Dr. Raza Ullah Khan

The South Asia (SA) region is inhibited by almost 1.9 billion dwellers spread over eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. One-fourth global population living on 4.5% of landmass making it the most densely populated region (FAO, 2021). According to the World Bank, one-third of the world’s poor (earning less than 1.9 $/day), it is estimated that 41% (532 million) of the total 1.3 billion multidimensionally poor people in the world are from SA (UNDP & OPHI, 2021). Poverty and illiteracy driven undernourishment is also common. It is reported that as many as over 700 million people are either moderately or severely food insecure coupled with high prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in the region (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO, 2021; WHO, 2020). Health issues like stunting, wasting, micronutrients deficiency is most common among children and women population. The socioeconomic landscape exacerbated hunger and malnutrition, and poverty are characteristic features of SA.

Agriculture is the economic powerhouse of SA, providing livelihood, employment and food security. Every year an estimated 605,473 million USD is pumped into the economy of the region by value addition contributed by agriculture, forestry and fisheries. It also provides employment to 26.41-61.39% of the workforce. Agriculture predominates by small holder farmers (holding ≤2 ha of land), sharing about 30% (170 million) of the global landholdings (570 million), and 85% of total land holdings in the region. Small landholders who dominated the agrarian economy is well known by its labor intensity, low farm income, high production cost, and low return features.

The socioeconomic fabrics are further complicated by growing climate change, manifested by shifts in rainfall occurrence and frequency, rising temperatures, heat waves, floods, landslides, and drought. The trajectory of climate change has jeopardized agricultural productivity, farm income, and triggers the issue of food insecurity, internal migration, and abandoning of agriculture activities. South Asia is also one of the world’s most vulnerable to impacts of global warming and climate change and considered as the continent with the highest risk of natural disasters.

The fragility is associated with practices of the current agri-food system, which can be held responsible for biodiversity loss, and up to 29% Greenhouse gases (GHG ) emission. The pervasive poverty, malnutrition, hunger and illiteracy, urbanization coupled with climate change induced natural disasters are impending challenges. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) warned that crop production in SA could fall by up to 30% by 2050 unless current agriculture practices are changed, classified SA as one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions (IPCC 2023). Among SA countries, GHG emission has been reported highest in India, followed by Sri Lanka. Environmental stress has reached critical levels paving the way to water stress due to the freshwater withdrawal for agriculture, such level of extraction is higher in Pakistan, followed by India and Sri Lanka. Damages ascribed to climate change are huge both in economic and social terms. It has been reported that climate change induced environmental cost stands around 0.14 billion USD.

To cope with these challenges, it is recommended to switch towards climate change adaptation (CCA) as early as possible. The CCA is the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate, and its effects to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. The CCA needs to be context and ecosystem specific, tailoring to the strategic needs of the local communities. Successful example of CCA practice are floating gardens in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh to maintain agricultural productivity during floods, while drought-resistant crops varieties in arid regions of India and Pakistan to ensure food security in the wake of climate change.

Climate smart agriculture (CSA), livestock and fisheries technologies are considered as part of CCA. These set of solutions provide a toolkit to sustain agricultural productivity and address rural poverty addressing the interlinked challenges of economic viability, societal changes, food security and climate vulnerability. The CSA approach based on three pillars: (i) Sustainably improving food security by increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, (ii) Making farms more resilient and adapting to climate change, and (iii) Developing opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation efforts. Climate-smart practices can focus on ways to reduce emissions in livestock production, to reduce farm inputs such as fuels, energy, pesticides, and mineral fertilizers by increasing efficiency, or to keep carbon stored in the soil. Such practices resulted in a more diverse and resilient farming system in the face of climate change. For example, improving rice cultivation practices has been the corner stone of CSA technologies. In this regard technologies such as direct-seeded rice (DSR), and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) avoid excessive standing water help mitigate methane emission minimizing reduction phase. Such technologies in paddy cultivation are most promising due to multiple benefits such as reducing cycles and amount of water used and resulting in abating carbon dioxide and methane emission due to reduced energy use needed for water pumping and avoiding standing water respectively.

In 2024, it is reported that global warnings touch 1.5 degree Celsius, considered the extreme temperature since last hundred years affecting billion of people all over the world. For this purpose, we must take action to put a reverse gear to climate change.

SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh with the financial support of SAARC Development Fund (SDF), and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) developed a comprehensive repository of CSA technologies in the six member countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These technologies have been prioritized using the World Bank technology indicator and validated on farmer field through participatory research. These technologies not only improve farm productivity and contribute to rural development of the region but also help mitigate negative impacts of climate change through enhance input use efficiency and resource conservation.

The writer is a Senior Program Specialist (NRM) at the SAARC Agriculture Centre, Bangladesh