"Climate smart" agriculture could spark rural renewalListen /
More needs to be done to help poor farmers to adopt what is called "climate smart" agriculture, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
In a report released on Friday FAO argues that a shift towards this new approach may help to fight climate change while combating hunger and poverty in rural areas.
It says that rising temperatures and an increased frequency of extreme weather events will have direct and negative impacts on crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture in the near future.
Leslie Lipper a Senior Environmental Economist with FAO in Rome says efforts are already being made to promote "climate smart" practices.
"There is a lot of work that's been done on sustainable agricultural technology, things like agro-forestry, better management of crop residues, introducing rotations, restoration of degraded lands. Farmers haven't adopted these practices as much as we would like and one of the reasons is that it actually takes a few years in some cases to get a positive return. So from when the farmer makes a change to when he gets really the benefit it takes some time. And these are really poor people, they can't wait." (29")
Ms. Lipper said poor farmers need to receive financial support if they are to adopt modern farming practices.
Daniel Dickinson, United Nations.