Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa

The agricultural sector is the second major source of climate change globally, contributing to anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. In low-to-middle income countries, estimations indicate future increases in agricultural emissions. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has an express opportunity...

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Main Authors: Weniga Anuga, Samuel, Chirinda, Ngonidzashe, Nukpezah, Daniel, Ahenkan, Albert, Andrieu, Nadine, Gordon, Christopher
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110690
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author Weniga Anuga, Samuel
Chirinda, Ngonidzashe
Nukpezah, Daniel
Ahenkan, Albert
Andrieu, Nadine
Gordon, Christopher
author_browse Ahenkan, Albert
Andrieu, Nadine
Chirinda, Ngonidzashe
Gordon, Christopher
Nukpezah, Daniel
Weniga Anuga, Samuel
author_facet Weniga Anuga, Samuel
Chirinda, Ngonidzashe
Nukpezah, Daniel
Ahenkan, Albert
Andrieu, Nadine
Gordon, Christopher
author_sort Weniga Anuga, Samuel
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The agricultural sector is the second major source of climate change globally, contributing to anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. In low-to-middle income countries, estimations indicate future increases in agricultural emissions. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has an express opportunity to transform agriculture across the globe. In Africa, CSA targets focused on resilience building and food security with less emphasis on the GHG mitigation potential. Nevertheless, to make CSA conclusive as an express low emission development strategy in Africa, understanding the mitigation potential in this context is paramount. Through a systematic-narrative review approach conducted on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), the study aimed to identify opportunities to mitigate GHG emissions in Africa. We observed that the distribution of studies that quantitatively assessed the GHG emissions of CSA practices was disproportionate across Africa. For instance, out of twenty studies evaluated, nine were conducted in Southern Africa; three in East Africa, and the rest distributed among Central, Western, and North Africa. Observed in the studies, advanced livestock breeding and feeding, organic nitrogen input, improved pastures and switching land-use practices, all contributed to GHG emission reduction. As limited experimental evidence exist on the GHG mitigation potential for some of the CSA alternatives including agroforestry, rotational farming, improved livestock breed and intensification of ruminants' diet, we recommend further experimental studies into these alternatives in more locations/contexts in Africa. Also, progress on the mitigation pillar is still limited in Africa due to lack of the necessary analytical infrastructure to conduct the needed measurements. We call for urgent investments into laboratory facilities and skills training to improve data collection and quality.
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spelling CGSpace1106902025-11-12T05:57:09Z Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa Weniga Anuga, Samuel Chirinda, Ngonidzashe Nukpezah, Daniel Ahenkan, Albert Andrieu, Nadine Gordon, Christopher emission climate-smart agriculture mitigation emisión agricultura climáticamente inteligente mitigación The agricultural sector is the second major source of climate change globally, contributing to anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. In low-to-middle income countries, estimations indicate future increases in agricultural emissions. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has an express opportunity to transform agriculture across the globe. In Africa, CSA targets focused on resilience building and food security with less emphasis on the GHG mitigation potential. Nevertheless, to make CSA conclusive as an express low emission development strategy in Africa, understanding the mitigation potential in this context is paramount. Through a systematic-narrative review approach conducted on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), the study aimed to identify opportunities to mitigate GHG emissions in Africa. We observed that the distribution of studies that quantitatively assessed the GHG emissions of CSA practices was disproportionate across Africa. For instance, out of twenty studies evaluated, nine were conducted in Southern Africa; three in East Africa, and the rest distributed among Central, Western, and North Africa. Observed in the studies, advanced livestock breeding and feeding, organic nitrogen input, improved pastures and switching land-use practices, all contributed to GHG emission reduction. As limited experimental evidence exist on the GHG mitigation potential for some of the CSA alternatives including agroforestry, rotational farming, improved livestock breed and intensification of ruminants' diet, we recommend further experimental studies into these alternatives in more locations/contexts in Africa. Also, progress on the mitigation pillar is still limited in Africa due to lack of the necessary analytical infrastructure to conduct the needed measurements. We call for urgent investments into laboratory facilities and skills training to improve data collection and quality. 2020-12 2021-01-04T15:36:08Z 2021-01-04T15:36:08Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110690 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Weniga Anuga, S.; Chirinda, N.; Nukpezah, D.; Ahenkan, A.; Andrieu, N.; Gordon, C. (2020) Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 2: 100015 9 p. ISSN: 1877-3435
spellingShingle emission
climate-smart agriculture
mitigation
emisión
agricultura climáticamente inteligente
mitigación
Weniga Anuga, Samuel
Chirinda, Ngonidzashe
Nukpezah, Daniel
Ahenkan, Albert
Andrieu, Nadine
Gordon, Christopher
Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa
title Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa
title_full Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa
title_fullStr Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa
title_full_unstemmed Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa
title_short Towards low carbon agriculture: Systematic-narratives of climate-smart agriculture mitigation potential in Africa
title_sort towards low carbon agriculture systematic narratives of climate smart agriculture mitigation potential in africa
topic emission
climate-smart agriculture
mitigation
emisión
agricultura climáticamente inteligente
mitigación
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110690
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