Assessing the economic and mitigation benefits of climate-smart agriculture and its implications for political economy: a case study in Southern Africa
Article
Branca, Giacomo, Arslan, Aslihan, Paolantonio, Adriana, Grewer, Uwe, Cattaneo, Andrea, Cavatassi, Romina, Lipper, Leslie, Hillier, Jonathan and Vetter, Sylvia. 2021. "Assessing the economic and mitigation benefits of climate-smart agriculture and its implications for political economy: a case study in Southern Africa." Journal of Cleaner Production. 285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125161
| Article Title | Assessing the economic and mitigation benefits of climate-smart agriculture and its implications for political economy: a case study in Southern Africa |
|---|---|
| ERA Journal ID | 3639 |
| Article Category | Article |
| Authors | Branca, Giacomo, Arslan, Aslihan, Paolantonio, Adriana, Grewer, Uwe, Cattaneo, Andrea, Cavatassi, Romina, Lipper, Leslie, Hillier, Jonathan and Vetter, Sylvia |
| Journal Title | Journal of Cleaner Production |
| Journal Citation | 285 |
| Article Number | 125161 |
| Number of Pages | 14 |
| Year | 2021 |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Place of Publication | Netherlands |
| ISSN | 0959-6526 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125161 |
| Web Address (URL) | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652620352057 |
| Abstract | Climate change poses a serious risk to the economic growth of sub-Saharan Africa. Sustainable enhancement of resilience and mitigation capacity of small farm households is a major political economy goal. This paper has the objective to assess the on-farm economic and mitigation benefits of climate-smart agriculture production and their cost-effectiveness to be used as a prioritization criterion for policy incentives. An interdisciplinary model which integrates elements of economics and ecological science at farm-scale is developed and applied using a unique dataset for Malawi and Zambia built through household surveys. Results show that switching from conventional to climate-smart farming enhances economic returns more significantly in semi-dry areas than in sub-humid ones. However, high up-front costs hinder technology adoption. Negative abatement costs for most smart farming options indicate synergies between livelihood enhancement and mitigation. Land management based on minimum tillage, crop residues incorporation, use of cover crops, and inclusion of legumes has relatively higher economic returns. Agroforestry provides lower economic returns but the highest emission abatement potential. Payments for mitigation benefits could be a management strategy to incentivize cleaner agriculture production if tailored appropriately. These results strengthen the case for public support to climate-smart agriculture scaling-up within policy and planning strategies. |
| Keywords | Sustainable agriculture; Ecological-economic model; Smallholder farming; Marginal abatement cost; Cost-effective mitigation |
| Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
| ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 300210. Sustainable agricultural development |
| 380101. Agricultural economics | |
| Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
| Byline Affiliations | Tuscia University, Italy |
| International Fund for Agricultural Development, Italy | |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia | |
| Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Australia | |
| Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy | |
| Cornell University, United States | |
| University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom |
Permalink -
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/zyzz0/assessing-the-economic-and-mitigation-benefits-of-climate-smart-agriculture-and-its-implications-for-political-economy-a-case-study-in-southern-africa
10
total views0
total downloads1
views this month0
downloads this month