LRG

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimise risks to human health and the environment, focusing on all practical options for reducing or eliminating pesticides. The practice of IPM for crop protection is widely encouraged, as the practice can enhance crop production and reduce risks associated with use, storage and management of pesticides. The integrated nature of this approach ensures that it is climate smart, as it utilises the best possible options to ensure sustainable productivity, which will in turn allow adaptation to climate change. However, as it may require the use of pesticides as one strategy, the climate-smartness may be affected.

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.

Resistant varieties are new crop varieties that improve yield production, are resistant to pests and diseases, more tolerant to drought, salinity or other changing or undesirable environmental conditions. Crop plants used within this practice are usually only resistant to a limited number of undesirable characteristics e.g. pests or drought – but usually not both, and some other desirable traits may be lost while others may be strengthened. Hence, careful selection of candidate species must be undertaken. Resistance varieties common in southern Africa include drought resistant maize, sorghum, rice and cowpea (beneficial legume for intercropping) strains, striga (witch weed) resistant sorghum and maize strains, and others all help farmers adapt to changing climate conditions, by being able to farm crops that survive the increasingly variable climate, which can result in less rainfall, or the presence of new pests. Striga results in crop losses totalling over USD 1 billion per year, whereas research has shown that planting climate resilient maize varieties can lead to up to a 25 % increase in crop yields.

Exploring new pest or drought resistant varieties in a regional will require demonstration and testing in ‘test plots’, so extension workers can ensure that the outcomes are aligned with farmers wants/needs/tastes, and so farmers are familiar with the new varieties before they are mainstreamed. Acceptance of new varieties, and any changes is traits will be critical, as resistant varieties is a key intervention for climate adaptation in southern Africa, as they will allow farmers to remain productive for longer under challenging conditions, and while different crops altogether are investigated.

Vaccination is the administration of immunisation injections to animals in order to prevent, control spread of diseases.  Vaccination campaigns involve administration of vaccine doses to a large population over a short period of time. The veterinary services departments or equivalent of respective countries normally gives free vaccinations to the farming community's animals for diseases which are of either economic significance to people's livelihoods or those that maybe of zoonotic importance (communicable to man from animals). These campaigns are usually fully funded by the government, NGOs to reduce disease outbreaks, prevent spread of an outbreak or improve national herd productivity, and are designed to reach as much livestock as possible. In most countries, free vaccinations are offer for the following diseases: Anthrax(-Cattle), Quarter evil or black quarter disease (Cattle), Contagious abortion (Cattle), Rabies (Dogs & Cats), Foot and Mouth Disease(Cattle)_ as per OIE designation in Disease Control Zones.

 For the message to reach farmers, community radios and involvement of traditional leadership can be used to encourage farmers to participate in vaccination campaigns.  This will help to gain trust and confidence from farmers for the campaign to be successful. Vaccination campaigns is a climate smart practice as it ensures a healthy population able to utilize feed efficiently with a reduced population discharge thus reduced GHG emission.

Resistant breeds Disease resistance is the reduction of pathogen growth in or in a plant or animal; denoting less disease development in a particular breed than that which is relatively susceptible and is specific to a particular strain of disease or attribute. Breeding resistant breeds  . Resistance” means the animal actively fights infection by various means. Building resistant breeds can be done through selection. Selective breeding, sometimes called artificial selection, where different breeds of animals with desired characteristics or attributes like resistance to. drought, heat, cold, salinity, flood, submergence and pests can be developed by selective breeding and thus able to relatively thrive in some conditions which would otherwise not be able to, e.g. This assists in the reduction of diseases, results in healthier productive animals and reduces risk of secondary infections in livestock. These breeds create a potential for more efficient conversion of feed into meat or diary, and thus a climate smart attribute since by reducing emissions per unit of production (proportionately less faeces are dropped per unit consumption of feed) as well as contributing to food security.,. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, local breeds are more resistant to many of the pests and diseases and may be the best option for some farmers in the Arid and semi-arid areas of the region.

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.

Species diversification involves a shift from a single species of livestock to more species in an attempt to manage risk and explore more resilient livestock farming options. Species diversification can be introduced in response to changes in local environment/climate conditions, including increasing temperatures, unreliable sources of water and availability of pasture, etc. The aim of this approach is to explore the introduction of species that may be more viable and adaptable in changing local conditions thus improving production levels by keeping animals that will be productive under harsh weather conditions and sustain the quality of the produce. Diversification as a climate smart practice assists farmers with utilising available resources more effectively, e.g. mixing grazers and browsers. Species that react well to changing climatic conditions may cause a shift of demand from grazers to browsers. This practice mitigates disease control, can improve soil fertility and increase water management. Government policies can also influence farmers in diversifying their species with many countries dedicating agricultural research and extension to explore the introduction of different species (e.g. cattle to goats) to assist farmers. It is important that species that are introduced do not have an adverse impact on local fauna or the surrounding environment.

The Alternative breeds approach involves substitution of breeds, introducing a new (alternative) breed with a current breed to potentially increase production levels in a farm. Breed substitution involves genetic improvement of cattle and goats especially in dairy farming and meat production. Alternative breeds are introduced in order to ascertain competition between breeds based on health, fertility, performance, profits and management requirements. The substitution breeds are picked because there some traits that may be lacking in current breeds at the farm. For example, some farmers in Malawi who have introduced the Black Australop breed of chicken, either by crossbreeding with local chickens or replacing the local chicken altogether. This breed produces much more meat and lays more eggs, which increases farm production and income. This is a climate smart option as it introduces breeds that may require less water or can manage with lower quality feed – thereby reducing costs, and risks.