By Patricia Katto
The simultaneous challenges of food insecurity and climate change are deeply intertwined, with each exacerbating the impacts of the other. According to the IPCC, agriculture is responsible for nearly 23% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mainly from livestock, fertilised soils, and land-use change. At the same time, agriculture is one of the sectors most at risk from climate change as farmers are grappling with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, pest outbreaks, and extreme weather events that threaten food production and rural livelihoods.
The vicious cycle between climate change and agriculture necessitates innovative solutions, such as Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and Climate-resilient agriculture (CRA).
What Is Climate-Smart Agriculture?
The World Bank describes CSA as “a set of agricultural practices and technologies which simultaneously boost productivity, enhance resilience and reduce GHG emissions.” Central to this approach are three main objectives: productivity, adaptation, and mitigation. However, it’s important to note that not every CSA technique achieves all three objectives simultaneously.
Productivity in CSA involves enhancing resource use to achieve higher and more nutritious food yields, while also minimising environmental damage. It focuses on maximising outputs, such as crops and livestock, through sustainable practices that reduce waste, enhance soil health, and improve water efficiency. This can be seen in water management techniques such as digging water basins. These water basins can be used to concentrate water and soil nutrients, which will support plant growth during drier seasons. It can also be seen in the construction of contour bunds which can drain excess water during rainy seasons, prevent soil erosion and conserve moisture in the soil.
The adaptation objective seeks to make agricultural output less vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This can be done through changes in practices and systems in response to expected or actual climate impacts, such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. Early warning systems, disaster preparedness, and building knowledge and skills, also play a vital role in achieving the adaptation objective in CSA.
The FAO also notes that there are two approaches that when implemented together, can help achieve this objective. These are: a community-based adaptation approach and an eco-system based approach. The former places communities at the center of climate adaptation, enabling them to identify risks, assess vulnerabilities, and explore practical solutions in a participatory way. It involves mobilising diverse stakeholders, particularly those most at risk, and ensuring that local voices shape the planning process. The latter approach involves maintaining healthy, resilient ecosystems which are key to ensuring long-term food security and improved nutrition. It also emphasises the importance of biodiversity in helping people adapt to climate change. There are a number of ways ecosystem-based adaptation approaches can be used in an agricultural framework, this includes changing seed varieties, increasing soil biodiversity and “soil regeneration techniques (such as cover cropping, contour cultivation, terracing or increasing organic matter, etc.)”.
Finally, the mitigation objective encompasses efforts to increase production of agriculture output while reducing GHG emissions involved with such production. There are a number of methods that can help achieve this objective, such as agroforestry and reforestation. Agroforestry is a nature-based solution that integrates trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, and other perennial plants with crops and/or livestock. Agroforestry as a technique can involve planting trees in specific locations alongside crops or livestock, or gradually introducing different tree species over time within a certain area. The goal is for these trees to help remove greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the surrounding environment. Another way to achieve the mitigation objective is by applying fertilisers more efficiently. This requires using the right amount of fertilisers, at the right time and in the right form, which will help reduce waste, cut emissions, and promote sustainable crop production.
From Climate-smart to climate-resilient: A deepening approach
CSA offers a valuable set of tools and techniques to address the challenges posed by climate change. However, it is important that each technique is suited to the context in which it is implemented. Consequently, CRA builds on the technical strengths of CSA but goes further by placing social equity, context-specific realities, and transformative change at the heart of agricultural development. It recognises that not all farmers have equal access to land, labor, knowledge, and financial resources. Therefore, climate interventions must be tailored to the diverse needs and capacities of farming communities.
CRA emphasises:
- Context-specific adaptation: Rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all solution, CRA tailors interventions to the social, cultural, and economic conditions of specific communities.
- Preventing maladaptation: CRA actively seeks to avoid maladaptation, defined by the FAO as development or adaptation actions that deliver short-term gains but increase vulnerability elsewhere or over time. In the agricultural context, this can occur when adaptation efforts unintentionally concentrate benefits among more powerful farmers, reinforcing inequality and excluding poorer or marginalised groups.
- Transformative resilience: Rather than merely helping communities cope with climate stress, CRA aims to transform agricultural systems, addressing the root causes of vulnerability such as land tenure insecurity, gender inequality, and lack of decision-making power.
Financing climate-resilient agriculture
Despite growing recognition, only a small fraction of climate finance goes towards agriculture, and even less supports adaptation. Bridging this gap requires:
- Better access to credit, insurance, and savings for farmers;
- Increased public and private investment in climate-smart technologies and services
- Use of green bonds, blended finance, and adaptation-specific funds
- Policies that reward ecosystem stewardship and risk reduction.
At E Co., we help bridge this financing gap. We specialise in developing and refining climate project concept notes and projects and programmes that clearly demonstrate the climate rationale, expected outcomes, and alignment with various funder priorities. These notes are often the first step to unlocking major investments from sources like the GCF, GEF, and Adaptation Fund.
But our support goes further, we work to ensure projects are not just fundable, but effective and inclusive. This means:
- Aligning with local needs and priorities;
- Supporting stakeholder engagement;
- Building long-term capacity for implementation and impact.
All in all, the climate crisis is already reshaping agriculture. But with the right tools, strategies, and support, agriculture can also help reshape our climate future. CSA has laid a strong foundation for climate-responsive agricultural practices. CRA builds on this, protecting food security, restoring ecosystems, and enabling communities to thrive.
This broader approach helps ensure that adaptation efforts are not only technically sound but also contextually grounded. To make this a reality, we need to scale investment, strengthen partnerships, and keep local voices at the centre. At E Co., we’re proud to play a part in this transformation by connecting bold ideas with the resources they need to grow.
