CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

Homepage Link

Projects

Agricultural adaptation to climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean

…

Addressing the impacts of climate change in the Philippine agriculture sector

…

Picture-Based Crop Insurance (PBI)

…

View all Projects

Publications

Working Paper

Pakistan: A cost-benefit analysis of crop rotation practice in rainfed areas

2024Rana, Abdul Wajid; Gill, Sitara; Akram, Iqra

Details

Pakistan: A cost-benefit analysis of crop rotation practice in rainfed areas

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges confronting our global system today. The scientific community has clearly established that global temperatures are rising and the consequences of climate change may swiftly transition from an environmental risk to an economic threat. Agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable to changes in weather and climatic condition. Over 60% of the yield variability is chalked up to to climate change; significantly affecting food production and farmer income. Changes in climate affect the onset and duration of crop growing cycle, and the extent and duration of heat and water stress impact agriculture production. Moreover, it may trigger pest and disease outbreaks causing significant production losses. Small-scale farmers in rain-fed areas of Pakistan face the severe susceptibility to the challenges brought about by climate change. This vulnerability stems from their heavy dependence on traditional farming methods and their limited ability to adapt, exacerbated by their limited access to advanced technologies and high levels of poverty. Worldwide, crop yields from rainfed farming are approximately 50 percent less than those achieved through irrigated methods. In the absence of adaptation measures to cope with climate change, a potential decline of around 50 percent in rain-fed agricultural yields could potentially occur within the next 30-35 years. Promoting climate smart agricultural practices appears to be a dependable strategy for addressing risks posed by climate change.

Year published

2024

Authors

Rana, Abdul Wajid; Gill, Sitara; Akram, Iqra

Citation

Rana, Abdul Wajid; Gill, Sitara; and Akram, Iqra. 2024. Pakistan: A cost-benefit analysis of crop rotation practice in rainfed areas. Working Paper – Climate Smart Agriculture. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139502

Country/Region

Pakistan

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Agriculture; Climate Change; Crop Rotation; Rainfed Farming; Vulnerability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Working Paper

Brief

Pakistan: Strategy to promote climate smart agriculture practices

2024Rana, Abdul Wajid; Gill, Sitara

Details

Pakistan: Strategy to promote climate smart agriculture practices

Pakistan is a case of double injustice contributing a minuscule share of global greenhouse gases, yet it is bearing the brunt of global climate change impacts. It ranks among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change (Eckstein et al., 2021). The 2022 IPCC Report underlines the heightened vulnerabilities because of global warming and climate change leading to more floods. The Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 20221, Pakistan could lose more than 9 percent of its annual GDP due to climate change. The Notre Dame- Gain Matrix2 ranks Pakistan 5th most impacted country by climate change shocks and is positioned as the 36th least-prepared nation to cope with climate changes (The World Bank Group, 2021). Besides, Pakistan scores worst on the indicator of Agriculture Capacity3 at 0.939. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate changes because of its arid to semi-arid environmental conditions (Nasim et al., 2018; Ullah et al., 2019, Ghaffar et al., 2022). Over the last two decades, the country has been facing the challenges of rising temperature, extreme heatwaves, drought, intense and erratic precipitation, water stress, glacial melting, recurring flash floods and super floods in 2010 and 2022. The combination of reduced crop yields, water scarcity, and changing agricultural practices can lead to severe food insecurity and economic challenges for marginalized communities and more importantly, for farmers. In July-August 2022, Pakistan faced unprecedented rainfall and riverine floods damaging cultivated crops, livestock and the infrastructure. Approximately 4.4 million acres of crops were damaged, and nearly 1 million animals perished. The total cost of damages and losses was estimated at $30.13 billion, with agriculture accounting for $12.9 billion (43 percent of the total) (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2021-22).

Year published

2024

Authors

Rana, Abdul Wajid; Gill, Sitara

Citation

Rana, Abdul Wajid; and Gill, Sitara. 2024. Pakistan: Strategy to Promote Climate Smart Agriculture Practices. Country Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138510

Country/Region

Pakistan

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Agriculture; Greenhouse Gases; Climate Change; Climate-smart Agriculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Brief

Journal Article

Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya

2024Zander, Kerstin K.; Drucker, Adam G.; Aluso, Lillian; Mengistu, Dejene K.; Fadda, Carlo; Termote, Céline; Davis, Kristin

Details

Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya

Both the demand for food and the environmental impacts of food production are estimated to significantly increase by 2050. Agroecological interventions have proven effective in facilitating the transition from current food production systems to more sustainable ones. These interventions can not only ensure more equitable food and nutritional security but also address poverty and reduce environmental impacts. As such, agroecological interventions can generate both private and public ecosystem services. Farmers play a key role in how food is produced, as the practices they use are linked with their preferences and expertise, as well as the constraints they face. Understanding farmers’ preferences for the adoption of different agroecological practices and their perceptions of the associated costs and benefits is critical to informing policies that can effectively support farmers in transitioning to more sustainable practices, including those that contribute to the generation of ecosystem services highly valued by broader society. To assess such preferences, we conducted a survey among farmers in Western Kenya which included a best-worst scaling experiment augmented by qualitative questions about the reasons for farmers’ views about the importance of the benefits arising from agroecological practices. Results show that farmers have strong preferences for adopting agroecological practices that generate private goods and are directly related to increasing productivity and food security, including improving health of household members. These may also include practices that have some public good elements as well, such as increasing agrobiodiversity. However, practices that generate broader public good benefits, including improved forest quality/coverage, reduced off-farm environmental impacts, greater community-level resilience to shocks, and improved landscape and wildlife management, were less important to farmers. Such findings can be used to inform policies that support farmer adoption of agroecological interventions best suited to different farming communities, as well as indicating the need for additional types of market-based incentives, such as through Payments for Ecosystem Service mechanisms.

Year published

2024

Authors

Zander, Kerstin K.; Drucker, Adam G.; Aluso, Lillian; Mengistu, Dejene K.; Fadda, Carlo; Termote, Céline; Davis, Kristin

Citation

Zander, Kerstin K.; Drucker, Adam G.; Drucker, Adam G.; Aluso, Lillian; Mengistu, Dejene K.; Fadda, Carlo; Termote, Céline; and Davis, Kristin. 2024. Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya. Environment, Development and Sustainability. Article in press. First published online on June 28, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05173-5

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Agroecology; Sustainability; Farmers; Poverty; Farmers’ Attitudes; Ecosystem Services

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05173-5 Source record

Project

Nature-Positive Solutions