Are there opportunities for climate-smart agriculture? Assessing costs and benefits of sustainability investments and planning policies in Southern Africa
| Autor: | Ademola K. Braimoh, Giacomo Branca, Yuxuan Zhao, Motselisi Ratii, Puseletso Likoetla |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Rate of return
Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment Natural resource economics business.industry 020209 energy Strategy and Management 05 social sciences 02 engineering and technology Investment (macroeconomics) Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Climate change mitigation Agriculture Economic evaluation Sustainability 050501 criminology 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Cleaner production Profitability index Business 0505 law General Environmental Science |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Cleaner Production. 278:123847 |
| ISSN: | 0959-6526 |
| Popis: | Transformation in the smallholder agricultural sector towards more sustainable and cleaner production systems is needed in Southern Africa. Climate-smart agriculture could be an opportunity in this respect. The paper presents a cost-benefit analysis of the public investment program to promote climate-smart agriculture in Lesotho. Economic profitability of investing in such program in nationwide crop, livestock and aquaculture smallholders’ production is assessed, considering costs and benefits at private level and those that accrue to society. Given uncertainty about the future, a development pathway commercially oriented is compared with a pathway aimed at increasing households’ capacity to adapt their farming systems to the changing climate. Investment returns are above the opportunity cost of capital, under both pathways, indicating the convenience for farmers and the whole society in investing in climate-smart agriculture. The program also leads to a decrease in the greenhouse gas emissions’ intensity, positively contributing to climate change mitigation. The economic evaluation of the carbon-balance increases societal profitability of the investment program. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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