Climate-Smart Agriculture in Uganda

Abstract

The effects of climate change on agriculture are severe, and one of the most significant emerging challenges to household livelihoods in Africa. As such, it is imperative that efforts to address agriculture in the context of food security and rural development take climate change into consideration. Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA) is defined as agricultural practices that sustainably increase productivity and system resilience, while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is not a single specific agricultural technology or practice that can be universally applied; it is a combination of policy, technology, and finance options that involves the direct incorporation of climate change adaptation and mitigation into agricultural development planning and implementation (FAO, 2010). Uganda holds great potential for CSA, but this needs to be further explored. Although the country has traditional agricultural practices as well as research-based programmes and techniques that have CSA qualities, CSA promotion requires concerted action from multiple actors to allow for context-specific approaches.