Hilly

Best Practice Harvesting Techniques are formalised harvesting practices intended to reduce breakage and bruising of crops during collection and storage. These techniques minimise harvest losses and maintain the quality of the produce. To maximise this approach, factors such as moisture content, cleanness of the grain, colour, odour and potential pest infestation need to be considered during harvest periods. Considering each of these factors will increase grain value as quality standards are directly related to grain price. Harvesting can be performed manually or mechanically, with obvious cost implication of employing the latter.

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is a technique of restoring degraded land and monitoring restoration of the land involving the systematic regeneration and management of trees and shrubs from tree stumps, roots and seed. Degraded arid land often features left over indigenous plants, which if maintained and promoted to grow can improve pasture and crop lands while simultaneously encouraging re-growth of seeds, roots and shrubs. Key to this practice is the existence of living stumps, tree roots and seed that, if encouraged, will regrow. The land is protected from being completely cleared or further grazed and this allows trees to grow without disturbance. Once the stumps and trees start to grow, pruning and trimming of trees is required to allow space between trees and promote healthy long tree trunks. Once the trees have matured, intercropping can take place or livestock can be re-introduced to graze.

While requiring some investment in terms of effort, FMNR has climate smart advantages such as controlling rainfall/irrigation run-off, supporting water quality improvements, providing sources of timber or fodder, supporting habitant regeneration for pollinator insect species, acting as sun shade, and reducing soil erosion.

Agroforestry is a land management practice that combines the planting and management of trees and shrubs with crops and pasture, providing benefits of soil health, crop yields, resilience to climate change, biodiversity and economic opportunities. Agroforestry encompasses numerous practices, including silvo-pasture, agro-silvo cultural, and agro-silvo-pastural. One such successful agroforestry practice is silvo-pasture – the planting of trees and shrubs within livestock grazing pasture lands. Not to be confused with agrosilvopasture (combination of crops, shrubs/trees and livestock, silvopasture is the combination of trees and shrubs with pastural grazing land. The trees can be regularly or irregularly placed, and in addition to improving soil conditions in pasture lands, also provide production of protein-rich tree fodder for on farm feeding and for cut-and-carry fodder production. If growing larger species of tree, coppicing can also produce timber for building materials and firewood.

Boundary planting, also known as live fence planting, is a technique used to protect crops from the interference of people and animals that can disturb plant growth. Trees/shrubs are a good example of this approach as they can form a shield when planted along the boundaries of the garden or surrounding a planted field. The trees/shrubs act as wind break to shield plants against strong winds causing physical damage to plants themselves, or the removal of soil (erosion). Additional benefits include the use of branches for firewood or building materials, and the other parts of trees can be used as fodder, fruit or leave harvested for consumption, or for medicinal use. Tree/shrub spacing is critical, as trees that have dense canopies can conversely cause destructive down-drafts, negating the intended benefits. Boundary planting helps limit global warming by mitigating GHG emissions through reducing harmful gases such as, carbon dioxide, from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen.

Rainwater harvesting is an agricultural technique of collecting and storing rainwater or runoff in tanks or natural reservoirs. This practice is mostly practiced in arid or semi-arid areas with temporal and spatial variability of rainfall mostly lost as surface runoff or evaporation. Runoff is harvested and utilised as a preventative measure for soil erosion, as well as a water management strategy for irrigating crops and for livestock water. This technique enables farmers to capture and store rainwater during times of plenty for use during times of scarcity. Rainwater harvesting is a technology that maximises the use of existing freshwater resources and is a useful technology for water resource planners and managers in both governmental and non-governmental organisations, institutions and communities.

Water spreading bunds are barriers used on gradual slopes to slow down surface water and slow filter runoff, increasing the chance of infiltration, capturing runoff sediment, and decreasing soil erosion. Bunds can be built of different materials including packed earth or stones. Bunds can be spread across fields or used in micro-settings around individual trees or plants and should be applied in semi-arid or arid conditions. Bunds efficiently spread rainwater across the system and prevent streams from developing. Implementing bunds in areas with adequate rainfall or irrigation, may cause waterlogging and adversely affect crop growth.

Different types of bunds include:

• Contour bunds: ridges of soil that follow slope contours and can be implemented at a large scale. Crops are cultivated between bunds.
• Semi-circle bunds: ridges of varying size build in a half-moon or semi-circle. They are generally applied to rehabilitate rangelands and/or in the production of fodder.
• Contour stone bunds: lines of stones laid in a shallow dug out areas that slow down the flow of runoff

In-field water harvesting is the practice of increasing water infiltration and moisture retention in the soil. The agricultural technique involves the collection of rainwater runoff from fields that is collected and stored for future needs. This water can be stored in infiltration pits and later used to water the same crops, other crops through an irrigation system (usually high value crops, including fruit trees), or used for domestic purposes. Factors like soil, water, and plant type influence the effectiveness and productivity of rainwater harvesting. This type of water harvesting is generally implemented in areas of very low rain (semi-arid) conditions. In-field water harvesting entails establishing micro-catchments at the farm scale, where sloped areas have been cleared or cropped to direct rainwater to the water storage area (a pit that has been dug to store/hold water). Utilising strip cropping to growing crops while providing a method for directing rain is sometime practiced. The soil type has a limiting factor in collecting in-field water due the infiltration rates. In-field water harvesting saves rainfall water that can be used over a longer period than during and immediately after a rainfall event, reduces the risks of crop failure due to no or limited rainfall, and increases rain water productivity.

The process of saving one’s own seed involves the collection of seeds from the best performing (most yield, largest size, early maturing or other desired traits, etc.) plants from one season to plant them in the next cropping season. The aim of this practice is to select seed from parent plants in the hope that desired characteristics are replicated in the next generation of plants. Seeds that have been selected will likely be adapted to local farming conditions including soil types and rainfall amounts. The seed most likely to carry intergenerational traits (size, colour, water use efficiency, and other biophysical traits) are open-pollinated (those plants pollinated by birds, insects, wind, etc.) seed varieties as they are cross-pollinated by the same type of crop. Different crops have different reproduction cycles with some species flowering or producing seeds annually, biennially or on a perennial basis. Thus, understanding seeding time is important for farmers aiming to save their own seeds. Almost as important as selecting the correct seeds is seed storage, which must be done correctly to avoid spoiling and losses. Seed saving is a cost-effective measure for farmers to employ and helps them avoid having to buy seeds at market on an annual basis. Seed trading or community seed banks provide a climate resilience strategy as they secure farmers access and availability of diverse, locally adapted crops and varieties while enhancing indigenous knowledge. Often crops from hybrid seeds or improved varieties do not generate viable seeds ensuring that seeds cannot be saved and must be purchased on an annual basis.

Selecting crop varieties is a key resilience strategy for farmers facing changing climatic conditions. There are two types of seed varieties: traditional varieties and improved varieties. Traditional varieties have been selected by farmers for their special characteristics and due to many years of selecting the strongest seeds over generations, they are generally adapted to local natural conditions. In some respects, these seeds increase the chance of getting a return on investment in stable environments, but are less likely to mitigate GHG emissions. Traditional crop varieties are usually selected by small scale farmers due to their relatively low cost and availability and can be saved and replanted for further growing seasons. Improved varieties are seeds that have been altered by scientific processes to incorporate desired characteristics using techniques such as following pure line breeding, classical breeding, hybridisation and molecular breeding. Desirable characteristics include higher yields, shorter growing seasons, drought resistance, salt tolerance, etc. Improved varieties are selected when facing adverse conditions such as higher temperatures and/or less predictable rainfall and normally result in the efficient use of water reducing use of energy for irrigation systems. While these seeds offer improvements they are usually commercial products and as a result can be expensive. Furthermore, as they are sold by seed companies availability is driven by demand. Most seed companies protect enhancements using  intellectual property rights that legally limit seed saving and replanting of seeds. In fact, many of these seed varieties have been designed to prevent plants to be reseeded. Thus, seed varieties afford farmers the opportunity to incorporate crops that can be planted to exploit their unique characteristics – traditional or improved, assisting farmers to grow crops that are resilient to changing climates to produce crops that are market-appropriate.

Weeds are any unwanted plant species that compete with crops for sunlight, water, nutrients, air and space, hindering crop growth and in some cases are even toxic to crop plants. Weed control measures can be applied in an integrated manner to help prevent the growth and spread of weeds in agricultural systems. An integrated weed management approach aims to restrict weed growth until a crop is well established and can outcompete weeds. This integrated approach includes biological, chemical, cultural and/or physical tactics to combat weed spread and growth and these practices can be more cost effective than herbicide applications. Integrated weed management is climate smart as it combines multiple climate smart practices that increase farmers resilience, limits GHG releases and increases productivity. Options for weed control include crop rotation, intercropping, cover crops (which can be used as green manure or mulch), mulching, seed-bed preparation, livestock grazing, seed/variety selection, mowing, and hand-weeding.

The application of integrated weed control is climate smart as it reduces herbicide application and reduction in machinery usage (i.e. through no-tillage practices).