Abstract
It is critical to develop technologies that simultaneously improve agricultural production, offset impacts of climate change, and ensure food security in a changing climate. Within this context, considerable attention has been given to climate-smart agricultural practices (CSA). This study was conducted to investigate the effects of integrating different CSA practices on crop production, soil fertility, and carbon sequestration after being practiced continuously for up to 10 years. The CSA practices include use of soil and water conservation (SWC) structures combined with biological measures, hedgerow planting, crop residue management, grazing management, crop rotation, and perennial crop-based agroforestry systems. The landscapes with CSA interventions were compared to farmers’ business-as-usual practices (i.e., control). Wheat (Triticum sp.) yield was quantified from 245 households. The results demonstrated that yield was 30–45% higher under CSA practices than the control (p < 0.05). The total carbon stored at a soil depth of 1 m was three- to seven-fold higher under CSA landscapes than the control. CSA interventions slightly increased the soil pH and exhibited 2.2–2.6 and 1.7–2.7 times more total nitrogen and plant-available phosphorus content, respectively, than the control. The time series Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) revealed higher soil moisture content under CSA. The findings illustrated the substantial opportunity of integrating CSA practices to build climate change resilience of resource-poor farmers through improving crop yield, reducing nutrient depletion, and mitigating GHG emissions through soil carbon sequestration.
Highlights
The Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) analysis showed that soil moisture content was increased with time due to the use of integrated climate-smart agricultural practices (CSA) interventions (Figure 4)
This study discussed the impact of integrated CSA practices on soil productivity indicators and wheat yield, using the Southern Ethiopia climate-smart landscapes as a case study
The findings showed that soils under CSA practices exhibited almost twice more total nitrogen and plant-available phosphorus content, respectively, than the farmers’
Summary
There is a wide scientific consensus that agricultural production is being affected by extreme weather events such as droughts, heavy rainfalls, and high temperature [1]. For instance, the agriculture sector shared about 25% of climate changeassociated disasters and losses of around 25 billion USD [2]. In the current climate change scenario, crop yield is estimated to decrease by 30–82% at the end of the 21st century [3], and food production is expected to decrease by 1–5% per decade [4]. The negative impact of climate change on food security is expected to be more severe in low-income countries where crop production depends entirely on rainfall, and the production systems are characterized by low input in such things as fertilizer, agrochemicals, and improved seeds [5,6].
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