Climate Smart Agricultural Practices in Sri Lanka

Despite the fact that the country is experiencing a variety of climate change, some climate smart farming techniques have already been used to reduce the effects of the change and implement an optimal sustainable agriculture system. The following CSA practices, which are used mostly in the country, can be discussed as follows,

01.  Water Management: To ensure that water is available for crops even during periods of drought advanced techniques such as rainwater harvesting, small-scale irrigation and proper drainage systems can help reduce the effects of changing rainfall patterns. For instance, Sri Lanka has a large number of reservoirs that date back to the time of the ancient kings and were built to provide adequate patterns of farming throughout the year. As evidence of effective water management, approximately 3910 and 2539 are reservoirs and channel systems respectively in the country (FOA, 2012). Under irrigation and rainwater harvesting systems, the North East and South West Monsoon seasons help to increase paddy yield (Figure 3.1.). Additionally, rainwater harvesting systems are mostly used in the country to replace the agricultural system.

02.  Reduction the Chemical Inputs: Chemical fertilizer leads for emission the greenhouse gases and elimination the soil fertility in the ground. Accordingly, organic fertilizer has more capacity to enhance the nutritional level of soil and produce the healthy products which leads to make sure the sustainability of the agriculture. Thus, Sri Lankan government has banned the import and exports the chemical fertilizer as well as other agro-chemicals in 2021 to convert the entire foods production organically (OCHA, 2022).

03.  Ensuring the Soil Quality: A key component of CSA's principal practice is maintaining healthy soil. Cover crops, composting and reduced tillage are some methods that enhance soil structure, water-holding capacity and nutrient content. Better crop growth and carbon sequestration are supported by healthy soils. The ability to produce food in any sort of cultivation depends on the soil's quality. Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture in Sri Lanka has provided farmers with soil test kits and plant test kits to assess soil quality, which helps them to get proper, understand on CSA practices to improve their agricultural lands and productivity (FAO, 2018).

04.  Agroforestry: Agroforestry brings together trees and agricultural crops for a variety of advantages. As a result, this approach has been modified for over 2,500 years, especially in home garden cultivations. For the goal of getting different food yields from the same farmed land, mostly common trees such as Coconut Palm, King Coconut, Jackfruits, Kitul Palm and Areca Palm are used. For instance, coconut palms are grown in the paddy cultivation areas. Approximately 33% of home garden in Sri Lanka were practicing the agroforestry in 2009 (Navalkha, 2018).

05.  Integrated Pest Management (IPM): IPM combines various strategies to manage pests sustainably. About 35% of farmers have adapted the non-chemical pest management system. Especially utilization the ash, neem oil and spreading sand are some of traditional IPM practices in Sri Lanka. Moreover, about 35% of farmers are still practicing the traditional methods to control pesticide and obtain a high yield from their cultivation without any disturbances of soil quality (Department of Agriculture, 2016).

06.  Livestock Management: Sustainable livestock practices include manure management, better feed efficiency and rotational grazing. Overgrazing is avoided with rotational grazing, allowing grasslands to recover. Manure is specifically added to the cultivations as a nutrient component and as a pest control element. The Central Department of Animal and Health (DAPH) has already started working to boost the production capacity of dairy and poultry products, some of which are exported, as well as to promote the sustainability of livestock. (Figure 3.2.). For instance, established a program as “Saru Bima” in 2021 to encourage the farmers to produce the organic fertilizer by their farm lands (OCHA, 2020). 

07.  Drought-Resistant Varieties: Some crop varieties are developed to give an appropriate yield despite the extreme weather conditions because they are adapted to protracted dry periods and heat stress. In instance, Sri Lanka's dry zone is where most drought-tolerant crops are grown, including Green Grams, Cassava, Cacti and Corn, which help to provide food security. Despite all types of climatic conditions, some approaches, such as hydroponics and greenhouse horticulture, result in the highest possible output capacity (Department of Agriculture, 2016).

08.  Policy Support: The Sri Lankan government is essential in promoting CSA practices by developing policies, offering financial incentives for their adoption and funding climate-resilient infrastructure. Enhancing agricultural production and ensuring sustainable growth are two objectives of Sri Lankan national policy, which primarily support practices of Climate Smart Agriculture and make it easier to expand the range of these activities. Additionally, a special National Land Use Policy statute declared that agriculture areas and their yield potential will be estimated (UNEP, 2007).     

The UN proclaimed the seventeen number of the sustainable development goals to carry out the optimized socio-economic pattern in the world. Thus, one of goals is zero hunger representing the significances of the sustainable agricultural practices. The goal of zero hunger derives into five targets (Figure 3.3.) which are Universal access to safe and nutritious food, End all forms of malnutrition, Double the productivity and incomes of small scale food producers, Sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices and Maintain the genetic diversity in food production. Every nation that is a part of the UN is required to regularly achieve these goals (Dissanayaka, 2021).

Although various types of climate changes and its adverse impacts are being facing in 21^st century, Climate Smart Agricultural practices have more capability to increase the agricultural food production, elimination the hunger and ensure the food security with the adaptation and mitigation of this climate change under the three pillars of the CSA practices. According to the above senses, several types of practices of CSA are utilized in various contexts especially nature of the agricultural lands and crop types, to enhance the food production and ensure the food security in Sri Lanka by which reaching the sustainable agricultural production can be significantly identified.