Climate-Smart Agriculture: Reducing Food Insecurity

201 Pages·2022·2.777 MB·English

by  Samiha Ouda, Abd El-Hafeez Zohry

Samiha Ouda
Abd El-Hafeez Zohry
Climate-Smart
Agriculture
Reducing Food Insecurity
Climate-Smart Agriculture
·
Samiha Ouda Abd El-Hafeez Zohry
Climate-Smart Agriculture
Reducing Food Insecurity
SamihaOuda AbdEl-HafeezZohry
WaterRequirementsandFieldIrrigation CropsInteseficationResearchDepartment
ResearchDepartment FieldCropsResearchInstitute;Agricultural
Soils,WaterandEnvironmentResearch ResearchCenter
Institute;AgriculturalResearchCenter Giza,Egypt
Giza,Egypt
ISBN978-3-030-93110-0 ISBN978-3-030-93111-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93111-7
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ToOurParents
MayAllahHaveMercyonTheirSouls
ToOurChildrenandGrandchildren
MayAllahBlessThemwithBrightFuture
andHappiness
Preface
In2015, theUNGeneral Assemblyreleased what isknown as ‘Transforming Our
World:The2030AgendaforSustainableDevelopment’.TheAgendahas17Sustain-
able Development Goals (SDGs), 169 targets demonstrate the scale, and ambition
of this new universal Agenda to be a plan of action for people, planet, and pros-
perity. The agenda integrated and attain the balance between the three dimensions
ofsustainabledevelopment:economic,social,andenvironmental.
Amongthe17SDGs,Goal2seekstoendhungerandensureaccessbyallpeople,
in particular, the poor and people in vulnerable situations, to safe nutritious and
sufficient food all year round by the year 2030. Target 4 of that goal seeks to
ensuresustainablefoodproductionsystemsandimplementresilientagriculturalprac-
tices that increase productivity and production. It ensure helping maintain ecosys-
tems that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather,
drought, flooding, and other disasters, which progressively improve land and soil
quality.However,moresevereandfrequentextremeweathereventsarecausinghigh
uncertaintyinaccomplishingthisgoal.
The FAO organization produced the concept of climate-smart agriculture to
achievetheabovetarget,withemphasisontheeffectofclimatechange.Theconcept
ofclimate-smartagriculturehasfascinateduswithitscollectivepracticesthatcould
attainbetterwelfaretoruralcommunitiesindevelopingcountries.Thus,wedecided
to write this book to elaborate on the concept of climate-smart agriculture and
classify some of the practices done in Egypt according to its pillars. Furthermore,
we suggested other management practices that can be easily done in a developing
countriestoimprovefoodsecurityconditions.
InPartIofthebook,wewilldiscussthefirstpillarofclimate-smartagriculture,
namelysustainablyincreasesagriculturalproduction.Thispartconsistsoffourchap-
terstocovertherelatedsubjectstothesustainableuseofnaturalresourcestoincrease
foodproduction.TheChap.1willdiscusstheconceptofwater-smartpracticesand
how it could be used to manage water scarcity in Egypt. The Chap. 2 will present
oneofthesuccessfulpracticestodealwithwaterscarcity,namelyusingfishfarms
effluents for irrigation in a field and modeling studies. The Chap. 3 will tickle the
ideaofsoil-smartpracticesthroughtheintegratedsoilfertilitymanagement.Lastly,
vii
viii Preface
the Chap. 4 will discuss the integration of crop-smart, water-smart, and soil-smart
practicestosustainablyincreasefoodsecurity.
Part II of this book will discuss the second pillar of climate-smart agriculture,
namelybuildresiliencetoclimate,whichwillincludethreechapters.TheChap.1
willdiscussthemosteffectiveinfluencerincropproduction,namelyclimateextremes
andthesuggestedmeasurestothestressofclimatevariabilityinEgypt.Thefollowing
chapterwillassesstheeffectofclimatevariabilityonwheatproductivityinEgypt.
The last chapter in this part will review several climate-resilient crops cultivated
aroundtheworldandinEgypt.
In Part III, the third pillar, namely reduction of the greenhouse gases from the
cultivated area will be discussed in one chapter which will review practices that
contributetothereductionoftheemissionofgreenhousegases.
We hope that this book will assist researchers in other developing countries in
theirsensiblequesttoimprovetheirfoodsecuritysituationandattainabetterlifefor
theircitizens.
Giza,Egypt SamihaOuda
2021
Introduction
Tremendous pressure, largely exists, on the use of natural resources due to rising
population, urbanization, environmental stresses, and climate change. Agriculture
productionsystemrequiresresilientdevelopmentpathwaystoaugmentglobalfood
grainproduction,reducegreenhousegasesemissionsfromagriculturalactivityand
adapt agriculture to climate change and variability (Lipper et al. 2014). The Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has reported that food
production needs to be increased by at least 60% to meet the needs of the world’s
expectedpopulationof9billionby2050(FAO2014).Thiswillbeagreatchallenge
forglobalagricultureundertheconditionofclimatevariabilityresultedfromclimate
change. Additionally, shifting weather patterns, including risingtemperatures, and
unpredictableprecipitationcanhavenegativeeffectsoncropsyield,andagricultural
production.
Weatherisanimportantdeterminantoftheproductivityofthecultivatedcrops.
Temperatureandrainfallaffectthedevelopmentofplants,eitheraloneorbyinter-
acting with other factors (IPCC 2007). The World Meteorological Organization
(2012) stated that weather reflects short-term conditions of the atmosphere, while
climateistheaveragedailyweatherforanextendedperiodoftimeatacertainlocation
overmanyyears(usuallyatleast30years).Theuncertaintyassociatedwithweather
patternsisoneofthegreatestcontributorstothegappresentbetweenpotentialand
actual yield (Zhang et al. 2013). Lobell et al. (2009) estimated the gap between
potentialandactualyieldby20%inmanycases.Climatevariabilityisoftenusedto
describeanykindofchangeinclimatethatmaybenaturalorhuman-induced(Hegerl
etal.2007).Ofori-Sarpong(2011)indicatedthatrisingtemperatures,unpredictable
rainfall, loss of soil moisture, and increased evaporation and transpiration are the
factorsofclimatevariability.
ix
x Introduction
ExtremeWeatherEvents
IPCC (2011) defines the extreme weather events caused by climate variability “as
rareasorrarerthanthe10thor90thpercentileofaprobabilitydensityfunctionesti-
matedfromobservations”.Extremeeventsareexpectedtocauseinstabilityofcrops
yieldsandforminghighrisktoglobalcropproduction(Lobelletal.2013).Research
ontheeffectsofextremeweathereventsonmajorcropsworldwidewasemployed.
Schlenker and Roberts (2009) indicated that extremely high daytime temperatures
are destructive and could be lethal to crops. Drought leads to stomata closure and
photosynthesis reduction, which negatively affects the yield (Chaves et al. 2010).
Rosenzweigetal.(2001)reportedthathighertemperaturesthanthresholdtempera-
turesmayleadtosignificantreductionsincropyields.Physiologicalprocessesofa
cropcouldbeaffectedbyextremeweathereventscausingphysicaldamage(vander
Veldeetal.2012).Accelerationinphenologicaldevelopmentofcropsunderwarmer
conditionsisobserved,whichreducesgrowingseason,reducesnetphotosynthesis,
and consequently reduces yield (Lobell and Ortiz-Monasterio 2007). Other indi-
recteffectscouldoccur,suchasinfluencesonsoilprocessesandnutrientdynamics.
Moreover,insect,pest,andplantdiseasesmaymagnifyunderexposuretoextreme
weatherevents(Motha2011).
Yield losses higher than 30% in fruit and vegetable crops were found due to
droughtconditionsin2016intheNortheasternUnitedStatesreported(Sweetetal.
2017). It was reported that photosynthesis rates of sweet corn were decreased by
30% when the temperature exceeded 30 °C (Ben-Asher et al. 2008). Moreover,
the interaction between high temperature and drought stress reduced both wheat
photosynthesis and yield (Shah and Paulsen 2003). Powell and Reinhard (2016)
found that high temperature and precipitation events are time specific, where its
effectonyieldsisvariedbasedongrowthstagesofwheat.
Egyptian agriculture has faced serious risks from climate variability causing
significantnegative impactsontheyieldofmajorcropsandconsequentlyonfood
security. It was reported that in 1998 growing season, rice plants were exposed to
heatwave during flowering and grain filling stages causing a reduction in national
riceproduction(KhalilandHassanein2016).Mahmoodetal.(2010)indicatedthat
exposing rice plants to heatwave during the flowering growth stage could cause
sterility, whereas during the grain filling stage, it reduces grain weight and grain
number.Theyalsoreportedthatadeclineingrainnumberisdirectlyproportionalto
increasingtemperature.
Wheatproductionwasalsoreducedin2010,asaresultofheatwaveprevailedin
thatyearbyanaverageof15%overEgypt(Salehetal.2017).Taha(2012)reported
losses in wheat productivity in 2010. With respect to maize, Saleh et al. (2017)
indicated that maize production was reduced by an average of 11% in 2015 as a
resultofheatwavethatoccurredinthatyear,comparedtoitsproductionin2010.
Introduction xi
ClimateChangeEffects
Agriculturalproductionisaffectedbyclimatechangeindirectandindirectpathways.
Theincreaseinmeantemperaturesacceleratesdirectlycropdevelopment,thechange
inseasonalprecipitationamountstogetherwithincreasingevaporativedemandcan
indirectlyleadtomoredroughtstressforcrops(IPCC2012).Martinsetal.(2019)
indicatedthatincreasedtemperaturesarelikelytoshortenthecropcycleasaresultof
accelerationincropdevelopmentandphenologicalstages(EyshiRezaeietal.2018),
thus reducing crop production. On the other hand, alteration of precipitation will
affectwateravailabilityforcrops,sothatcropyieldwillbeseverelyaffectedoreven
cropfailurecouldoccur(Assengetal.2013).Thus,globalclimatechangeadversely
impacts crop production and imposes a wide range of constraints on agricultural
systems,especiallyinwater-limitedenvironments(Paymardetal.2018).
Climate-SmartAgriculture
Thedeteriorationinthenaturalresourcesworldwide,asaresultofthecontinualuse
of the same technologies necessitates the use of sustainable practices to enable to
producefoodforthegrowingpopulationandtomitigatetheeffectsofclimatechange.
Climate-smartagriculturecouldbetheapproachtobeusedtoavoidthedeteriora-
tionofnaturalresources.Climate-smartapproachwasintroducedbyFAO(2010)as
an integrated approach that aims at sustainably increases agricultural productivity
andincomes,buildresiliencetoclimate,andreduceemissionsofgreenhousegases.
Therefore,itputemphasisontheneedforchangingtheprevailingmanagementprac-
ticesinagricultureincludingwaterandsoilstoensureitsefficientandsustainableuse
toproducemorefood,adapttoclimatechange,andreduceemissionsofgreenhouse
(FAO2013).Climate-smartagriculturehasalsobeenidentifiedasanapproachfor
transformingandreorientingagriculturalsystemstosupportfoodsecurityunderthe
newrealitiesofclimatechange(Lipperetal.2014).Climate-smartagriculturehas
alsobeenknownas“triplewin”,whichsimultaneouslyachievesitsthreeobjectives
(orpillars):foodsecurity,mitigation,andadaptation(Fallot2016).Itcallsforaset
of actions by decision-makers from farm to global level, to enhance the resilience
ofagriculturalsystemsandlivelihoodsandreducetheriskoffoodinsecurityinthe
present,aswellasinthefuture(Lipperetal.2014).Thethreepillarsofclimate-smart
practicescanbestatedasfollows:
SustainablyIncreasesAgriculturalProduction
Climate-smartpracticescanattainhigherproductiontofeedthegrowingpopulation
andincreasefoodavailabilityandsecurity.Itwasreportedthatusingsustainablefarm