Agriculture is the main sectors to realize rural development objectives, especially in other agricultural countries for the rural economy. As climate change is one of the most important challenges facing the global community, different authors have given different definitions based on their perceptions and their impact on them. Climate change is the most dazzling insult the world faces, with many negative consequences. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a comprehensive landscape management approach-farmland, livestock, forests and fisheries-to address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. The CSA is a way of formulating an agricultural strategy to ensure sustainable food security in the context of climate change. CSA provides means to help local, national and international participants identify agricultural strategies that fit local conditions. Climate change has affected Pakistan's most devastating agricultural activities: extreme weather, frequent droughts, increased environmental damage, crop diseases and insect pests, depletion of household assets, loss of biodiversity, impoverishment of other natural resources, changes in vegetation types Depletion of forest resources, land degradation, increased health risks and the spread of infectious diseases that alter living systems. The government of Pakistan has launched many extension approaches and systems of rural development both at the national and provisional level to improve the quality of rural life from time to time in the different military and political era with the goal to boost agricultural productivity.
For Examples, the Village Agricultural and Industrial Development (V-AID); Basic Democracies System (BDS); Rural Works Program (RWP); Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP); Peoples Works Program (PWP); Traditional Agricultural Extension System (TAES); Training and Visit (T&V); Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) etc. All the above rural development cum agricultural extension programs/systems were in progress in the country during different military and political regimes. The major purpose of all these programs was to bring improvement in the quality of life of rural people without Information Communication Technologies-ICTs (services and applications). But all of these initiatives were not so successful in delivering sustainable services to the rural community, who are already resource poor. The performance of these plans was not up-to-the-mark due to many reasons. Among these short falls lack of timely information in decision and knowledge update, marketing facility, motivation among extension staff and farmers, governmental instability, corruptions in the utilization of funds, departmental jealously, revelry and exploitation, and mostly top-down technology transfer mechanism. Improvement in crop yield to accelerate agricultural growth depend upon agricultural extension in which delivery of agricultural information from research stations to farmers play a crucial role.
In this context, for effective agricultural extension services agricultural information related to changing climate scenario and crop situation play crucial role in agricultural development using diverse nature of extension teaching methodologies. Heavy investment in public sector agricultural extension services and least response to growing challenges of increasing food demand and production call for change in technology transfer mechanism. ICTs being a source of information can play an energetic role to transform attitude, belief, and interest. Farmers can be up-to-date rapidly and speedily about diseases and pest control, flood, shifting weather condition, prices of fertilizer etc. Government of Punjab-Pakistan introduced many programs related to latest agricultural transfer technology through ICTs services/application e.g. Agricultural marketing information system, Mobile messaging (database of farmer), Website in local language of agricultural department Punjab and Fruits & vegetables project, Land record spatial data infrastructure, Monitoring extension services (agri. smart), Facebook pages of agricultural extension Punjab, E-reporting and documentation, Mapping soil fertility at village level, Shadbad dehqan project, Zarai baithak project, Fertilizer calculate project, Maintain records through Sap software, update Radio, TV, FM services, Citizen contact center (toll free no.), Revamping agricultural extension services etc.
These all methods are based on modern ICTs with most active and fast method to ensure that the respondent will be maximum in said program to get the information from the department. Likewise, different public sector universities in Punjab play their role as the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad running a program namely “Fertilizer.com” where agriculture information portal established and run by Institute of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development (IAERD). The other program “Zarai Baithak” is the joint venture of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and Govt. of Punjab. Side by side the public sector, private sector also playing its role and many private players enter in information dissemination process where a prominent name is “Pakissan” which is the first and largest agriculture portal of the country. Further, modern eLearning in smart agriculture have led to a fundamental change in the modes of livelihoods. Therefore, a prerequisite for rethinking efforts of agricultural extension and climate-smart agriculture.
The Government of Punjab strives to disseminate information through different eLearning tools to improve production, poverty reduction and rural development. Different extension services are providing agricultural information in their local language. The main difficulties challenged by farmers are the non-adoption of appropriate technologies, low yield, insect/pest attacks and diseases, climates, high input prices and relevant information in Punjab-Pakistan. Smart agriculture tools for agricultural development have the impact in rural development, as well as an important indicator of a country’s advance farming in Pakistan. Agricultural Information Technology (AIT) applications identified 09 (nine) parameters: decision capability, economic and village management, production in crop and animal husbandry management, commercialization and management in rural areas, evaluation, monitoring and control aspects, AIT, and advance software and applications. (Fig. 1, 2 and 3)
1. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can tackle three main objectives: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change; and reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible. CSA is an approach for developing agricultural strategies to secure sustainable food security under climate change.
2. Smart Agriculture (ICT/eLearning) should sensitize farmers to obtain and use agricultural information for rapid and effective decision-making in farming.
3. Information Hub Center (HC) will play on several aspects of rural progress such as access and availability (Kiosk) mode, timely and improved decision-making, improvement of skills and capacities of the local workforce, the development of agricultural production and productivity, business and entrepreneurship, growth of the public contribution, etc. Finally, Smart Agriculture will contribute to modern agriculture in Pakistan region.
Globally, extreme weather conditions are expected to be more frequent and animals, plants and crops should be severely affected. The effects of climate change are felt in almost all geographic locations and national development departments. As temperatures rise, precipitation patterns become more unpredictable and crop production is projected to decline significantly. Climate change is expected to directly and indirectly lead to health problems. Direct effects show an unprecedented persistence and resistance to treatment. Many researchers studying the effects and adaptations of climate change find that diseases such as persistent malaria, high blood pressure, ulcers, diarrhea, asthma and diabetes have introduced new diseases through climate change. Empirical studies have shown that the impacts of climate change on agricultural land and related areas are vulnerable to the economic and physical consequences of climate change.
Further, in eSmart agriculture is a better tool for livelihood and agriculture development but the present situation of country depicts many shortfalls and bottlenecks in the delivery of information system. At national level, research showed a significant work on eLearning but negligible research found the modern smart agriculture (eLearning). Smart agriculture is reflect as a key instrument for development as well as for enhancing up an economy of any country. There is no universal technology transfer method being used in any agricultural extension approach that makes fruitful results in every situation. Therefore, extension specialist uses different and multiple methods using different approaches for desired results. Access to required information has a prime importance that enables the farmer to attain desired success. In developing Asian countries, the cheapest way of dissemination of information among the farming community tried is ICT and there are examples of success as we see in Malaysia, Bangladesh and China. Likewise in the Punjab-Pakistan according to literature major problems faced by non-user ICTs farmers are non-adoption of appropriate technology, weather forecasting, time availability of relevant information, physical distance and logistic problems, marketing prices/profitability, farmer confidence, reliability, appetite for awareness and information, low average yield/productivity, insect/pest and disease attack, soil and water problems, floods, natural climates, high prices of inputs, majority small farmers and land fragmentation etc. At present, agricultural areas are essential an improvement in the scope of research, extension and extension by placing it on eSmart with modern lines for the advancing in the agricultural sector to achieve the task of poverty eradication, sustainable in terms of economy and development, and food security.
Understanding the smart agricultural strategies and risk management of how farmers obtain and use of information on agricultural production and management practices including tillage, crop rotations etc. in order to aware future climate-smart agricultural changing. They should aware and adapt of suitable practices regarding climate change, deforestation and planting of trees. Capacity building of farmers regarding climate-smart agriculture, they should aware the negative effects of climate change in the present scenario. Farmers should improve access to climate forecasting and dissemination; ensure that farmers will adopt adaptation measures in response to the forecasted climate conditions.
Benefits:
1. The agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable to climate change because different crops and animals thrive in different conditions. This makes agriculture highly dependent on consistent temperature ranges and water availability, which are exactly what climate change threatens to undermine. In addition, plant pests and diseases will likely increase in incidence and spread into new territories bringing further challenges for agricultural productivity. The relationship between agriculture and climate change is a two-way street: agriculture is not only affect by climate change but has a significant effect on it in return.
2. Agriculture must undergo a significant transformation to meet the multiple challenges of climate change, food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, Livelihoods and environmental degradation. In view of the fact that stability and sustainability of sufficient food production in the agricultural sector is the main sure way of eradication poverty and bearing in mind the great threat posed by climate change to the realization of this goal, it becomes very important for the Agricultural system in Pakistan and to give climate change issues serious consideration if the objective of increased food production will ever be achieved. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach that can help to guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security in a changing climate.