Fighting climate change through agriculture

Agriculture in its simplest terms refers to the growing of crops and rearing of animals for human use. Climatic conditions like rainfall, temperature, sunshine etc all have profound effects on agriculture. However, human activities affect the climate negatively. Climate change affects agriculture negatively and leads to the risk of food insecurity for the ever growing […]

Agriculture in its simplest terms refers to the growing of crops and rearing of animals for human use. Climatic conditions like rainfall, temperature, sunshine etc all have profound effects on agriculture. However, human activities affect the climate negatively. Climate change affects agriculture negatively and leads to the risk of food insecurity for the ever growing population of Nigeria.
This raises the question; shall we abandon agriculture since the activities lead to climate change? The answer obviously is no. Rather, the idea is to practise climate-smart agriculture. Global warming and climate change occur because of the melting of the ozone layer. The ozone layer is the stratospheric layer of the atmosphere that shields the earth from harmful radiation from the sun. There are certain gases that have the capacity to alter the integrity of the ozone layer and hence speed up climate change. These gases are called Green House Gases and the effect they produce is called the Green House Effect.
Synthetic fertilizers have always been used and are still being used to improve the growth of crops. This increased fertilizer use is responsible for the dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide which is a major contributor to climate change. This is because nitrogen-based fertilizers stimulate microorganisms in the soil to convert nitrogen to nitrous oxide at a faster rate than normal. Excessive use of synthetic fertilizers depletes soil quality and alters the fertility of soil overtime by increasing the acid levels in the soil. Nitrous oxide is also generated as a by-product during the production of nitric acid which is used to make synthetic fertilizers.
Climate change facilitated by nitrous oxide can be mitigated through the following ways: animal dietary manipulation to increase efficiency, avoiding excess nitrogen in the diet of animals and or making dietary nitrogen more absorbable and reducing nitrogen excretion. Manure management techniques: anaerobic digestion indirectly reduces nitrous oxide emissions when slurry is applied to land by decreasing the available nitrogen content. Grazing management methods: reduced stocking and minimized grazing periods are likely to result in lower emissions. Also, animal housing system and management: options for mitigating emissions include more frequent removal of manure from animal housing floors and changing animal housing systems. Animal housing and manure stores of straw-based systems result in higher nitrous oxide emissions than anaerobic slurry based systems.
Processes that release carbon dioxide into the environment include bush burning, emissions from energy use in agriculture generated from traditional fuel sources including electricity and fossil fuels burned to power agricultural machinery, irrigation pumps, etc. Consequently, there may be the need to develop the production of ethanol as a substitute to fossil fuels.
Climate change facilitated by emission of carbon dioxide within the agricultural sector can be mitigated through: restoring soil carbon by improving soil management techniques, adopting conservation tillage, surface residue management and mulch farming. Cultivating crops with deep root system, developing and cultivating plants with high lignin content, especially in residues and roots and increasing crop biomass production can led to carbon reduction. Also, enhancing biological nitrogen fixation, applying animal manure and non-toxic anthropogenic bio-soil (topsoil rich in decaying organic matter) can contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions. Individual mitigation measures must however be evaluated with regards to emission reduction potential, environmental trade-offs within and outside the agricultural system.
Martins Uzochukwu Eke (08035066196) is the Programme Officer, Environment at Centre For Social Justice, Wuse Zone 6, Abuja