Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and climate smart agriculture – prospects and challenges

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) integrates the connected challenges of food security and climate change. CSA differs by integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation in planning and development of sustainable agricultural systems. The three major objectives of CSA are sustainable increase in agricultural productivity and farmer incomes, adaptation and building resilience to climate change; and reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Microbial biofertilizers are an integral component of CSA. The need to increase sustainable food production shifts focus to the role of soil biodiversity in general and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in particular. AMF are most abundant symbionts in both natural and agricultural landscapes and contribute immensely to sustainable agriculture. However, conventional agriculture practices such as, low crop diversity (monocropping), intensive tillage, and extensive use of agrochemicals compromise the benefits of AMF inoculation due to their negative effects on diversity of AMF in agricultural soils.