This flagship research project of AKI aims at supporting the monitoring of compliance with national commitments on agricultural GHG and air pollutant emission mitigations. It provides help in environmental and development policy decision-making through the elaboration of gap-filling information systems. By examining the applicability of ICT solutions, it directs attention towards the use of digital real-time data, and the environmental and economic performance of livestock farms.
Environmental impact monitoring covers a range of activities such as
- collecting information on agricultural production and livestock nutrition technologies to assess GHG and air pollutant emissions from animal husbandry, validation of nutrition values of feed samples with NIR analytics, and of efficiency indicators by digital tools;
- evaluating the application and cost-effectiveness of emission reduction tools, mainly of feeding techniques;
- assessing the day-to-day applicability of digital data from ICT tools in supporting the management of livestock farms;
- methodological review of data collection and self-audits related to the permits for livestock farms treated as large point sources (LPS);
- monitoring GHG emissions from crop production, especially for the use as biofuel feedstock,
- collecting information to refine the assessment of emissions from biogas production based on agricultural waste;
- collecting and verifying sector-specific information to support the development and the revision of the National Air Pollution Reduction Programme.
This flagship project contributes in the future to the assessment of the environmental impact of agriculture based on exact data, to the development of appropriate emission mitigation measures and, through raising awareness towards environmental regulatory obligations and the importance of self-monitoring, to the change in farmers’ attitude to help agricultural enterprises operate sustainably.
