Promoting Sustainability and Climate Resilience in Agriculture Through Circular Economy: A Review

Global issues such as scarcity of resources, pollution of the environment and growing population that leads to high demand for food are some of the issues affecting the agricultural sector. Services and processes resulting in effective utilization of resources and organisational and environmental consideration are essential for a sustainable life. As to the problem, circular innovation proposes a quite effective solution to redesign the existing agricultural systems according to the circular economy concept. Circular innovation is therefore a break from the cycle and a look at practices that are cyclical in nature. They are techniques such as resource management, reduction of waste generation, utilization of by-products and the use of cyclic systems. This approach least on input dependency increases the utilization rate of resources and disperses adverse effects on the environment. Promoting the use of renewable energy and modern technology like the use of solar energy in irrigation as well as precision farming increases productivity and at the same time decreases the use of water, fertilizers and pesticides. On the same note, circular innovation also looks at waste as input whereby materials such as wastes from agriculture are recycled into, for example, biofuel and fertilizer through composting and bioconversion. Also, circular innovation creates a relationship between the players involved in the food chain thereby encouraging pro-activity between players consisting of farmers, processors, retailers and consumers. This promotes closed-loop supply chains, local food systems and food traceability, minimizes food loss and waste and conserves sustainable and resilient food systems.