Climate-Smart Agriculture to Secure Jobs, Water, Food

The document advocates for the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), specifically conservation agriculture and agro-ecology, to address South Africa's challenges with water scarcity, land degradation, and climate change. It proposes transitioning smallholder and commercial farmers to these practices to secure food supplies and create jobs in the 'Catchment Economy' and land restoration. The brief outlines specific policy needs, including the finalization of the Climate Smart Agricultural Strategic Framework and the use of blended finance and green bonds to fund the transition.

• South Africa's agricultural sector faces significant risks from unsustainable water use and climate change impacts, including droughts and extreme weather. The sector requires approximately 61% of the country's available fresh water to thrive, yet critical 'strategic water source areas'—which provide half of the river flow from only 8% of the land area—are under threat.
• Climate-smart agriculture (CSA), encompassing agro-ecology and conservation agriculture (CA), is proposed as a means to restore degraded land, improve soil health, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CSA is identified as a driver for job creation because its practices are labour-intensive, particularly in managing water source areas and restoring land.
• There is a significant gap in the adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) between commercial and smallholder farmers; while around 15% of commercial grain farmers have adopted CA, only 5% of smallholder farmers have done so. Barriers to adoption include a lack of knowledge, high conversion costs, temporary yield drops, and insufficient extension support.
• The document identifies several opportunities for rural job creation through landscape restoration, including the transition of public works programmes (Working for Water, Working on Wetlands, and Working on Fire) into decent jobs and the development of SMEs to use biomass from invasive alien plants for bioenergy, biofuels, and soil conditioners.
• The introduction of energy cropping for biofuel production, specifically for aviation, could potentially create between 50,000 and 100,000 person-years of employment in South Africa, utilizing perennial feedstocks or crop residues.
• To fund the transition to CSA, the brief suggests that the Land Bank should act as the first funder for farms converting to CA. Other proposed financial mechanisms include Green or Blue (water) Bonds issued by metros and water boards, and blended finance combining water tariffs with bonds to invest in ecological infrastructure.

APA

Naudé, L., & Rivett-Carnac, K. (2018). Climate-Smart Agriculture to Secure Jobs, Water, Food. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Stream-1-Policy-Brief-2a-Climate-Smart-Agriculture-to-Secure-Jobs-Water-Food.pdf

Chicago

Naudé, Louise, and Kate Rivett-Carnac. Climate-Smart Agriculture to Secure Jobs, Water, Food. Institute for Economic Justice, 2018. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Stream-1-Policy-Brief-2a-Climate-Smart-Agriculture-to-Secure-Jobs-Water-Food.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Naudé |first1=Louise |last2=Rivett-Carnac |first2=Kate |title=Climate-Smart Agriculture to Secure Jobs, Water, Food |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=August 2018 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Stream-1-Policy-Brief-2a-Climate-Smart-Agriculture-to-Secure-Jobs-Water-Food.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naud2018climatesmart, author = {Naudé, Louise and Rivett-Carnac, Kate}, title = {{Climate-Smart Agriculture to Secure Jobs, Water, Food}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Stream-1-Policy-Brief-2a-Climate-Smart-Agriculture-to-Secure-Jobs-Water-Food.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }