A Review of Organic farming as an Adaptive and Mitigation Strategy for Climate Change in a Developing Country

Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Climate change will dramatically alter global food production as most countries in the tropical and subtropical zones will suffer most, both from droughts and periodic floods which adversely affect agriculture. Agriculture is not only affected by climate change but also contributes to it, in that ten to twelve percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to human food production. In addition, intensive agriculture has led to deforestation, overgrazing and widespread use of practices that result in soil degradation. Organic agriculture in general requires less fossil fuel per hectare and kg of produce due to the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers. It aims at improving soil fertility and nitrogen supply by using leguminous crops, crop residues and cover crops, and the enhanced soil fertility leads to a stabilization of soil organic matter and in many cases to a sequestration of carbondioxide into the soils. This in turn increases the soil’s water retention capacity, thus contributing to better adaptation of organic agriculture under unpredictable climatic conditions with higher temperatures and uncertain precipitation levels. More funding is needed for research on organic farming.