Theory: Mediterranean Approaches to Agriculture

Demographic growth and changes in diet drive great demand for food and other agricultural products, while food systems are increasingly threatened by land degradation and other stressors. Med agriculture is less able to provide food for its population considering the effects of climate change, scarcity of resources, degradation of arable lands and desertification, loss of biodiversity, and pollution. 70% of the greenhouse gas emission that are causing climate change are from agriculture and an additional 7% come from land use changes. The faming system must be developed so that it is able to generate income, create employment, and contribute balancing territorial development. Climate-smart agriculture is an approach to developing the technical policies and investment conditions to achieve sustainable agriculture development for food security and climate change. It’s three pillars are the sustainable increase in agricultural productivity and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate change, and reducing and or removing greenhouse gas emissions where possible. Plans for resilience must be made on international, national, and farmer levels. Organic farming has the disadvantage of limited productivity. Sustainable agriculture aims to strengthen the livelihood and food security by improving the management and use of natural resources and adopting appropriate approaches and technologies for the production, processing, an marketing of agricultural commodities. to influence greenhouse emission the use of renewable energy must be increase, deforestation must be halted and reforestation projects begun, along with soil conservation. Several agricultural practices can be considered at the farm level in order to guide the production system toward sustainable agriculture including minimum tilling, crop rotation, and avoiding monoculture. This chapter is part of Module 6: How to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the Mediterranean – The Way Forward II. Sustainable Farming Systems Under Environmental and Climatic Constraints.

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