Arid

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).

Mulching is the process of introducing vegetative material to the surface of soil in fields to provide soil cover, reduce evaporation, maintaining an even soil temperature and ultimately improve organic content in soil. These materials can include grasses, crop residues, tree bark and other plant materials, even including seaweed if it is available. These materials should be well decomposed, and mixed well into the top soil when the growing season is over. Mulching improves soil fertility by creating a positive soil environment favouring microbial activity and other promoting beneficial organisms such as earthworms, increases moisture retention, stabilises soil temperatures (protecting soils from both heat and cold), reduces soil erosion and restricts weeds. The temperature control keeps roots and plant bulbs cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It can be utilised on all scales of farm, depending upon the availability of input mulch materials. It is considered a climate smart approach as it sequesters carbon in the soil and promotes soil health which in turn maintains agricultural productivity and the ability of a farmer to adapt to climate changes. In some cases, shredded plastic is sometimes used as a synthetic soil cover, but this is not considered climate smart, as it does not integrate organic matter to the soil, instead introducing plastics.

Erosion control measures are practices designed to reduce runoff water and wind erosion that wash away top soil and nutrients, degrading soil biodiversity and reducing agricultural productivity. Erosion is a natural, biophysical process resulting from rainfall, water flows, wind, or storm runoff. Erosion is integral to the formation of soils, however human and animal activity, including agriculture and clearing of land, can accelerate erosive processes, drastically impacting landscapes, soils (e.g. quality) and watercourses. In addition, erosion control measures can contribute to reducing rainfall runoff, increased water infiltration into the soil, and attenuates flooding. The intensity of rainfall is directly correlated with the severity of soil erosion; hence, this is a significant problem across the Southern African region as much of the rainfall in the region is episodic, and intense. To prevent or reduce erosive processes control measures can be incorporated into farming systems to reduce or reverse degradation and potentially restore or improve soil quality. Erosion control measures aim to mitigate soil erosion and improve soil fertility by reducing flow and speed of run-off to avoid soil being washed away. Erosion control can be initiated through a number of interventions, including, but not limited to, intercropping (e.g. planting cover crops), mulch, conservation tillage and reforestation, as well as terracing, soil bunds, etc.. Example: Stone Bunds. Lessons learned from West Africa show that stone bunds constructed along contour lines in fields and in key run-off locations can significantly reduce run-off, particularly in steeper agricultural fields. The stone lines reinforce the soil structure in the field following the contours of the land, reducing the speed and volume of run-off, thereby reducing the likelihood of erosion. This is an appropriate technology to implement on slopes up to 15 to 20 degrees. This is considered a climate smart practice as it maintains soil structure and nutrients, in turn retaining carbon in soil, enabling farmers to adapt to climate changes and sustain agricultural productivity.

No-tillage or reduced-tillage farming involves growing crops without ploughing or reducing the use of machinery in preparing fields for planting. Excessive tillage can have major impacts on soils and the environment including loss of organic matter and soil organisms, increased soil erosion and pesticide runoff, reduced soil fertility, loss of soil structure, etc. Thus, implementing no- or reduced-tillage can help farmers in conserving soil quality and in many cases, increase crop production.

In implementing no-tillage processes, land is not or is minimally disturbed and crop residues are normally left on the soil surface with minimal use of implements. Reduced tillage practices include technological changes such as using more efficient ploughing tools and/or implementing strip-till, zone-till or ridge-till processes. Most reduced tillage systems are implemented in conjunction with cover crops and mulches to protect soil structure.  Tilling by hand or animal means are considered reduced tillage methods.

The adoption of no or reduced tillage practices reduces the amount of fossil fuels consumed by farmers and increases carbon sequestration as soil carbon is not exposed or released in the atmosphere and is thus a climate smart practice.

Many farmers grow one crop repeatedly on the same field over-and-over again. Crop diversification is the cultivation of several crops of a different species or variety (of one crop) in one plot at any given point in time. The main advantage of implementing crop diversification is that it enhances household climate resilience through reducing risk of monocrop failure due to pests, disease, low rainfall and other climate risks.

Employing crop diversification may also provide opportunity of more diversified income sources and dietary diversity. Farmers can simultaneously grow both food crops, fodder and cash crops in an attempt to increase household food security and improve household incomes. There are also indications that crop diversification can increase crop productivity, which for poorer households can have significant positive impacts. For better capitalised farms, return on specialisation may be higher, and will likely not realise the desired returns.

Relay cropping is a form of intercropping where two or more crops are grown simultaneously during part of their life cycles. Intercropping often involves maize and legumes, which increases nitrogen fixing in soils and increased biomass production. The second (or succeeding) crop is planted after the reproductive stage (flowering) of the existing crop but before harvesting. Some of the advantages of relay cropping include better erosion control due to crop cover, reduced spreading of pests and diseases, and crop diversification, plus general soil health. As an added benefit, it mitigates the emission of greenhouse gases through reducing nitrate leaching and increasing carbon sequestration. There is also potential socio-economic benefits for farmers as in many cases relay cropping increases crop productivity.

However, this form of intercropping is not easily implemented in large-scale agricultural systems due to complications in weed control and challenges associated with operating mechanised equipment on fields with relay cropping.

Intercropping is a process of growing multiple crops either together or in proximity to each other on one piece of land, thereby improving crop production, reducing and preventing land degradation and increasing crop output.

There are different methods of intercropping:

• Mixed intercropping – two or more crops are seeded together and harvested together.
• Row/strip intercropping – two or more crops planted on the same field but planted in alternate rows.

Crops selected for intercropping should not have similar properties or compete but should be selected to complement one another and be mutually beneficial. For example, deep rooted crops can be intercropped with shallow rooted crops, so as to not compete for water or nutrients. Intercropping helps achieve ecological benefits not possible with monocropping systems. Intercropping is commonly practiced for maize-legume systems, where legumes introduce nitrogen into the soil benefiting maize production and improving soil fertility during crop growth. Furthermore, the legume crops can be utilised for fodder for livestock. This practice is particularly beneficial for smallholder farmers, who can grow multiple crops on small plots to receive multiple benefits including improving production/yields, and increasing household food security. Intercropping is also a climate-smart practice as it mitigates farmer risk to climate variations, through diversifying and increasing crop production, reduces threats of pests and disease, and increases carbon sequestration in soils and biomass production.

Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) refers to a set of agricultural practices that can be applied simultaneously to improve agricultural productivity through increasing soil nutrients and improving crop water use. ISFM includes a broad range of agricultural practices that have all been adapted to local conditions to improve soil nutrients and include the combined application of the following approaches:

1. Utilisation of organic fertilisers such as green manure, compost and crop residues.
2. Application of locally available soil amendment methods, such as lime and biochar.
3. Implementation of techniques like germplasm, agroforestry, crop rotation, intercropping etc.
4. Limited use of inorganic or mineral fertilisers – seen as the last option in ISFM, when other interventions are not achieving optimal results.

ISFM can be successful for most arable farmers and has been known to double productivity and increase farm-level incomes by 20 to 50 percent if implemented correctly. It focuses on a series of practical approaches to sustainable farm productivity through locally available and affordable options for maintaining soil fertility and productivity, and is seen as a viable approach to reduce over-reliance on inorganic fertiliser. ISFM permits short- and long-term increases in productivity of cash crops and food security, and is considered climate smart as the combined ISFM approach maximises fertiliser uptake and sequestration of carbon in soil, allowing sustainable agricultural intensification driven by improved soil structure and fertility.