ISLAMABAD - Extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, and droughts are affecting agriculture in Pakistan, requiring the adoption of climate smart agriculture (CSA) to effectively address the food security issue, reported WealthPK.
Dr. Aansa Rukaya Saleem, an environmental expert at the Bahria University, told WealthPK that CSA will assist in transforming the agriculture sector to support food security in the face of climate change realities like heatwaves, floods, and droughts. She said CSA’s primary goal is modern agricultural technology and advances such as inorganic fertilizer, pesticides, high-yield varieties of seeds, land management, and irrigation techniques. Decline in agricultural productivity affects industrial productivity because many industries use agricultural input as raw material, she added.
Aansa said widespread changes in rainfall and temperature patterns endangered agriculture production and increased the vulnerability of people who relied on agriculture. The majority of the population living in rural areas directly or indirectly works in the agriculture sector. She said in Sindh and Balochistan, Southern Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, millions of acres of standing crops were destroyed by the deluge caused by the continuous rainfall. Climate change disrupts the food market, posing population-wide risks to the food supplies, she added. According to Aansa, reducing threats is possible by increasing adaptability, resilience, and resource efficiency in agricultural production, which can be accomplished by using climate-resilient agricultural techniques.
She said a significant shift in agriculture and food policy was required, particularly in light of the challenges posed by the climate change. It is imperative to address these challenges because the demand for agri products is increasing due to the growing population, she said. “Climate change is happening now, so we need to address it now before it is too late to have some potential benefits,’’ she added. Muhammad Asif, Scientific Officer at the Pir Mehar Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, told WealthPK that climate change was a serious threat to Pakistan’s economic growth. Climate-smart technology, he added, would aid in mitigating the effects of climate change. Asif said CSA scaled up production to increase climate resilience in the farming system. These technologies improve food security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and soil fertility losses. The farmers who use CSA fare better than non-adopters, though CSA use does not fully offset the severe climate pressures, he said. Furthermore, he said, the farmers with poor access to food markets benefited less from the CSA due to higher price oscillations. In addition, he emphasized the role of policymakers in encouraging adaptation through the CSA adoption by increasing the farmers’ access to capital.
He said the second issue confronting agriculture was that farmers were now selling arable land to the housing societies, thus reducing the cultivated area used for agriculture.
High upfront costs prevent poor farmers from adopting technology and they are moving to cities as a result of climate change. Thousands of acres of land are being sold to the housing societies, thus reducing agricultural productivity as well.
He suggested that the government prohibit housing societies from using arable land for construction and assist the farmers in adopting modern techniques to increase production. If the government ignored this factor, its policies will be ineffective to address climate change and the country will face food insecurity issues, he warned.