Economic and Environmental Performances of Organic Farming System Compared to Conventional Farming System

The impact of agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change is important. Agriculture is a cause and victim of climate change. Also the agricultural sector is still the most important economic sector in many African countries, the one employing most people and the one where poverty prevails. Climate is one of the main determinants of agricultural productivity and climate change is expected to influence crop and livestock production. The majority of households in developing countries depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and this dependency on agriculture make them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

In Senegal, the livelihoods of about 77% of the population depend on small-scale agriculture, which is adversely affected by the consequences of climate change. During the next decades, billions of people, particularly those in developing countries, will face changes in rainfall patterns that will contribute to severe water shortages or flooding, and raising temperatures that will cause shift in crop growing seasons. In fact, agriculture, which is our primary source of food, has contributed to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions through activities such as rice production, the use of synthetic fertilizers, livestock rearing, the change in land use patterns like deforestation. The sector is said to be the main contributor to (CH4) and (N2O) emissions (60 percent and 50 percent respectively), and also to a lesser extent to CO2. According to a report by FAO, agriculture causes approximately one-third of global GHGs, when direct energy use, emissions from livestock, the production of fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and equipment as well as soil degradation and land-use changes for feed production are taken into account.

Agriculture is part of the problem, but it is also considered to be part of the solution to mitigate climate change through agricultural practices that are climate resilient and environmentally friendly. Recently, numerous reports have emphasized the need to proceed to major changes in the global food system: agriculture must meet the twin challenge of feedinga growing population with rising demand for meat and high-calories diets, while simultaneously minimizing its global environmental impacts. The increasing population coupled with urbanization has serious implications for sustainable development in less favourable areas of developing countries. In addition, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impact of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide.