What climate-smart agriculture means to members of the Global Alliance for climate-smart agriculture

Abstract

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA), a concept originally coined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has been presented as a solution to the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. According to the FAO, CSA explicitly aims for three objectives: (1) to sustainably increase agricultural productivity to support equitable increases in farm incomes, food security and development; (2) to adapt and build resilience to climate change at multiple levels; and (3) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. This definition of CSA is central to ongoing debates between different groups of stakeholders, such as NGOs and policy-makers in developed and developing countries, over what exactly constitutes CSA, e.g. does it encompass large-scale industrial agriculture and small-scale agriculture, organic and non-organic farming practices, and which associated practices fall in its ambit. Thus, to frame CSA's efficacy for the future, it is important to explore how different groups of stakeholders define CSA. This study collects and analyses data from qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 30 active members of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA)-one of the most prominent organizations currently involved in shaping CSA policy. The interviewees include employees of governments, NGOs, research institutions, agribusiness companies and representatives of farmers' groups. Their responses reveal that for CSA practitioners within GACSA, doing CSA is perceived to be significantly more important than defining CSA or attempting to identify the differences between, for example, agroecology and CSA. Particularly challenging is to define what qualifies as "smart". Nevertheless, clarification of CSA is important for governments and policy-makers, in particular with regard to the use of inorganic fertilizers and GM technologies. Although these latter approaches are not explicitly promoted by GACSA, the membership of several "Big Ag" companies in the Alliance attracts criticism concerning the shaping of CSA's agenda and possible "greenwashing" by private interests. At the same time, the respondents note that some proponents of agroecology can be accused of "claiming the space as their own." Almost all interviewees stress the importance of a bottom-up approach based on shared governance and growth and placing farmers' needs first, rather than creating division among stakeholder groups. In addition, cooperation between farmers, researchers, and policymakers, as well as a context-specific approach to collaborative, data-driven education programmes are all cited as crucial for the future development of CSA.