In response to extreme climate, smart agriculture has potential
In recent years, the frequency of extreme weather around the world has increased, and its impact on the economy has also increased. Due to its own development characteristics, agriculture is easily affected by climate factors and suffers greater losses, which also affects the sustainable development of agriculture and adversely affects global food security.
The "Global Food Crisis Report" jointly released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Program and other international organizations and agencies in April this year shows that in 2023, approximately 281.6 million people in 59 countries and regions around the world will face serious food insecurity. Factors such as geopolitical conflicts, extreme weather and economic crises will cause the situation to deteriorate.
How to solve the global challenge of extreme climate impacts on agriculture? Developing climate-smart agriculture can be regarded as a coping idea.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations believes that the key to climate-smart agriculture lies in its resilience, ability to adapt to climate change and sustainable development, so as to enhance national food security and achieve social and economic development.
The World Bank has identified agriculture, food, water and land as key transformation elements needed to respond to the climate crisis, and plans to invest US$3 billion annually in climate-smart agriculture to support countries in improving productivity, improving resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agri-food systems.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently reported that Climate AI's artificial intelligence technology has been used globally, expanding from the United States to Canada, Australia and Latin America. The platform knows when to plant and when crops begin to bloom and set seeds. Forward-looking weather forecasts can also help farmers better manage crop production.
Britt Grossman, vice president of climate-smart agriculture at the American Environmental Protection Association, said at a forum on global food security held not long ago that the association works with farmers to achieve lower levels based on specific local conditions and environment. Environmental footprints increase production and income while building better climate resilience. In addition, according to different measurement methods, agricultural carbon emissions may account for 10% to 20% of the world's total. Reducing excessive use of chemical fertilizers and carbon sink construction will also help reduce emissions and provide a better environment for agricultural development.
Grossman said that in the United States, there is a lot of government investment and private sector financial support for climate-smart projects and incentive mechanisms, including risk protection. Non-governmental organizations are also developing new tools to help farmers make the right decisions and make agriculture more resilient. For example, efficient use of fertilizers; exploring funding to support agricultural transformation, including climate-smart commodity projects to build supply chains, mainly for some large food industry companies to work with farmers to help them achieve more adaptive agriculture; developing nitrogen balance tools to help farmers calculate the amount of nitrogen needed by crops, which is natural and which needs artificial fertilizers to supplement.
According to Karen Mankel, a professor in the Department of Food, Agriculture and Bioengineering at Ohio State University, sometimes smart agriculture is not all high-tech, but modernizes and continuously improves traditional practices to apply them to small farmers 'practices, such as the density of co-raising fish and rice, and farming methods that do not require plowing.
In China, climate-smart agriculture is also booming, providing new ways to grow crops. Kang Chunpeng, associate researcher at the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that in 2022, China's smart agriculture will reach 27.6% in terms of agricultural production informatization rate, and the field planting production informatization rate will be 26.6%. In recent years, China has used technologies such as Beidou and drones to build a smart agricultural base and establish a big data platform. Advanced technologies have great potential in increasing agricultural output and saving costs. Some companies specialize in providing intelligent services, and e-commerce for agricultural products has also been developed.
However, there is still a gap between China's current level of climate-smart agriculture and developed countries. Data and information on extreme climate impacts are still weak; new technologies, new ideas, and new models need to be adopted rather than simply pursuing high-yield varieties; new investment needs to be added to deal with the impact of climate change; problems such as difficulty in project organization and implementation and low participation of farmers need to be solved.
Currently, the world is undergoing major changes, technology is also booming, awareness and acceptance of sustainable agriculture are constantly increasing, and the pace of exploration of global cooperation has not stopped. It is far-reaching to respond to the challenges of agricultural development and food security more intelligently. significance and great potential.
