Download Regenerative farming, indigenous knowledge and climate change

Regenerative farming, indigenous
knowledge and climate change:
Expand environmentally friendly
agriculture in rural Limpopo
Peter Jacobs
EPD
HSRC, 29 November 2011
COP 17 Side Event
Economic Performance
and Development
Agriculture and climate change
interactions
• Agriculture interacts with climate change in complex
ways and this poses a challenge for crafting,
implementing and adopting climate-friendly farming
policies
• DAFF Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said:
• “We will have to consider the effects of agriculture on climate change as
well as the effects of climate change on agriculture. We know that
agriculture is one of the many green house gas emitters and therefore
we must begin to quantify what the situation in South Africa is.” (Budget
Vote speech 2009: no page number)
• Agriculture is the ‘victim of climate change’
• Some farming practices are ‘climate polluting’
• Climate-friendly farming systems must be adopted to
achieve greenhouse gas emission targets
Research challenge and problem
• Large-scale industrial farming practices:
• heavily reliant on chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels;
• emitters of carbon dioxide, nitrous dioxide and
methane gases- usually expressed as CO2eq
• negatively impact on the environment and climate
change
• Small-farmer responses to climate change:
• adopt regenerative farming practices- use soils as
natural carbon sinks, low-external inputs & indigenous
knowledge
Research scope and objectives
• Draw on village evidence from Limpopo to understand
how IK/traditional agriculture could be harnessed to
shrink the carbon footprint of agriculture
• Document existing land use and farm practices
• Understand current awareness of climate changeagriculture linkages
• How to overcome the barriers (constraints) to adopt
ecologically-friendly farm practices (input use,
cultivation techniques and harvesting);
• the potential contribution of indigenous/traditional
knowledge to reduce the carbon footprint of
agriculture
Climate change and agriculture (1)
• Crop growth cycles vary with the daily temperatures;
• Higher temperatures speed up plant development by
reducing the time between planting and harvesting.
• However, biomass accumulation and crop productivity may
fall as a result of the shortened cycle
• Warmer climates are usually more favourable for the
proliferation of insect pests and could result in higher crop
losses and reduced yields
• Water applications for crop production follow a continuum,
from purely rain-fed to purely irrigated;
• Globally, the majority of crops are produced from rainwater
• Climate change can reduce rain-fed agricultural yields by
as much as 50 percent (IPCC).
Climate change and agriculture (2)
• The contribution of world agriculture and forestry to total
global GHG emissions might be as high as 25%
• Soil organic carbon has been depleted through
• (1) the long-term use of extractive farming practices
and
• (2) the conversion of natural ecosystems into
croplands and grazing lands (e.g., conversion of
wetlands to farmlands, deforestation, etc…)
• Livestock and extensive crop farming tend to reduce
carbon sinks
Climate change and agriculture (3)
• Soil Carbon Sequestration: restores soil organic carbon through
improved farm management practices
• technical potential for Carbon Sequestration is relatively higher in
degraded soils and soils under extractive farming practices
• Crop residue (either directly or after conversion to fuels such as ethanol
or diesel) and manure can be used as sources of fuel in integrated
farming systems
• Intercrop and rotate with clover and other legumes to reduce
fertilizer requirements and adding biologically fixed nitrogen into
soils.
• The ability of farmers to adapt to climate change depends on access
to information and knowledge; access to appropriate agricextension
• increased the likelihood of adaptation and
• more likely to have knowledge of management practices to diversify
their portfolios (that is, adopting new crops or crop varieties, or using
mixed farming systems) in an effort to reduce climate-induced risk.
Traditional/indigenous knowledge practices
to expand environmentally friendly farming
• IK systems have been used by communities to protect
natural resources from unsustainable exploitation
• IK/traditional farming is based on a high degree of
biodiversity- covering some 5 million hectares
• activation of soil biology, the recycling of nutrients, the
enhancement of biological pest suppression
• Examples: Southern Asia is known for its traditional
water harvesting systems and techniques
• IK chicken farming in Uganda: banana leaves
facilitate eggs hatching; mixture of ash, ground
pepper, enjahi (cannabis) and water to treat
common disease among chicken, feed chicken petero
leaves to peck as a de-worming agent; etc…
South Africa Policy Context (1)
• Environmental/ecological rights entrenched in Section 24 of 1996
Constitution
• (b)(iii)…ecologically sustainable development and use of
natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and
social development…
• National Climate Change Response White Paper (DEA 2011):
• Outlines SA commitments to making a fair and nationally
appropriate contribution to global greenhouse gas emission
targets
• Emissions peak around 2025-2035 and absolute decline
thereafter
• Grounded in principles that integrate commitments to equity,
ecological sustainability and feasible pathways towards an
environmentally-friendly society
• Interventions that integrate mitigation and adaptation elements
within a developmental framework
• Agriculture has an important role to play to transition SA to
lower-carbon and climate smart society
South Africa Policy Context (2)
• Market-driven greenhouse gas reduction: Carbon Tax
(Treasury 2010)
• Tax climate polluting industries in order for them to
internalise the ‘social cost of climate damage’
• Price carbon emissions and calculate the amount
(monetary value) of the levy polluters must pay
• Strategic plan of Agriculture (2001; 2011/15)
• Emphasis on socio-economic redress, but marginal
references to environmental and ecological concerns
• In passing, it underscores the need to adopt
environmentally friendly production systems, such as
organic agriculture and integrated crop management.
South Africa Policy Context (3)
• Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act(CARA
1983)
• National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act
(NEMBA, 2004)
• governs environmental resources used for agriculture
• indigenous biological resources and its sustainable
use
• Organic farming draft policy (work in progress)
• Agro-ecological agriculture draft policy (not for public
circulation…)
Limpopo Case Study- Methodology
• Qualitative study based on mixed focus groups- participants
identified with aid of local agricultural extension officers;
• FGS planned (semi-structured) interviews with farmers, nonfarmers and community leaders- but time and other
constraints prevented consistent application across all sites;
• Individual interviews with relevant DAFF & LDA policy
makers- selective to get a sense of climate change
awareness and progress on policy development and practice
• Study context/sites: 5 study sites spread across 3 district
municipalities in sub-tropical agro-ecological zone of
Limpopo- hot summer with cool to cold winter;
• Sub-humid: Mothiba & Makhotopong (Capricorn); Vuvha
(Thengwe Valley); Mashamba (Elim); Sterkstroom
(Thohoyandou)
• Arid: Dzumeri (Giyani);
Limpopo Case Study- Background
• Profile of participants:
• On average, ±70% female farmers; average age >45 per
site; generally low levels of schooling and rare secondary
schooling or tertiary education
• Land tenure system:
• mainly permission to occupy rather than freehold title;
chief is the custodian of land
• Small average farm sizes:
• Mashamba: 5ha per family (AgriVen allocated for maize)
• Makhotopong : 1.28 ha under dry land (rainfed) cropping
• Mothiba (Leolo community, started in 2002 ): ±2 ha
• Vuvha: sizes ranges between 0.5 ha to 5 ha
• Sterkstroom (project & homestead gardens): 1.5 ha to 3 ha
• Dzumeri: 2 ha to 3 ha
Farming practices (1)
• Fields and farming knowledge and skills passed on from
generation to generation
• Makotopong farmers grow staple food crops such as
maize and sorghum; farming is limited to the summer rainy
season- similar to Mothiba community farm project.
• Buy seeds from local cooperative and village shops
• Use donkeys to plough fields, but those who can afford it,
hire tractors
• Animal manure is the chief means to sustain soil fertility, but
some use fertilizers (organic?).
• There has been a decrease in crop yield over the years, but
this varies with each year.
• ‘Rains no longer come during their original season’
Farming practices (2)
• Vuvha farmers: grow maize intercropped with groundnuts,
cowpeas and bambara beans particularly fields near the rivers or
wetlands and some of them also keep livestock.
• To improve organic matter status of the soil farmers plough
manure and crop residues into spoil after harvesting; using hybrid
seeds- using drought resistant cultivars like SNK 2147 and Pioneer
473, yet decline in yields.
• Mashamba irrigation scheme started- mainly to plant & harvest
vegetables, maize, groundnuts
• Not experiencing soil erosion, but vegetable farmers are farming
on ‘local wetlands’
• Sterkstroom: plant maize, groundnuts, and sweet-potatoes;
• Depend on rainwater and harvest by cutting tree branches and
putting them across the slopes to trap water as well as to prevent
soil erosion
• Tillage- oxen but also tractors
Climate change awareness…
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Awareness of climate change exists and is associated with:
• Above normal temperatures
• Frequent droughts
• Poor plant growth and declining yields across seasons (last 10
years)
• community leaders highlighted deforestation as a concern in
Makotopong.
Vuvha farmers reported occasional flooding of their fields due to
heavy rains, however
‘Rainfall has been very unreliable since the year 2000’
Non-farmers in Vuvha: “…deforestation is a major cause of climatic
change and strategies are needed to prevent people from depending on
firewood to earn income. … jobs must be created so that we can get
money to buy electricity”
Compared to the application of ‘animal manure ‘, artificial fertilizer does
not restore ‘soil organic matter’
Rising frequency of fires during winter that burn all pastures
(Mashamba)
Climate change mitigation and adaptation…
• Mothiba farmers said that rotation farming could help to restore
nutrients in soil, but this is not an option due to the small size of
land allocated the each farmer.
• Farmers at the Sterkstroom site have been observing climate
change for more than 10 years- unpredictable rainfall patterns,
drying of rivers and fountains ;
• Frequent droughts in Vuvha have resulted in ‘communities
clearing and cultivating wetlands’ that show signs of drying up
• Local authority imposing fines (1 bull/cow) if caught cutting trees
for firewood in Vuvha
• Leaders at the Mashamba site said: “Use indigenous value
system to restrict felling of wild fruit trees- Fig tree (Muhuyu),
Marula tree (Mufula) and Musuma “
• Need government support to better respond to climate changesupply irrigation water systems and train farmers in rainwater
harvesting techniques
Key messages and insights (1)
• Small farmers across 5-sites in Limpopo have adopted
various farm practices to increase their agricultural
yields- with an increasing application of modern external
inputs
• Given the mixed evidence on longer-term yields (& ‘externalities’), the
need exists for more systematic research; also investigate social and
institutional dynamics;
• Across all sites, found some awareness of climate
change and its impact on farming activities (particularly
crop losses):
• it is associated with higher temperatures, frequent exposure to
extreme weather events, unpredictable ‘rainy seasons’ over last
10 years, etc…
• Key drivers of climate change: deforestation, industrial pollution,
etc…
Key messages and insights (2)
• Generally, climate change was not associated with ‘harmful
farming practices’;
• heavy reliance on external inputs (tractors result in
compaction of soils organic matter; chemical fertilizers
deplete soil organic matter over time; GMO seeds, etc…)
• Unaware that their own farming practices might be
contributing towards climate change• ‘invading wetlands’
• A small number of farmers engage in climate-smart
agricultural practices,
• passed on from generation-to-generation but there is a
need for more in-depth investigation of these methods
Conclusions and policy
recommendations
• Climate change is a large-scale societal and human concern, yet
deep analysis embedded in social structures and human behaviour
is absent from almost all big analyses and debates (Storm 2009,
Lohmann 2010)
• Focused on abstract techno-scientific fixes to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions of social
• Combines with economic calculus
• Upscale and rethink the contribution of social sciences to climate
change
• Dramatically raise climate change awareness through participatory
approaches
• Information flow gaps and losses between policy crafting and
grassroots implementation
• Appropriate transmission of knowledge from top-level DAFF
scientists to extension officers interacting with resource-poor
farmers- increase frequency of sessions