Climate smart agriculture to increase productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emission–a preliminary study

Abstract

Addressing the climate change on agricultural sector as an approach to increase rice productivity, which at the same time also mitigate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, economically feasible, socially acceptable and hence appropriate for policy support, is a special challenge. This study provided Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technology to address the multi-dimensional complexity in agriculture system including climate, economic and technology for farmers and the community. The research locations were selected on particularly major irrigated rice fields at three districts in Central Java, i.e. Banjarnegara, Purbalingga and Banyumas District. Demo plots were used to compare the Farmers practice with CSA technology. The CSA technology used were: leaf color chart to apply N fertilizer, paddy soil test kit for determining basic fertilizer, organic matter amendment and intermittent irrigation. This study shows that CSA reduced GHG emissions than Farmers practice between 7-23% of Global Warming Potential and achieved economic benefit between 42-129%. Introducing CSA to the farmers and community is recommended to cope with climate change as the adaptation and mitigation actions. Despite very clear advantages in reducing GHG emission and climate change adaptation, many constraints must be faced by the implementation of CSA in the field.