Policy Brief

World Bank

Policy Brief

Autores

World Bank

Editor

World Bank, Washington, DC

Descripción

Agriculture is the economic foundation of many Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, employing about 60 percent of the workforce and contributing an average of 30 percent of gross domestic product. Yet agricultural growth rates for SSA declined in the 2000 and food insecurity remains a concern, with malnourishment only dropping from 34 to 30 percent in two decades. Various projections suggest that food production must increase by 70-100 percent by 2050 to meet the demands of a world with 9 billion people and changing diets. In SSA this will require considerable investments in agricultural development-research, institutional support and infrastructural development. Ensuring food security under a changing climate is one of the major challenges of our era. African agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate change. Climate-smart agriculture seeks to increase productivity in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, strengthen farmers' resilience to climate change, and reduce agriculture's contribution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage on farmland. Climate-smart agriculture includes proven practical techniques-such as mulching, intercropping, conservation agriculture, crop rotation, integrated crop-livestock management, agroforestry, improved grazing, and improved water management-but also innovative practices such as better weather forecasting, early warning systems and risk insurance. Climate-smart agriculture fully incorporates attention to climate risk management. Climate-smart agriculture offers some unique opportunities to tackle food security, adaptation and mitigation objectives. African countries will particularly benefit from climate-smart agriculture given the central role of agriculture as a means to poverty alleviation and the major negative impacts that climate change is likely to have on the African continent.

Palabras clave

ADAPTIVE CAPACITY OF FARMERS, AGRICULTURAL ADAPTATION, AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, AGRICULTURAL EMISSIONS, AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION, AGRICULTURAL GROWTH, AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT, AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, AGRICULTURAL SECTOR, AGRICULTURE, AGRICULTURE SECTOR, ATMOSPHERIC CARBON, ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE, BIOMASS, BIOMASS BURNING, CARBON, CARBON CAPTURE, CARBON IN BIOMASS, CARBON MARKETS, CARBON SEQUESTRATION, CARBON STORAGE, CH4, CLIMATE, CLIMATE ADAPTATION, CLIMATE AGENDA, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION, CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION, CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS, CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGIES, CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS, CLIMATE RESILIENCE, CLIMATE RISK, CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT, CLIMATE-RELATED DISASTERS, CROP, CROP ROTATION, CROP YIELDS, DEFORESTATION, DEPENDENCE ON AGRICULTURE, DROUGHT, EMISSION, EMISSIONS FROM DEFORESTATION, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, EXTREME CONDITIONS, EXTREME WEATHER, FARM, FARM INCOMES, FARMERS, FARMING, FEASIBILITY, FERMENTATION, FERTILISER, FLOODS, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD POLICY, FOOD POLICY RESEARCH, FOOD PRICES, FOOD PRODUCTION, FOOD SECURITY, FOOD SYSTEMS, FOREST, FOREST DEGRADATION, FOREST STOCKS, FORESTRY, FORESTS, FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE, GHG, GLOBAL CLIMATE, GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL EMISSIONS, GLOBAL FOOD, GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY, GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS, GRAIN CROPS, GREENHOUSE, GREENHOUSE GAS, GREENHOUSE GAS CONCENTRATIONS, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION, IMPACT OF CLIMATE, IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, INSURANCE, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, IPCC, LAND COVER CHANGE, LAND-USE CHANGE, LIVESTOCK INSURANCE, LIVESTOCK KEEPERS, LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT, LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION, MAIZE, METHANE, NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES, NEGATIVE IMPACT, NEGATIVE IMPACTS, NITROUS OXIDE, ORGANIC MATTER, PHOTOSYNTHESIS, POLICY IMPLICATIONS, PP, RAIN, RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, RICE, RICE PRODUCTION, SCENARIOS, SEASON, SOIL CARBON, TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE RISE, TROPICS, WEATHER PATTERNS, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME