climate
Change (EPACC)
Climate Resilient Green 2011 Aims for carbon-neutral middle-income status by 2025.
Economy Strategy
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 4.3 Effectiveness of CSA Policies, Strategies and Institutions

•Only a limited set of policy levers will be appropriate and feasible for any
specific country. These may be identified through a process of assessing the
barriers to adoption of CSA practices, as well as a consultative process with
key stakeholders to identify realistic and feasible alternatives.

•For example, in the case of input subsidies, key stakeholders to be consulted

could include fertilizer distributors, representatives from farmers’ cooperatives,
extension agents and national agriculture policy-makers.

•A consultation with these stakeholders could identify options for improving the
design of input subsidy programmes to support CSA practices, which could then
be analysed in more detail.

•The use of policy simulation models to assess the relative effectiveness of

alternatives developed by key stakeholders can indicate which levers should be
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•In addition, analysis of the costs that are likely to accrue to government
and all other relevant stakeholders is necessary to ensure feasibility.

• In short, there are three main steps to identifying national policy

levers to support CSA adoption:

1. assess current barriers to adoption of CSA practices;

2. develop a set of alternative, but feasible policy interventions to

address identified barriers; and

3. assess the effectiveness of proposed levers through a process of

stakeholder consultation, analysis (simulation models) and cost
analysis. 63
4.4. Key challenges for Implementing CSA in Ethiopia
• Food insecure farmers find it costly to invest in better land and agricultural
management systems which often have slow returns on investments. Many climates
smart agriculture practices that require establishment and maintenance costs can take
considerable time before farmers benefit from them.

• Limited access to markets and capital compounds the issues related to investments
in improved agricultural practices and limits the ability of farmers to invest in practices
that will raise their income in the long run and improve the sustainability and resilience
of their production systems.

•There are practices that are difficult to integrate into existing farming systems because
they impact on other elements of the farming system. For example, the timing of a
practice may lead to labour constraints; high investment or maintenance costs may
exceed the capacity of asset-poor farmers; and competition for crop residues may
restrict the availability of feed for livestock and biogas production. 64
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•There is a general lack of quality agricultural inputs,
particularly in rural communities where quality agrochemicals,
farm implements and equipment, seeds, tree seedlings and other
inputs necessary for practicing climate-smart agriculture are
either not readily available or unaffordable.

•In many cases low quality inputs and implements are used,
resulting in suboptimal results which can ultimately have a
negative impact on the promotion of climate-smart practices.

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•There is a general lack of knowledge on climate-smart practices and

misconceptions about what climate smart agriculture is. Some believe that CSA is
merely conservation agriculture, when in fact it is a range of sustainable farming
practices.

• There is often competition between crops and livestock for mulch, which is usually
required as animal fodder. Live mulch is almost always a food preference for
livestock when it is available.

•Overgrazing and a lack of strong rangeland management bylaws and regulatory

measures result in land degradation and a further lack of availability of mulch.

•Increased population, land fragmentation and inadequate land tenure systems

that do not encourage investment in the land mean that farmers are unwilling to make
significant investments in sustainable agricultural practices that may or may not
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produce immediate or short-term results.
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• While extensive CSA-related research is being done in the country,
many of the technologies are still not reaching the broader farming
population. Constraints to wide dissemination, access to and
operationalization of research findings need to be examined and
addressed.

• A large number of short-term to medium-term programs and projects

are conducted in a fragmented manner by a wide number of stakeholders
that are unsustainable in the long run.

•There is a need for harmonization in the approach to climate-smart

agriculture promotion as well as strengthening of climate-smart
agriculture coordination mechanisms . 67
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•The current extension system is not geared towards climate-smart
agriculture and while efforts are ongoing to address this issue, it will
take considerable effort and time to change the mindset of farmers so
that they move from unsustainable practices to more sustainable
climate-smart agricultural practices.

•The livestock subsector, where a considerable proportion of the

agricultural GHG emissions emanate and where the potential for the
reduction of agricultural GHG emissions is greatest, has
unfortunately not received the focus and attention the sector
warrants, especially from a GHG mitigation perspective.
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 4.5. Untapped(unexploited) Opportunities for Implementing CSA

•For smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, the possibility for

greater food security and increased income – together
with greater resilience to weather variability and climate
shocks rather than mitigation benefits – will be significant
drivers for adopting climatesmart agriculture practices.

•For intensive mechanized agricultural operations, the

opportunities to reduce emissions and costs associated
with the efficient use of energy and resources will be of
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greater interest.
 co…..

•There are a number of other opportunities for supporting the

promotion and adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices in the
country.

•There is great willingness and commitment on the part of

government to reduce poverty; improve agricultural production and
productivity (as one of the mainstays of the economy); and ensure
food security while addressing climate change. Ethiopia is one of
the countries that have consistently invested more than 10 percent
of their national budget in agriculture.

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 Co….
•Ethiopia has appropriate national policies and strategies such as the Climate
Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy, with some structures already in
place to support their implementation.

•In addition, some of these policies have been implemented through large
agricultural government programmes which incorporate climate-smart
agriculture, such as the Sustainable Land Management Programme and the
Productive Safety Nets Programme.

• The current emphasis on the promotion of integrated watershed management

to improve agricultural productivity and promote sustainable land
management provides a good opportunity for large scale implementation and
promotion of climate-smart practices.

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 Co….

•The presence of private sector companies, international development

organizations and numerous NGOs involved in CSA-related activities
presents an opportunity for up scaling CSA across the country.

•The existence of a large national research network through the

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research as well as the presence of
a number of CGIAR institutes, many of whom have either country
offices or regional offices in Ethiopia, presents a great opportunity to
enhance, increase coverage of and disseminate research
technologies and findings related to climate-smart agriculture.

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 Co…..
•Ethiopia’s large agricultural extension system, with an
estimated 8 500 farmer training centres and over 45 000
development agents stationed at kebele level throughout the
country, provides an opportunity for large-scale awareness
raising, training and support for farmers on climate-smart
agriculture.

•The extension service itself needs to wholly embrace the

different climate-smart agriculture practices appropriate for
different locations and build the necessary capacity in these
practices. 73
The End

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