Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture

At the global level, climate change is a foremost threat for food security. It is extensively recognized that variations in temperature, precipitation, sea water level, and concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the environment will have increasingly distressing influences on both crop production and quality. Global temperature has increased almost 1 °C up to date, and it is predicted that it will be increased by 2.5–4.5 °C by the end of this century. The effects of climatic changeability on crop efficiency, along with food security, is a main theme of global concern. It is well documented that crop phenology, productivity, and quality are significantly affected due to climate change at local, regional, and global levels. Therefore, the global framework (Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement) recommendations must be fully endorsed and act upon for reduction of greenhouse gas emission to save our planet.

The word climate change is being used as a buzz word in developing countries, and yet its conceptual understanding is not very clear to common people in various parts of the world even among educated communities. To clarify the understanding about climate change, it is being elucidated here: various indicators to know about climate change, its causes, and link with several extreme weather events that have triggered the whole world to sit together and ponder over to find solutions to deal with this menace. The conference of parties (COPs) is happening regularly, and day by day, each country is eagerly trying to increase their focus of nationally determined contributions toward greenhouse gases. Climate change and climate variability are haphazardly used by various organizations and media while we have tried to present the conceptual elucidation of climate change in a simpler and easy to understand way.

The climate is changing constantly, and this change is affecting millions of people to encounter extreme challenges to health, migration, water security, livelihood security, cultural identity, food security, and many other related risks. Climate change is deeply entangled with global patterns of inequality affecting beyond 375 million people every year with an escalation of 50% as compared to the previous decade. This increase is giving rise to social issues such as poverty, unemployment, unequal opportunities, racism, and malnutrition, which are affecting many people. The investigation and analysis of social issues is an important research theme as it is significant to make people think of ways and approaches for problem solving through critical thinking and mitigation approaches. One of the major effects of climate change is that our social harmony is disturbed, and it is giving space to hostility and suspicion. It has caused large-scale social dissatisfaction and created suffering and misery. In this chapter, we summarized the trepidations of climate change and social concerns that are penetrating in developing countries. The study calls attention to the inevitability to develop and spread evidence-based interventions to combat the risk in the wake of climate change. There is a dire need to promote social cohesion and community resilience to mitigate the possibility of social conflict in changing climate.

Climate change is now seen as an established challenge, and its consequences are being felt across the world. Principally, it affects the people and food chain systems, but its influence would also affect every aspect of the economy. Agriculture is important for food security as a source for food and, more importantly, the primary source of livelihood incorporating about 40% of the world’s total workforce. Overpopulation, especially in developing countries, amplifies the demand for agricultural products. The weather in different parts of the world is becoming increasingly divergent from the norms of the local climate. The temperatures are increasing on a regular basis, and precipitation is becoming more unpredictable. The weather-based extremes, including heavy downpours, flooding, extremes of both heat and cold, storms, and a prolonging of drought are occurring more frequently. In the climate change context, the agricultural sector has been the most badly affected. Climate change effects have been reduced through the application of state-of-the-art forecasting systems and modernized farming technologies. However, those are inaccessible to the underdeveloped or poor states of developed countries. These states have agrarian-based fragile economies and are incapable of bearing any loss due to climatic extremes. In addition, the continuous availability of water throughout a cropping season became a substantial challenge which has enhanced the application of dryland farming on a wider scale. In this scenario, the responsibilities of the stakeholders, from planners and breeders up to the growers, are more pronounced. International partners, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) are working on various schemes to cope with these issues.

Adults and children continue to suffer from malnutrition and hunger in emerging nations, which hinders their productivity, growth, and development. Health and adequate nutrition intake throughtout the life cycle of individuals, especially at the earlier stage of the childhood—while the body is in its developing phases—remains essential. It is still a problem in many underdeveloped and emerging nations to ensure that people have food available to them that is secure and sufficient and satisfies their nutritional and personal choice needs. Still, nutrition security for providing diversity and nutritious food in sufficient quality and quantity is another concern. Agriculture as a component in supporting food security of indivuduals has a fundamental significance in human nutrition besides of being a basic and important livelihoods activity. Nutrition-sensitive approach is focused on the effects of fundamental factors of nutrition. This approach together with agriculture aims to place food strengthening, dietary diversity, and nutritionally rich foods at the center of eradicating malnutrition and micronutrient insufficiency in agricultural development and is called as nutrition-sensitive agriculture. However, accessibility and availability of both dietary diversity and nutritionally rich foods are much more limited by environmental changes induced by climate change effects, especially on agriculture and consequently on food and nutrition safety. Consequently, it leads to undermine current endeavors to climate resilience and coping strategies. As a coping strategy, climate-smart agriculture approach aims to reorient and modify agricultural systems to efficiently and influentially improve progress and provide food safety under the changing climate. This approach enables the buildup of innovations, adaptation, and mitigation measures with consideration of locally centered scope in addressing climate change. Therefore, under the circumstances of changing environment and highly fragile nutrition conditions, these two approaches are deeply needed to integrate. Agricultural services can be adapted to more nutrition and climate sensitive by advancing their scope or the capability of extensions.

The security of food is extremely crucial for humans all around the world. The worldwide climate is continuously changing, and the major cause of the temperature rise is industrialization. Moreover, it is also influencing the food system in different ways, from direct impact on crop production to changes in markets, food prices, and infrastructure in the supply chain. Precipitation change may lead to drought or flooding, and warmer or colder temperatures may alter the growing seasons. In the current century, our planet’s average temperature is preceded to surge from 2 to 4.5 °C. For food security, the relative importance of climate change varies from region to region. For the next 50 years and beyond, global food safety will remain a global concern. In several regions of the world, crop yield declined mainly due to poor research infrastructure and facilities related to coping with the climate change disaster. Rainfall shifts and temperature fluctuations in large numbers are threatening agricultural development and have increased the vulnerability of livelihoods of people dependent on agriculture. Climate change interferes with food markets, posing population-wide food supply threats. Threats can be minimized through the increase in farmers’ adaptive ability and by increasing the resilience and efficiency of resource use in agricultural systems. While agroecological approaches (such as crop diversification, low-till farming, green manures, organic fertilizers, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, biological pest management, rainwater collection, and raising crops and livestock in ways that store carbon and preserve forests) are promising to boost yield, food security may dramatically improve in developing countries by growing policy and investment reforms. Food quality, access, and availability may all be impacted by climate change. Adaptation must promote the management of all food security levels, both urban and rural, from the farmer to the customer. Measures from the community to the international level have to be participatory. Moreover, many individual endeavors provide inspiration and useful methods, but the maintenance and improvement of food security can all be hindered by institutional, economic, and environmental factors. It will be necessary to develop innovative approaches to food production, delivery, and storage.

Precision agriculture is the precise application of the inputs through the use of modern tools and technology to optimize crop production while maintaining soil fertility. Development in precision agriculture is required as environmental sustainability is considered to ensure the food security of the swiftly growing population globally in general, and for the people of developing countries in particular who are mostly at risk of food insecurity. The use of variable rate input through the variable rate technology for crop input such as seeds, lime, fertilizer, and pesticides is an effective management strategy to address the field variability. The reactive approach of precision agriculture requires the updated and latest technology of electrical and mechanical systems for the formation of variable rate technology. The two approaches of precision agriculture based on the predicted approach or reactive approach have different issues and levels of complexity. Both approaches have benefits and limitations in the application, and both will be used in the future for effective management. In this era, most of the technologies are commercially available, but their effective utilization and implementation require the capacity building of the farming community. The effectiveness of the adoption of the variable ate technology will not provide equal benefits to the farming community, but it will reduce the environmental hazards resulting from unrestricted use of agricultural inputs. The adoption of precision agriculture through the variable rate technology will not provide equal economic benefits, but it will provide the route path to select suitable technologies for better crop production while maintaining system sustainability. The use of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing has provided the opportunity to map the field variability and factors affecting the optimum crop production, especially in the era of climate change. The sensors and ICT application improve the measurement and evaluation of field variability, and decisions are made for the improvement of crop production. The introduction of Agricultural Robotics and Unmanned Arial Vehicles increases the ease of adoption of precision agriculture technologies at a high resolution. The drone technology reduces the labor effort from the field evaluation to input application and mapping for the delineation of the management zones.

Greenhouse gases are major triggers of climate change as trapping heat makes the planet warmer than the usual. A surge in greenhouse gas emissions has been most eminent in the current decade as compared to previous years. As in 2018 alone, global GHG emission was quantified to be at 55.6GtCo₂ eq. These emissions are variable and directly associated with the fluctuation in economy, fuel prices, and other factors. In developed and developing countries, gas emissions increased due to increased energy needs. The pollution emitted from these gasses is about 56% higher than 1990s. This upsurge can be controlled and even be reduced by innovating and investing in environment-friendly technologies and infrastructure. Innovation and management of GHGs can increase the effectiveness and availability of mitigation and adaptation options. Investing on technology and infrastructure usually depends upon permitting policy environment, access and availability to finance and enabling wider economic development. In different regions and various sectors in a community capacity to adapt and mitigate climate change, risks vary highly. These capacities usually differ depending upon a particular place and context. Thus, a single approach for risk reduction cannot be implemented across different regions. For example, developing countries having weaker economic, institutional, and technological capacities that make them limited in their approach toward pursuing climate-resilient and low GHG emission pathways. While on the other hand, communities in developed countries have enhanced capacity in managing the risks of climate change policy implementation. But this capacity does not necessarily mean that implementation of various policies is any easy.

The realization of the glaring benefits of environment-friendly sources of energy has rejuvenated global interest in renewable energy sources. The transition from traditional sources to renewable or environment-friendly sources could be a $90 trillion capital-intensive undertaking by 2030, as per World Banks’ estimate. This chapter discusses the broader concept of climate finance, different private and governmental avenues of financing available, and the burgeoning disparity between the developing world and the developed world, on climate financing. The grave situation turns grim when we find out that developing countries spent $71.2 billion in the year 2017 against the total estimated need of $474 billion. The gap of approximately $300 billion would remain intact despite the commitment of $100 billion by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The gap has been increasing consistently because developed countries don’t contribute in proportion to their contribution to environmental deterioration. China with 26.1% emission turns out to be the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), ensued by the United States (13.4%), the European Union (7.6%), India (6.5%), Russia (5.6%), Japan (2.6%), and Brazil (2.1%). The vast disparity between involvement in environmental degradation in the form of CO₂ per person by a handful of countries and their contribution to mitigating the effects demand a justice lens. To bridge this ever-widening gap, it is suggested that governments of developing countries should explore ways to increase public-private partnerships through tax incentives and other appropriate measures. An optimal climate finance system should not only earmark a substantive amount of capital stock, rather the overall objective of the system should be the development of a just climate finance mechanism with built-in channelization of the flow of capital.

Social security systems provide financial support to vulnerable people in times of hardship to fulfil their daily needs. Any changes in social security policies might have a significant effect on mental health, poverty, employment, and education attainment. To examine the impact of the social security systems’ transformation, we have reviewed the existing literature belonging to the upper-middle and lower-middle income countries such as Turkey (a developed country) and Pakistan (a developing country) to get important insights. In addition to this, we have also examined the social security systems in the context of the historical transformation to the current era and their effect on the people. Based on the findings, this study found that Turkey has a more comprehensive social security system than Pakistan, which transformed from Ottoman Empire. In Turkey, the frequency of the benefiters has increased from 39% (1975) to 87% (2017), and the budgetary share from 3% (2006) to 5% (2017) for social security institutions. The government of Pakistan has launched some new schemes under the social security systems such as Ehsaas programs, Kamyab jawan program, Koi bhooka na soye, Kisaan card, and Health card to provide help to vulnerable people. Even Pakistan is still far behind in numbers than Turkey. Findings suggest that multiple security schemes work as a tool for controlling labour supply, to help the needy people in the crisis period, mitigating the disastrous impacts to improve the welfare of the people. Pakistani government should pledge more resources and build more institutional infrastructure to improve the social security systems. The government of both countries should focus to redistribute the resources from welfare people to the vulnerable and the poor people. And policies should be designed as an alternative solution in the investment portfolio with the social security reforms to reduce inequality among the vulnerable people.

Climate can be defined as a long-term weather pattern of a region, usually averaged over 30 years. It is the average variability of meteorological variables across time, from months to years. Agriculture, cattle, and fisheries all, which contribute significantly to the overall economy of a country, on the one hand, are dependent on climate but, on the other hand, emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) which are responsible for climate change. Climate variability plays a crucial role in agriculture and fisheries. As a result, warmer conditions and CO₂ levels can have a significant influence on basic nutrients, moisture content, and porosity and on many essential performance factors. Globally, climate change is happening because of global warming (GW). Climate change poses a serious risk to the environment, and people are making great efforts to find a better solution. According to a study, the twenty-first century will have a limited impact on human welfare and the economy. Initially, climate change (CC) impacts can positively influence the economy, but with time, negative aspects of climate change will cover the positive ones. Climate change will negatively affect lower-lying, poor, and hotter countries. Various economies globally are working together to slow down environmental degradation and maintain long-term prosperity. To decrease the climate change impacts, we should focus on reducing poverty and GHG emission. While climate change can influence the economic growth rate at a global scale and can cause poverty in many countries, evaluation of these effects will be difficult to assess. Therefore, assessing the impacts of climate change scenarios at more localized levels is an important research goal in this context. Calculating the carbon shadow price in agriculture and cost-benefit analysis of adaption programs is essential. These strategies are required for the development of effective policies which can increase agricultural resilience to climate change in different situations. In vulnerable populations, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies are essential to protect the human society and their rights and promote justice in society.

Both social protection (SP) and climate change (CC) adaptation seek to safeguard the most vulnerable persons as well as to promote resilience. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are combined to identify that action in an area affects outcomes in others and that development must balance economic, social and environmental sustainability. Developing countries are determined to prioritize progress for those who are furthermost behind. The SDGs are planned to finish the hunger, poverty and discrimination against girls and women. SP needs to pay extra attention to the long-term threats posed by CC. Similarly, social protection can provide such programmatic and policy options which have not been fully taken into consideration by adaptation. Adaptive SP includes a long-term perception that studies the varying nature of CC stresses and shocks. Other characteristics of adaptive SP include giving importance to protecting and transforming productive livelihoods, as well as adapting to CC situations instead of only reinforcing managing mechanisms. However, the adaptive SP structure analysis does allow the identification of various prospects for future work that relates these connected fields together. These include developing tools and resources, e.g., climate risk assessment for use with SP programmes, engagement in international and national conferences and events, funding of adaptive SP and integration of SP with adaptation funding and vice versa.

Integrated farming system is a system where a variety of crops and animals are kept together in order to minimize the investment and efforts. At the same time, both resources (water and land) are utilized for maximum output production. There are various types of integrated farming systems, where the livestock, fishes, and crops are collectively grown to utilize the solo water sources. If fishes are stocked with the plants only, then that system is termed as “aquaponic system.” However, the rich water nutrients, as a result of fish waste, are used as fertilizer for the plants. Hence, such system balances the ecosystem and is considered an environment-friendly system. Such system not only improves the socioeconomic condition of farmers but simultaneously assists to better address sustainability concerns. Along with food challenges, the world is also facing land shortage and water crises. There is also low supply and high demand of aquatic protein in the market. However, water is a major source of aquatic protein that covers about 75% of the earth. Unfortunately, these resources, in maximum cases, are ignored in terms of production. The integrated fish farming systems (IFFSs) are self-sufficient and less effort systems where the cycling of waste from one farming system to anther farming system is used as an input. IFFS is one of the aqua- and agriculture systems that provides a continuous source of income from the different components, resulting from efficient water and land usage. IFS is progressively strong to weather fancies and moderate climate change.

The socio-economic condition of farmers in developing countries demands to optimize the knowledge of precision agriculture (PA) technologies to maximize crop yields with minimum application of crop inputs. The amount of fertilizer applied and the method of its application are key factors to maximize the crop yield. However, conventional farming practices are unable to provide reasonable outcomes of the crop because of the unvarying fertilizer application over the crop. Several techniques and methods have been established all over the world to identify the spatial and temporal variabilities of physiochemical properties of soil during crop growth stages. The PA technologies consist of the global positioning system (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), variable rate application, guidance system, delineating site-specific management zones and active canopy crop sensors that assist farmers while taking effective crop management and input application decisions. However, one of the most efficient and effective ways for the site-specific N management is the application of active canopy sensor-based N optimization algorithms. These algorithm-based strategies not only tell instantaneous N requirement, but also forecast the in-season yields. The more efficient inputs applied efficiently the more will be the profit per unit area with less application of inputs through these sensors. These crop sensors, providing instantaneous fertilizer rates at field scale considering soil nitrogen availability and crop growing patterns, are one of the best examples to utilize the time-saving approach. Therefore, the use of these sensors at the agricultural land should be promoted and subsidized in developing countries for the betterment of the agricultural system.

Effective water use depends on judicious application of irrigation at the right amount at the right time and with the right methods. Irrigation scheduling deliberates when to apply, how much to apply, and where to apply in the crop field. Especially, irrigation scheduling is the decision of when and how much water should be applied in field crops. Inefficient water use in poor nations resulted in water losses up to 25%. Inadequate levelled crops and unscheduled irrigation without taking into account the management allowable deficit (MAD) and potential soil moisture deficit (PSMD), and without soil and meteorological requirements, could not provide the exact information of agricultural irrigation necessities. The calculation of crop water requirements and significantly improved water use efficiency may decrease the environmental consequences of watering and increase the resilience of agricultural production by conservative water use applications with proper measuring of soil moisture levels. In this chapter, the concepts of field capacity, management allowable deficit, potential soil moisture deficit, and permanent wilting point are expanded with descriptions. Under water-limiting circumstances, simulation modelling from decision support system for agrotechnology transfer (DSSAT) played a significant role in irrigation scheduling with estimation of possible evaporation. DSSAT determines daily crop water requirements (ETc) and irrigation scheduling based on read-in values with automatic applications based on soil water depletion. Conclusion of study strongly intervened modelling and measuring soil moisture with vital utility in irrigated agriculture and must be used in order to maximize the advantages of a limited irrigation distribution. Several strategies for better water management practices under current climate change scenarios provides irrigation opportunities to meet the water demands for all users in developing countries.

Food security is an emerging problem for the world. The different anthropogenic endeavors including the emission of toxic gasses, urbanization, and land deterioration are the major issues that enhance the problem of climate change. Climatic variability has caused different environmental stresses on the productivity of agriculture. Macro- and micronutrients have crucial importance in the different metabolic activities of plants. The plant cannot fulfill its life cycle without complete essential nutrients. The availability of essential nutrients is enormously affected by global warming because global warming affects different natural resources, viz., uneven distribution of rainfall, increasing annual temperature, and melting of glassier. The different abiotic stresses reduced the agricultural efficiency by 50–70%. The nutrient dynamic is also affected by climatic variability and reduces the plant defense mechanism against different diseases. To cope with the problem of climatic variability and enhance nutrient availability, different management practices have been made to reduce the losses and fixation of mineral nutrients. The role of mineral nutrients in different metabolic activities of plants and management of different macro- and micronutrient nutrients under the scenario of climatic variability have been the focus of this chapter. Split application of fertilizers, use of inhibitors, water conservation, and use of different organic amendments are enhancing the nutrient availability under climatic variability. In this chapter, the contexts about the availability of mineral nutrients and modern techniques of nutrient management to manage the problem of climatic variability are comprehensively illustrated.

Climate-smart agriculture is the emerging and sustainable option to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change (on crop adaptability) before it significantly influences global crop production. Crop development through modern breeding techniques, effective agronomic practices and exploitation of natural variability in neglected and popular crops are all good ways to meet future food demands. However, the rapidly changing environment requires technological interventions to improve crop climate resilience. Technological advances such as genome-edited transgenic plants, high-throughput phenotyping technologies combined with next-generation sequencing techniques, big data analytics and advances in modern breeding techniques help modern agriculture progress towards robotics or digital conversion to face future environmental adversaries. For example, speed breeding in combination with genomic and phenomic methods can lead to quicker identification of genetic factors and, as a result, speed up crop development programmes.

Furthermore, combining next-generation interdisciplinary breeding platforms might open up new opportunities for developing climate-ready crops. Several integrated modern breeding platforms were created in the last few decades and are now employed worldwide. Africa and Asia have adopted these most frequently used crop improvement platforms with advanced techniques like multitrait association studies using genome-wide association studies (GWASs). These have permitted precise exploration of the genetic make-up of agricultural attributes in most crops. This chapter explores various ways to increase crop output by developing climate-resilient superior genotypes. Further, we discussed how combinatorial advanced breeding technologies and biotechnological approaches would be used for managing climate change’s consequences to promote crops with climate resilience.

The rising temperature of the environment has resulted in heat stress for several agricultural crops and worsened food availability and nutritional security across the globe, in general, and developing countries, in particular. Heat stress is associated with drought and affects not only the plant growth but also its metabolism and yield potential. It is established evidence that developing countries of the southern hemisphere are at more risk of catastrophic loss of plant yield which can lead to famine. High temperatures can cause heat stress in the food crop plants, and their physiology, biochemical behavior, and gene regulation pathways can all be affected. Each crop species has its own withstanding temperature which it can tolerate; otherwise, the crop will show adverse effects. The reproductive or propagating stage of the plant is highly susceptible to heat stress. A temperature rise at this stage can result in bud dormancy and flower abortion. One consequence of heat stress is loss of water content in the crop plant which can inhibit the seed filling process or retard it. Other impacts of heat stress on crop plants include alteration in photosynthesis and respiration processes, affecting the membrane stability of the leaf and causing water imbalance. In response to high temperatures, crop plants respond with a tolerance mechanism composed of various biochemical factors which include heat shock proteins, osmoprotectants, ion transporters, and production of antioxidants. Plants also respond with some physiological behavior including leaf rolling, leaf senescence, inhibited stomatal conductance, and transpiration cooling. In most of the developing countries, wheat and potato are basic staple foods and significantly affected by heat stress. Moreover, the need of the hour is to produce such cultivars of crop plants and breed the best cultivars which are tested and produce good yield even in heat stress so that the world climatic change do not show adverse food shortage in the near future.

Climate as the primary determinant of agricultural productivity is important under climate change. At various levels, several types of plant disease and arthropod population models are developed to include more precise and accurate climatic projections. Changing patterns of rainfall, humidity, temperature, and CO₂ concentrations are explored on tri-trophic interactions with a focus on agriculture pest management. Climate change not just increased the plant biotic stressors but also increased the cost of disease and arthropod pest management because variations resulted in direct effects on the life cycle of arthropods as well as of the pathogen, its epidemiology, virulence, the evolution of new races, host resistance, and finally disease epidemics, complicating pest control. This chapter covers various aspects of climate change in relation to arthropods and plant diseases as well as crop protection strategies used. With appropriate examples, this chapter highlights numerous implications of climate change on arthropod pest and plant pathogens and their repercussions and discusses opportunities to mitigate future crop protection challenges.

Climate change is a worldwide issue influencing the quality and production of many important crops. A few variables (including concentration of CO2), extraordinary temperature occasions, unexpected precipitation, and altered ocean level are significant reasons of environmental change situation. To forecast general effect of climate change, there ought to be appropriate focus on climatic variables and their impacts. Total world populace is supposed to reach around 30% up to 2050. To fulfill the rising need of food for increasing populace, increased output along with better quality food can be a mitigation methodology. All elements of climate influence the quality along with quantity of commercial output in vital crops. Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide content enhance wheat’s amylose and grain output yet diminishes polypeptide and bread characteristics of wheat grain, but drought episodes along with elevated temperatures expand the amount of polypeptide in grains of cereal. Elevated carbon dioxide content is related with enhanced grain whiteness and firmness in rice. Fiber content and quality and quality of fodder were likewise observed to be adversely impacted by the climatic elements. Increased amount of oleic acid along with oil but diminished saturated fatty acid along with linoleic acid in elevated temperature system has been described. The adverse consequence upon quality characteristics has been seen in light of unfavorable climatic circumstances that are anticipated to be more regrettable during upcoming ages toward battling with the misfortunes; an integrated methodology of the management procedures as well as breeding strategies could be possibly used that can guarantee the food production. Appropriate manure application, good management of crops, and usage of sound cultivars can be useful in decrease of yield as well as quality misfortunes because of environmental change.

Changing environment and booming population extend the need for a revolution in agriculture for food security as agriculture is the main source of food for humanity. With advancements in information and drone technology, remote sensing makes its way to modern agriculture’s recent yield calculation, crop surveys, weed and pest infestation, and their control. All this can be done remotely using the state-of-the-art latest technology available which includes GIS, drones, and optical technologies.

There is still a lot of disagreement concerning the nature, substance, and, most critically, effect of the policy initiatives that are needed to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon farming is a viable technique for producing food and other products in a more sustainable manner. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock emissions account for 24% of world greenhouse gas (GHG) productions, with entire worldwide livestock emissions of 7.1 gigatons of CO2 equivalent per year accounting for 14.5% of overall human-caused GHG emissions. This chapter explains the present condition of climate change mitigation in developing nations using carbon farming and the ways these countries can adopt for increasing carbon sequestration. This chapter also discusses carbon farming, a climate-smart agriculture technique that uses plants to trap and store atmospheric carbon dioxide in soil, along with carbon sequestration. Forestry carbon sequestration, specifically by prevented deforestation, is a potential, cost-effective alternative for mitigating changing climate. We need to improve our biophysical knowledge about carbon farming co-benefits, predict the economic impacts of employing multiple strategies and policy incentives, and develop the associated integrated models to estimate the full costs and benefits of agricultural GHG mitigation to farmers and the rest of society. This can be achieved through joining near-real-time field measurements and offline, modeling, computing networks, weather data, and satellite imagery.

Biochar (BC) is produced by pyrolysis process, i.e., when crop residues, biomass, grass, trees, or other plants are combusted at temperatures of 300–600 °C under anaerobic conditions; it enables the carbon in the biomass to resist decay. Biochar is used as an alternative organic source for the improvement of soil fertility, for the mitigation of GHGs associated with agriculture, and for the restoration of degraded land in developing countries. BC can persist into soil for many years because it contains larger proportion of condensed aromatic C, and under specific conditions it can sequester carbon for many hundreds of years. Therefore, improving soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is essential for preserving crop productivity and soil health, reducing climate change, and enhancing agricultural sustainability. SOC sequestration can be achieved by increasing carbon inputs and reducing carbon losses. The accumulation of atmospheric carbon (C) in woody products, vegetation, and soils is known as the biological carbon sequestration. All biological substances contain carbon, but plants have the highest carbon storage, such as forests and soils. Carbon is absorbed into the cells of these organisms through photosynthesis and other metabolic processes. Besides bacteria, algae and fungi also play a key role in biological carbon sequestration. BC is significantly used for the enhancement of biological carbon sequestration in agricultural soils. Hence, BC in soils as a C sequestration strategy has received considerable attention over the past few years.