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This is the ninth post of Farming First’s #FillTheGap campaign to highlight the gender gap facing rural women working in agriculture.
Smallholders in Africa, more than anywhere else in the world, are at the mercy of a changing climate and environmental conditions, which can bring extreme weather and disease.
Only last year this harsh life-lesson was brought home dramatically to Ethel Khundi, 36, when her entire drove of pigs was killed by an outbreak of swine flu that wiped out hundreds of animals in the locality.
“Nearly everyone in the village lost their animals. It was a major setback,” she said.
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As COP20 kicks off in Peru, Shweta Adhikari, a student at the Agriculture and Forestry University in Nepal, writes about seven climate-smart solutions for agriculture and how they are being put into action across the globe. This blog is part of our ongoing series with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development network (YPARD).
Climate risk has been rising dramatically, bringing with it fears for associated species loss and habitat degradation. This comes as population growth is spiralling and urbanisation is increasing. Agriculture now requires greater transformation in order to ensure food security and reduce the impacts (or ‘mitigate’) this climate change.
Based on the projections for food consumption patterns, and the fact our global population will increase by one-third by 2050, agricultural production will need to increase by at least 70 percent. Impacts of climate change and global warming are likely to exacerbate the problems already apparent in agriculture, such as shifting production seasons, pest and disease patterns. The set of crops that will be fesiable to grow will also change, affecting production, prices, incomes and ultimately, livelihoods and lives. So climate-smart agriculture is a major necessity. Continue reading →
