A review of climate-smart agriculture in Asia: Critical achievements, key challenges, and potential prospects

Abstract

Climate change is posing a risk to rural communities and smallholders in Asia, whose livelihoods traditionally depend on farming. To address this, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is widely encouraged for sustainable development. Despite global recognition of CSA, there is currently limited evidence to generalise and evaluate the practical implementation of CSA in this region. Given various agro-climate conditions, institutional settings, and socioeconomic backgrounds, this paper conducted a systematic review of the achievements, challenges, and prospects of CSA in Asian countries. We classified nine groups of CSA practices: conservation agriculture, water management, climate-resilient varieties, agricultural diversification, integrated pest management, nutrient management, precision farming, agrivoltaics, and livestock management. The linkages of enabling policies, knowledge transfer, market conditions, financial mechanisms, and socioeconomic background are crucial in supporting the performance and sustainability of CSA. In addition to the achievements in distinct criteria (productivity, adaptation, and mitigation), key challenges include the lack of enforcing guidelines, the shortage of learning platforms, the limitation of financial support, and the weakness of coordination among partnerships in the long term. To promote CSA in Asia, the engagement of multi-stakeholders at multi-levels should be increased to enhance the capacities of farming households and help them adopt responsive actions to local conditions.