Climate-Smart Agriculture in Iran: Strategies, Constraints and Drivers

Payam Memarbashi (), Gholamreza Mojarradi and Marzieh Keshavarz
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Payam Memarbashi: Department of Agricultural Extension, Communication and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan 45371-38791, Iran
Gholamreza Mojarradi: Department of Agricultural Extension, Communication and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan 45371-38791, Iran
Marzieh Keshavarz: Agricultural Extension and Education, Payame Noor University, Tehran 19395-4697, Iran

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-24

Abstract: Although climate-smart agriculture can simultaneously decline greenhouse gas emissions, increase the adaptive capacity of farmers and improve food security under climate change, constraints and drivers of scaling up are not entirely addressed in developing countries. This qualitative case study was conducted on both strawberry growers and agricultural experts to explore the perceived causes, evidence and impacts of climate change, adaptation strategies used by farmers, and constraints and drivers of climate-smart agriculture development on the strawberry farms in Kurdistan province, Western Iran. Findings indicated that the causes of climate change could be divided into anthropogenic and natural forces. Decreased precipitation, increased temperature, dust storms, greenhouse gases, forest fires, spring frosts, severe hail, floods and droughts comprised the most notable climate change evidence in the region. Both groups confirmed the impacts of climate change on the reduction in strawberry yield, increasing the perishability of the fruits, poverty, migration and other social problems. Adaptation strategies used by farmers are classified into technical–agricultural, water conservation, farm smartening, and institutional adaptation practices. However, poverty, the shortage of strawberry-processing industries, insufficient financial support, the presence of intermediaries and brokers, traditional cultivation, difficulties in shipping strawberry crops to the market, the lack of storage facilities and equipment and the export terminal along with the mistrust of strawberry growers in the agricultural organization hinder climate-smart agriculture development in the study area. Finally, several drivers were proposed, which were considered the basis for providing practical suggestions for planning and policy making for climate-smart agriculture development in strawberry farms.

Keywords: climate change impacts; adaptive strategies; climate-smart agriculture; strawberry growers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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