Climate-Smart Technology: A Necessity For Sustainable Agriculture In Pakistan

By adopting climate-smart technologies Pakistan can help uplift its status as an agricultural economy, and it can become self-sufficient in cotton, rice, wheat, and other agricultural cash crops

Climate-Smart Technology: A Necessity For Sustainable Agriculture In Pakistan

Pakistan's agriculture sector has traditionally faced various challenges, including input inefficiency, procurement issues, seed quality, and quality human resources. However, in recent years, the dimensions of agricultural challenges have extended to include climate change and climate change-induced disasters, which have created severe economic and food security issues for people.

Climate change and agriculture are now considered to be interconnected globally. It is integral to understand how changes in temperature, rising sea levels, and changes in monsoon patterns leading to floods and destruction of farmlands can impact agriculture. Similarly, it is important to understand how agricultural activities — especially conventional agricultural practices — can impact the climate. Practices such as crop cultivation, residue, processing, and crop burning all impact the climate in different ways - not all of which are immediately visible. For example, methane emissions from rice cultivation and processing contribute to greenhouse gas production.

International organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and World Meteorological Organisation, have stressed that excessive carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions contribute to the megatrends of atmospheric temperature changes and global warming. Solar radiation contributes to the abundant creation of toxic greenhouse gases on Earth such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

According to the United Nations: "In 2004, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 377.1 parts per million (ppm), while in 2023, this reached 420 ppm.". According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), carbon dioxide emissions from crop residue are estimated at around 3,258.7 kilotonnes (kt), whereas carbon dioxide emissions from rice cultivation are around 13,866.5 kt. Crop residue burning causes around 761.2 (kt) in emissions, while synthetic fertilisers contribute around 19,498.3 kt. Thus, carbon dioxide is deemed a leading cause of climate change.

The phenomenon does not stop here; data on Pakistan estimates that frequent changes and extreme weather conditions will lead to changes in precipitation patterns along with the expansion of drylands and deserts. "In 2023, the average sea level globally reached a record high the UN's World Meteorological Organisation WMO confirmed, according to satellite records kept since 1993". 

Thus, adopting climate-smart farming and agricultural practices has become imperative to respond adequately to climatic variations.

Across the world, various technologies and techniques have been engaged for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to help limit emissions, build resilience and boost yields. These technologies help with water management, crop-based diversification, soil nutrient management, farm mechanisation, and technology dissemination. Through advisory and decision-support programmes, farmers need to be made aware of zero tillage wheat planning in rice-wheat cropping systems, direct seeding of rice in rice-wheat cropping systems, alternate wetting and drying of rice in rice-wheat cropping systems, creating raised beds, resilient cropping systems (mung-wheat, soybean wheat) and many other possible procedures, techniques and technologies which may contribute to climate-smart agriculture.

Many countries are seeking the services of international seed organisations to access drought, flood, rain, and climate-tolerant seed varieties, which have done wonders for agriculture production in certain regions. Local seed organisations can bring about pivotal changes in boosting agricultural yield. The integration of climate-smart active technologies will not only contribute to enhancing the living standards of farmers but will also ensure food security.

Climate change indicators for South Asian economies are alarmingly high. The 0.702 billion people globally are living under extreme poverty and food insecurity

Many economies around the world have applied seed and fertiliser-related innovations to bolster agricultural yield or make them resilient. In the SAARC region, Nepal has employed technologies such as flood-tolerant crop varieties, laser land levelling, green manuring, integrated nutrient management, drip irrigation, and conservation agriculture. Sri Lanka uses the parachute method of paddy seedling broadcasts, home gardening with self-produced organic manure, broad bed furrow, mulch, residue retention and integrated nutrient management, green manuring in rice, and raised bed planting. Other such practices are followed in many parts of South Asia, but few are practised in Pakistan. There is a need to introduce the broad bed furrow, plastic mulching, applying biochar, parachute method of paddy seedling broadcast, raised beds, flood-tolerant crop varieties, mulch and residue retention and many more. 

Ensuring the security of the agricultural production system is also crucial to food security. Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns impact crops and yield. Moreover, the alarmingly high climate change indicators for South Asian economies also signal a threat. Already, around 0.702 billion people globally are living under extreme poverty and food insecurity, and this number could increase drastically if a densely populated South Asia suffers devastating climate change-induced disasters. Just for a moment, imagine if the people living under extreme poverty and food insecurity suddenly suffer an episode of climate change-induced food insecurity, greatly increasing malnutrition among them; what is likely to happen?

In addition to climate change-induced events, agriculture and food security are increasingly threatened by natural disasters. Research suggests that in recent decades, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters have increased, with floods, droughts, and heat and cold waves harming people's economic well-being, livelihoods and food security. Over the past two decades, severe climatic shocks have been observed, such as droughts, cyclones, heat waves, and glacier melting.

Pakistan, whose population has swelled to a belt-busting 240 million, is still primarily an agrarian economy. It must provide its farmers with greater facilities, training,  technologies, and policies that enable farmers to access technologies that provide drought, flood and rain resistance seed varieties, nitrogen-efficient fertilisers and efficient spraying fertilisers and cultivating/harvesting yield. These technologies can help uplift Pakistan's status as an agricultural economy, and it can become self-sufficient in cotton, rice, wheat, and other agricultural cash crops. Being an agricultural economy, it is high time Pakistan focused on enhancing the agriculture sector rather than importing food items.

The agriculture sector in Pakistan already faces many challenges. Adopting climate-smart agriculture technologies can play a vital role in not only enhancing current yields but also enabling the cultivation of crops which are resilient to climate change-induced weather events such as heat waves and heavy rains. Moreover, higher yields are required to ensure that the supply of crops — especially food crops — remains greater than the demand for such crops. The resilient properties, plant breeding, wild crop relatives, farming practices, and climate forecasting will help farmers secure their livelihood by allowing them to absorb and overcome shocks. Moreover, engaging with the respective departments will allow farmers to improve soil carbon content and soil fertility while focusing on seed quality. Currently, only 56% of demands for seeds are met, whereas the rest are yet to be addressed. A greater focus is required on mitigation strategies for water level management, restoring degraded lands and providing energy subsidies to farmers. 

The author is a lecturer at the University of Central Punjab and has completed a PhD from the University of Gujrat.