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While rotating crops or leaving fields fallow for several growing seasons is good practice, some farmers do not have this luxury, needing to continue planting season upon season. However, this practice will soon see soils depleted of nutrients. In these cases, use of green manure, and organic fertilisers is recommended. In. the last-resort cases where chemical fertilisers must be used, banding and micro-dosing are approaches that rationalise or minimise application. Banding is the agricultural practice of placing fertiliser in a row below soil surface, covering with soil and planting seeds above the fertiliser, whereas Micro-dosing – sometimes referred to as ring-placement - is the practice of placing small, more affordable amounts of fertiliser around each crop plant. Banding is a common method used for basal fertiliser applications and uses less fertiliser than broadcasting as it is applied in rows rather than throughout the whole field. Micro-dosing is applicable where plants are widely spaced and where soil increases the chances of nutrient loss due to leaching. While the use of chemical fertilisers is not strictly considered climate smart, these practices promote economic and rationalised application of fertilisers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, whilst improving resilience in the face of climate change, and providing options for maintain agricultural productivity.

Locally/home-made organic pest control involves the use of home-made remedies to kill and control pests naturally without harming the crop or the environment. Some of the natural pesticides that farmers can use includes soap water, neem, chilli, vegetable oil spray and garlic. These natural remedies are cheaper than the use of chemicals but should be applied in specific amounts for them to be effective. The field must be kept clean to avoid weeds, which provide habitats for insects and weaker crops that are infected must be removed and disposed of away from the field area to avoid attracting further infestations. It is important to minimise disturbance of soil through digging or tilling if not necessary as this can introduce pests into the soil. Alternative approaches such as intercropping, crop rotation, and push/pull systems can also contribute to preventing the spread of pests. This is a climate smart option as it reduces the contribution of pesticides/insecticides to greenhouse gas emissions, and supports sustainable agricultural productivity. If organic insecticides are not effectively killing insects at the rate the farmer wants/needs, chemical controls can be used to halt pest infestation and avoid complete crop loss. However, chemical control of pests should always be the last resort, as chemical pesticides while often hugely effective, are expensive and must be applied precisely to be effective. Furthermore, if used inaccurately chemical pesticides can contaminate crops and the environment, and can impact the farmers’ health. The use of chemicals destroys natural pest enemies and can lead to pest invasion and resistance to pesticides in future, driving continued reliance on chemicals. For example, ants can be a very effective biological control agent against Fall Armyworm (FAW); however, ant populations will also be affected by pesticides.

The use of chemical insecticides and pesticides can be expensive and therefore not an economically viable option for small scale farmers, while also not being climate smart – widespread use of pesticides and herbicides contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Encouraging natural predators can be an effective method for controlling and managing pests in some instances. With governments across the globe discouraging the use of chemical insecticides and pesticide products, biological control of pests is preferred and encouraged - using living organisms to control pests. Natural predators are insects that feed on pests without damaging the crop and can be found throughout the crops. Encouraging natural predators helps in supressing pests during their early and late lifecycles, improving crop production and reducing pollution caused by pesticides use. The introduction of water-fowl, such ducks in rice systems can be a highly effective form of biological control of pests. They enjoy aquatic habitats, consume insects and can even contribute to weeding as tear up weed plants as they look for food. Insect predators have different roles in controlling pests, there are predators that will control pests in the early pest lifecycle where they feed on their larvae and eggs while some are present at the late pest cycle where they feed on mature insects. Some species of ants are natural predators of stemborer pests, and wasp and some fly species larvae are parasitoids (larvae that feed on a host organism) prey on fall armyworm. One such wasp is the tiny (3 mm in length) Cotesia marginiventris which feeds on FAW caterpillars. The minute (0.5 mm in length) Trichogramma was species lays it’s eggs inside FAW eggs, killing the FAW larvae in the process. Earwigs (Dermaptera: Forficulidae, Carcinophoridae), ground beetles and ladybird beetles are also known to prey on FAW caterpillars. The issue with many of these solutions is volume of consumption, which may be too low to impact an infestation. Ants are the most important predators of FAW, as the communities consume larger quantities of FAW. However, pesticides drastically impact ant populations.

Bottle traps are an agricultural technology used to lure insects inside containers (bottles) containing bait of either food or chemical attractants. The objective is to lure pest insects to identify them for pest control, as part of overall pest monitoring, including field walks, observation and crop inspections. In larger fields they are used solely for pest identification. In smaller fields a number of traps can be used as a pest control method, trapping the insects, but this is not a common approach. Bottle traps must be installed in locations close to or amongst crops and across the farm in order to attract insects for identification and should be used throughout all cropping season to ensure that pests can be identified earlier. As a component of Integrated Pest Management, bottle traps with different lures or baits can be used to attract and identify most types of aphids and mites, fruit flies, stem borers, and fall army worm. While many of the lures and baits can be made at home or on the farm, pheromone-based baits need to be purchased from agricultural suppliers. While this introduces costs, bottle traps and lures can contribute significantly pest management, through early identification so appropriate action can be taken. This technology can contribute to climate smart agriculture objectives, as bottle traps and lures can reduce the amount of pesticides used, reducing greenhouse gas emissions; they can help with identifying new pests and insects as climates shift; and as pests are identified or reduced, productivity can increase. It is important for farmers and workers to keep records of pests identified to ensure that appropriate responses are enacted. There could be cases where infestation levels are low and the cost of taking action may be more that nominal crop losses. However, the opposite may be true, but decisions cannot be made without relevant information for extension workers to discuss with farmers.

A weed plant is an unwanted plant that grows among and competes with crops for water, air, sunlight, nutrients and space. The removal of such plants from fields – known as ‘weeding’ - is vital to enhancing crop growth. They can be removed by cutting their roots either by hand or using an implement such as a hoe. Some cereal crops like rice and maize attract weeds that are herbicide resistant; hence, the use of a hoe in removing the weeds is the most effective practice. However, as mechanic weeding can result in release of weed seeds into the soils as the hoe makes contact with the plant, weeding by-hand is the best way for weed removal to prevent weed seeds from falling onto the ground for further germination; this can increase the labour intensity of weeding considerably. This is a climate smart practice as it mitigates the emission of greenhouse gases from herbicides into the atmosphere, land and water systems. Furthermore, weeding helps maintain sustainable agricultural productivity, when considered an integral part of farm management and operations. However, weeding has been identified as one of the largest labour inputs for subsistence agriculture, accounting for between 30 and 50 % of on-farm labour requirements.

A push pull system is a technique that repels parasitic plants and pests that attach themselves to the crop roots and feed on them.. In push-pull, a cereal crop is intercropped with a leguminous plant like desmodium or molasses grass, while a popular fodder crop, Napier grass, is planted as a border around the field. Desmodium produces volatile chemicals that attract predators of the cereal e.g of maize pests. More importantly, by giving a false distress signal to the moths that the area is already infested, these chemicals ‘push’ the egg laying moths away from the crop to seek out habitats where their larvae will face less competition for food. Napier grass also produces volatile chemicals that ‘pull’ the moths towards them, and then exudes a sticky substance that traps the stem borer larvae as they feed. Few larvae survive. Napier grass attracts stem borer predators.  The intercropping is a climate smart practice as it mitigates emission of Greenhouse gases through the reduced need for pesticides. The push-pull system improves food security and boosts farm income.

Vectors are organisms that carry diseases from one living being to another without showing symptoms of the diseases themselves. Some of the most common forms of vectors are blood sucking insects such as mosquitos, fleas, lice, ticks and other similar insects, and rats/rodents. Places such as stagnant water and dumping sites can be ideal habitats for vectors to reside and transmit. The use of natural vector predators can help reduce or eliminate vector populations. The most common vectors in southern Africa are insects (tsetse flies-trypanosomiasis), animals (foot and mouth disease through cattle or people with contaminated shoes), tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).  Sanitising the life-cycle of vectors, implementing pest traps and introducing pest predators are means of reducing the spread of disease. The impacts of climate change, especially increased heavy rainfall and higher temperatures can encourage vector populations to grow quicker than normal. Simple strategies to control vectors includes keeping livestock surroundings clean, avoiding livestock access to stagnant water, fencing areas off, restricting animal access to certain locations, can all control biological vectors and assist in reducing vector spread.

Assisted reproduction refers to artificial insemination, where semen is deliberately introduced to fertilise eggs in domestic animals. Artificial insemination helps in obtaining genetic improvements that yield higher production levels. This practice is more expensive but more efficient than natural reproduction. Artificial insemination reduces the risk of disease transmission and injuries or accidents during mating. Sperm duplication can be done from a single ejaculation to make hundreds of doses and distributed across farmers to have variety of breeds rather than off-spring from single bulls. This prevents inbreeding and promotes hybrid vigour among farmers’. In the southern African context, where most grazing is communal, use of bulls to improve breeds can be challenging as it is difficult to adopt a grazing system that will ensure good quality breeds are able to pass their progeny to the next generation, as young and likely non-superior bulls are likely to mate with cows during grazing. To achieve genetic improvement using open grazing requires controlled grazing systems, e.g. by use of paddocks to manage bulls grazing and mixing with cows.

Hybridisation is the agricultural practice of genetically manipulating flora and fauna that differ in heredity. Hybridisation and mutations are the main source of hereditary variation and can result in the increased growth rate, manipulated gender ratios, increased yields, sterile animals, improved flesh quality, increase disease resistance and improve environmental tolerance. Intraspecific hybridisation method is used for livestock breeding whereby individuals of different breeds or strains are mated. Distant hybridisation for livestock is difficult to accomplish as hybrids are usually sterile. Hybrid animals are extremely difficult to produce and specialists often spend their careers attempting to create a new breed of animal. Hybridisation is plant species is more common and has a greater success rate than animal species, however successfully creating a hybrid species remains difficult to achieve. Specialists are trained on the gene sequence and different methods for accomplishing hybridisation. The development of hybrid flora and fauna is often undertaken to address a problem or issue. For example, to address socio-economic challenges agricultural researchers may attempt to produce a species of chickens who lay lager eggs or cows who produce more milk. Hybridisation is also applied to address the challenges of a changing climate including producing crops that are more drought resistant. Due to the research and development of these hybrid species they are expensive to access and often not available in remote areas. Traditional breeds are pure individual species with no DNA alterations. They are often endemic to an area and because of this have evolved and adapted to the geophysical area they are found. Thus, traditional breeds are often found in certain areas, and through traditional knowledge have been incorporated into local farming systems for generations. With an increasingly globalised world, it is difficult to maintain distinct traditional breeds as trade in species, seeds etc. is increasingly prevalent. However, with a new focus and dedication of farmers and researchers to explore indigenous knowledge there is an increased focus on reinvigorating the incorporation of traditional breeds of both flora and fauna.

Manure is organic matter that is used as an organic fertiliser in agricultural practices, conditioning and adding nutrients to soil, generally derived from animal faeces. Manure is the best source of fertiliser available to a farmer, as it can be readily available from livestock, and it a more environmentally friendly option over synthetic fertilisers. Animal manure, compost and green manure are the three different types of manure used in soil management. Manure is collected in different forms: liquid manure, slurry manure or solid manure, and treated in different systems depending on its state. Liquid and slurry manure are stored in liquid (slurry) manure storage systems whereas solid manure is stored in sacks in order to allow air and toxic vapours to move in and out, as well as to maintain the moisture content. The manure is collected and treated (as described below) in order to kill pests that may feed on crops during the application period. The manure is further cleaned to remove unwanted substances such as sticks, and large lumps formed in the manure.