Climate-Smart Agriculture and Poverty Among Rural Households in Developing Countries: A Review

Abstract

Climate change is a major global challenge, and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) offers a solution by aiming to reduce emissions while increasing production and resilience. With most of the world’s poor living in rural areas and depending on agriculture, the sector is closely tied to poverty. This raises a critical question: in developing nations, especially in Africa, is agriculture a cause or an effect of poverty traps? Climate extremes worsen agricultural outcomes and deepen rural poverty, but CSA has the potential to improve food security and lift incomes. This systematic review examines how rural households in developing countries are affected by climate change, their adoption of CSA practices, and the measurable impacts of CSA on food security and poverty reduction. Hence, this review paper demonstrates that climate-smart agriculture can directly impact output levels, food security, earnings, and general socioeconomic well-being, thereby reducing poverty.