Rain-fed Agriculture Research Articles

Managing Root Parasitic Weeds to Facilitate Legume Reintroduction into Mediterranean Rain-Fed Farming Systems

Grain and forage legumes are important sources of food and feed, key for sustainable agriculture given the environmental services they provide. However, their cultivation is hampered in the Mediterranean Basin and Near East by the widespread occurrence of the root parasitic weed crenate broomrape (Orobanche crenata). Other broomrape species such as O. minor, O. foetida, and Phelipanche aegyptica are also of local importance. As for other parasitic weeds, a number of management strategies have been proposed, but considering that temperate legumes in the area are low-input crops, these strategies are largely uneconomical or hard to achieve, leaving the use of resistant cultivars as the most desirable option. Breeding for broomrape resistance is not an easy task, but significant progress has been achieved by classical breeding and selection and will profit from recent developments in phenomics and genomics. Here, achievements and prospects in broomrape management and resistance breeding are presented and critically discussed.

Numerical analyses ridge-forming for whole film-mulching and double ridge-furrow, a discrete element method

The Northwest of China is a typical production mode of rain-fed agriculture, which mostly adopts the whole film-mulching and double ridge–furrow technique to address the difficulty of surface water storage. However, the quality of ridge formation directly affects the water storage on both sides of the ridges, the reliability of plastic film mulching, and the crop growth. This study focused on the process of rotary tillage ridging, took different inclination angles and depths of ridger as variable factors, explored the influence of different operation parameters on the quality of ridge forming. The soil viscoelastic model was established in the study using the discrete element method. The changes in ridger resistance, ridge structure, and soil particle disturbance were analyzed in detailed, respectively. The results indicated that as the inclination angles and depths of ridger increased, the resistance of ridger also increased. The height of the ridges significantly influenced by the inclination angles and depths of ridger, and under the same inclination angles of ridger, the height of the ridges was directly proportional to the depth of ridger. Under different combinations of operational parameters, the height of the small ridges had good agreement with the ridging agronomy. As for the large ridges, when the depth of ridger was 100 mm and the inclination angles were 15°, 30°, and 45°, the working parameters met the agronomic requirements for ridge forming. In terms of soil disturbance, the soil located within a range of 30–90 mm from the surface was most susceptible to disturbance from the rotary tillage and the ridger, and the soil disturbance was stronger in the small ridges compared to the large ridges. The results of study contributed to a deeper understanding of the rotary tillage ridging process and provided insights into the factors influencing the quality of ridge forming.

Evidence of Climate Change and Seasonal Agricultural Drought in Kakamega South Sub-County, Kakamega County, Kenya

Changes in climate have led to shifts in weather patterns outside the normal range of variation over a given time period, attributed to either human action or natural causes. This has led to reduced precipitation, which consequently results in reduced water availability for farming in some seasons, hence the seasonal agricultural drought. This has greatly impacted smallholder farmers, lowering their agricultural productivity. This study was undertaken in Kakamega South Sub-County in Kakamega County to determine the impact of the seasonal agricultural drought. The discrete choice model and capability theory were used in this study. Both qualitative and quantitative research designs were used. Both primary and secondary data sources were utilized, and they included questionnaires, interview schedules, focused group discussions (FGDs), and field Secondary data sources, including rainfall and temperature data, were collected from the meteorological station for a period of 35 years (1985–2020). Using Krejce and Morgan tables, a sample size of 377 households was obtained using simple random sampling from a target population of 26,940. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. The results of this study established that there was evidence of climate change and seasonal agricultural drought in Kakamega South sub-county as rainfall is positively correlated with humidity (r = 0.834, p< 0.05). Humidity is negatively correlated with annual maize production (r = -0.869, p< 0.05) and annual average temperature (r = -0.813, p< 0.05). The study recommended that in order to adapt to the effects of climate change that are a result of seasonal agricultural drought, there was a need to improve the sustainability of crop production in the Kakamega South Sub-County by supplementing rain-fed farming with drip irrigation, rainwater gathering, and greenhouse techniques.

Role of Rainfed Farming on Farm Household Income in Waru Village Bantarkawung Brebes

Agriculture is the major contributor to the Brebes Regency's Gross Regional Domestic Product and employment, and rice constitutes the principal crop. Bantarkawung District is the leading producer of rice in the Brebes Regency. However, most of the paddy fields in Bantarkawung are rain-fed, so rice growing is hindered during the dry season due to a water shortage. This study's objective is to assess the farm profits obtained by households and the contribution of rice farming to household income. The population comprises 445 rice-farming families in Waru Village, from which 82 rice farmers were randomly selected. Interviews with respondents were conducted in March 2022. The variables include revenue, costs, profit, and household income. The analytical instruments consist of profit analysis and income contribution. Profit analysis was calculated using the R/C ratio, and the income contribution was calculated by comparing the profit of rainfed rice farming with farm household income. The results indicate that rainfed rice cultivation in Waru Village is profitable. The R/C is more than one, in the range of 1.22 to 2.10. Nonetheless, the contribution of rainfed rice farming to household income is small, ranging from 0.7% to 22.85%. The findings suggest that rainfed rice farmers in Waru Village should be able to sustain their farms because this type of cultivation is profitable despite its reliance on rainwater for irrigation. In addition, it is envisaged that the government, through the appropriate agencies, will enhance the road infrastructure to enable the transfer of agricultural inputs and outputs, offer the necessary socialization, and help boost production.

Homogenous Climatic Regions for Targeting Green Water Management Technologies in the Abbay Basin, Ethiopia

Spatiotemporal climate variability is a leading environmental constraint to the rain-fed agricultural productivity and food security of communities in the Abbay basin and elsewhere in Ethiopia. The previous one-size-fits-all approach to soil and water management technology targeting did not effectively address climate-induced risks to rain-fed agriculture. This study, therefore, delineates homogenous climatic regions and identifies climate-induced risks to rain-fed agriculture that are important to guide decisions and the selection of site-specific technologies for green water management in the Abbay basin. The k-means spatial clustering method was employed to identify homogenous climatic regions in the study area, while the Elbow method was used to determine an optimal number of climate clusters. The k-means clustering used the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) daily rainfall, minimum and maximum temperatures, and other derived climate variables that include daily rainfall amount, length of growing period (LGP), rainfall onset and cessation dates, rainfall intensity, temperature, potential evapotranspiration (PET), soil moisture, and AsterDEM to define climate regions. Accordingly, 12 climate clusters or regions were identified and mapped for the basin. Clustering a given geographic region into homogenous climate classes is useful to accurately identify and target locally relevant green water management technologies to effectively address local-scale climate-induced risks. This study also provided a methodological framework that can be used in the other river basins of Ethiopia and, indeed, elsewhere.

Ecosystem-based adaptation practices to stem climate change impacts: smallholder farmers’ perspectives

ABSTRACT Local climate change impacts hit hard at smallholder farmers in developing countries due to their overreliance on rain-fed farming. Whilst ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) to climate change holds an answer to smallholder farmers' adaptation needs, there are inadequate empirical results from the field to support formulation of effective adaptation strategies. Hence, this paper aimed at investigating EbA practices adopted by farmers, in North-Western Ghana to ameliorate local climate change impacts, with emphasis on benefits and associated challenges. The study methods were cross-sectional survey, mixed methods, and case study approach, with all data collected in the Wa West District of Ghana. Data were gathered using questionnaire, focus group discussion (FGD) and interviews. Data from the questionnaire were entered into SPSS version 20 to analyze associations between the variables using cross-tabulation. Descriptive statistics, in the form of percentages and frequencies, were then generated from the survey data and integrated with the qualitative information in the presentation of results. Also, statistical significance of the relationships was analyzed using chi-square test. Chi-squared tests were done to determine associations between socio-economic and environmental factors, and challenges and benefits associated with the adoption of EbA practices. This was necessary to give further insights to inform policy-related decisions aimed at addressing EbA adoption challenges. The results revealed that farmers use a combination of practices rather than single practice. Farmers integrated crops and trees and keep local breed of farm animals. Benefits of EbA included improvements in soil fertility leading to high crop yield and availability of food and income. Challenges of adopting EbA were the long timespan for benefits of most EbA practices to begin to accrue, lack of extension information and increasing cost of hired labour. It is recommended that tree integration should emphasis trees with multiple benefits and compatible with food crops.

Assessment of Temperature of Ramgarh District, Jharkhand, India: A Case Study of Coalfield’s Temperature

Global interest in climate variability, especially annual temperature changes, necessitates an analysis of spatiotemporal meteorological dynamics, particularly in regions relying on rain-fed coal field agriculture areas. This study examines the impacts of temperature trends and climate change in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district, India. Six sub-divisions, such as Ramgarh, Gola, Chitarpur, Mandu, Patratu, and Dulmi, are under-examined, exploring long-term temperature changes from 1981 to 2022. Leveraging the Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope Test, a 42-year data set analysis uncovers a decrease in average and maximum temperatures, contrasting an increasing minimum temperature trend. Applying Sen's slope for each temperature category Maximum, Minimum, and Average at Six sub-divisions of the Ramgarh district where Mandu has the highest increasing slope of 0.01 was observed in minimum temperature. However, Gola’s maximum and average temperature observed the highest decreasing slope among all stations. Similar patterns were found at other stations. Hence, our study suggests that additional attention should be given to the variability of temperature, and it is imperative to consider the increasing temperature trend to mitigate its effects on human well-being.

Smallholder Farmers’ Perception of Climate Risks at Municipality Level in South Africa

High dependence on rain-fed agriculture impose smallholder farmers to a plethora of climate risks which are detrimental to agroecosystems and socio-economic status. Assessment of the impact of climate variability and change at farm level is key to developing suitable agro-advisories toward mitigating climate risks. Smallholder farmers in the semi-arid areas of South Africa are most vulnerable to heightened sensitivity to extreme weather events and inadequate exposure to adaptive capacity. The increasing pressures brought in by weather events, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, increasing population is threatening food security and sustainable livelihoods. The study conducted a reconnaissance review with smallholder farmers from selected local municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and Free State provinces. The purpose for this analysis was to determine local climate related challenges, gaps, shocks and barriers. The survey further, identified agricultural practices, climate risks, access to climate related advisories, access to other scientific knowledge and factors hindering sustainability, stability, and profitability. We further discussed the importance of drought in situ monitoring since drought was identified as the measure limiting factor to agricultural productivity. The existing challenge on the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the accessibility of agrometeorological application knowledge to smallholder farmers. Thus overcoming the constraints limiting the adoption of climate smart agriculture, weather and climate use, and minimise climatic risks and improve smallholder agricultural production.

Implementation of Smart Farming in Horticultural Cultivation Aquaponics Method in Ngeposari Village

Ngeposari Village, Semanu District, Gunung Kidul Regency, DIY, is 40 km from the campus. Most people work in the agricultural sector. In particular, the community uses a rain-fed agricultural system. Rain-fed agriculture has limited water availability and relies on rainwater as a source. Rain-fed agricultural land is at high risk of drought. Therefore, through the PPK ORMAWA program, students are trying to contribute, educating the public on agricultural development, through the concept of smart farming in cultivating horticultural plants. The community can implement the concept of smart farming, horticulture, and tilapia cultivation through the aquaponics method. This is an effort to meet the need for healthy food and increase the income of village communities. The program uses a community empowerment system through 3 stages, namely awareness, capacity building and empowerment. The awareness stage is intended to provide understanding and awareness for the community regarding the potential they have and the sectors that can be developed. The community awareness stage is a crucial first step and is the basis for community empowerment. At the capacity building stage, the community is given counseling and assistance to be able to actively implement smart farming as an empowerment stage. Activities were carried out well until the end of the third stage.

Observed changes in wet days and dry spells over the IGAD region of eastern Africa

Changes in wet and dry patterns have an impact on rain-fed agriculture, crop productivity, and food security in Eastern Africa. The purpose of this research is to look into the changes in wet days and dry periods within the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region. Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station Data (CHIRPS) and Multi Models Ensembles (MME) of 10 historical simulations and projections from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) models were employed as the data source. Several statistical approaches, as well as wet and dry spell thresholds, were used to calculate patterns of change in wet and dry spells on a decadal (10-year), 20, 30, and 41-year time scale. The results show the region exhibits decrease a decrease in the number of wet days and protracted dry spells in the 1980s, followed by an extraordinary (exceptional) increase in wet days in the subsequent decades (2011–2020) during March–May (MAM), June–September (JJAS), and October-December (OND). In Kenya, Somalia, southeastern Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, the probability of surpassing 7, 14, 21, 28 days (1, 2, 3, 4 spells) was less than 5%. Furthermore, floods in 1997, 2018, 2019, and 2020, as well as droughts in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 2021, were triggered by an increase or decrease in the number of wet days and dry spells over most of the region. The number of wet days is projected to decrease by 10–20% during the MAM season across Sudan, South Sudan, and central and northern Ethiopia, JJAS is projected to increase by 30–50% across central and northern Sudan. However, during the OND season, increases are projected over Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya under three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5) scenarios. These findings contributed to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the IGAD region, as well as decision-making, food security, and the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies. We encourage rain-fed agriculture, crop variety planning, and irrigation supplement.

An African perspective on the Water-Energy-Food nexus

There is a need to address resource security and distributional justice in developing countries. People need water, energy, and food to sustain their livelihoods, grow economies, and achieve sustainable development. The interactions between these resource sectors form the crux of water-energy-food (WEF) nexus assessments. In this study, we have utilised the WEF Nexus Index to analyse the WEF nexus of 54 African nations. The results from the analysis were used to illustrate the opportunities and constraints for future development. Generally, African countries are performing sub-optimally in the WEF Nexus Index due to the insecurity of water, energy and/or food. The performance of countries varies with context, highlighting the need for contextual analysis in identifying challenges and potential solutions. Implementation of interventions for achieving WEF security needs to be planned from an integrated perspective to optimise synergies and minimize trade-offs. Implementation of the WEF nexus approach towards simultaneous security of WEF resources has potential to improve the WEF nexus. For example and for many African countries, policies that undergird investments in energy supply projects are needed to unlock available freshwater resources and meet food requirements—energy is shown to be a critical enabler of development. Such projects can be utilised to enhance the ability of farmers to manage water through drought-proofing rainfed agriculture, an increase in irrigation development, or both. WEF nexus-based studies, policies, and projects must be focused on the direct and indirect achievement of SDGs 1, 2, 6, 7, and 13, both in terms of access and availability, to ensure distributional justice, especially in the African context. Such actions, combined with broad public participation, can have a ripple effect on other SDGs such as SDGs 5, 10, and 17, thereby reducing inequalities and building partnerships to attain these aspirational goals. The assessment of Africa’s relatively low scores in terms of the WEF Nexus Index does not represent a negative narrative. Instead, it provides an entry point to identifying hotspots and understanding the underlying challenges, through which more detailed analyses can lead to identified solutions and policies. Many African countries are trapped in an environment that could be termed a ‘poverty-unemployment-inequality nexus’ (due to the interlinkages that exist between these ‘wicked’ problems). The WEF Nexus Index provides high-level insights into these opportunities.

An Investigation on the Components of the Living Standards: Evidence from Ethiopia

Adaption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 by United Nations member states is an urgent call for action to improve human lives while protecting environment. As any other developed and developing members, Ethiopia is also expected to response the call for action. Ethiopia is a country with high dependency on rain-fed agriculture, severe drought as a result of climate change and wrong human action, widespread poverty, and high dependency on humanitarian aid which requires a careful investigation to deal with its problematic situations. This paper offers a household level investigation on the components of living standards or welfare in Ethiopia, utilising COVID-19 High Frequency Phone Survey of Households 2020. Findings suggest that living area, ownership of dwelling, Access to water and electricity, having a rental income, and the number of household members significantly associated with the level of consumption, that are expected to provide guidance for policy makers.

Role of Agrometeorological Advisory Services in Enhancing Food Security and Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change

Abstract Providing knowledge inputs to farmers is critical to reduce their vulnerability and enhance resilience against climate change. In developing countries such as India, where small holdings and rain-fed agriculture are predominant, knowledge inputs become even more critical. The India Meteorological Department has provided integrated agrometeorological advisory services (AAS) to farmers since 2008. In this paper, we estimate the scale of access to AAS and its impact on crop yields in 1000 households across 10 villages in two agroclimatic zones in India. We find evidence suggesting that access to AAS can have a significant impact on crop yields in the kharif (June–September) season, whereas other inputs are more important in the case of rabi (winter) crops. Specifically, the yields of pigeon pea, soybean, and pearl millet are higher by 233, 98, and 318 kg ha−1, respectively, for AAS beneficiaries. For the entire study area, this translates to a value addition of $9.66 million for these three crops in one season. Our results show that AAS can be an important contributor to meeting the developmental goals of enhancing food security in dry-land agriculture and building resilience against climate change. Significance Statement In the era of climate change, with rapidly increasing weather and climatic variability, protecting the incomes of small farmers and ensuring they have the capacity to adapt and build resilience to the growing impacts of climate change is an urgent necessity. We have studied the impact of knowledge services such as the agrometeorological advisory services of the India Meteorological Department on crop yields for major crops in dry agroclimatic zones in India. The study shows that large public programs like the agrometeorological advisory services that bring science to people in meaningful ways can contribute significantly to meeting developmental goals and building resilience against climate change.

Climate Change and Sweet Potato Production; Empirical Insights from Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Climate change poses significant challenges to agriculture and land productivity particularly in regions heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture like Ebonyi State, Nigeria. This study analyzed the effects of climate change on sweet potato production in Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 301 respondents. The drafted questionnaire was used for data collection following the specific objectives of study. Descriptive statistics, land productivity model, and multiple regression model were used for the data analysis. Results revealed that the majority of respondents (64.1%) were males, married (73.1%), young (42.2%), experienced (55.5%) and relatively educated (49.8%) with household and farm sizes of 7 and 1.8 hectares. The majority of the farmers (41.5%) were aware of changes in climate. Farm sizes of 1.1-2.0 hectares produced the highest land productivity (1769.831 hectares) in the state from about 51.5% of the farmers. Rising temperature, rainfall, and number of rainy days, influenced sweet potato production negatively; while sunshine hours and relative humidity had significant positive influences. Poor access to extension and services, land fragmentation, capital, inadequate information concerning climate change, and high cost of input resources constrained potato cultivation. The study recommends farmers to practice climate smart agricultural techniques and to seek early climate change information to mitigate negative effects of changing climate on sweet potato production.

Determination of Water Requirements for Major Crops in Sindh Using Cropwat Model

Due to population growth and increasing urbanization trends, there is a shortage of water around the world. Irrigation systems are critical for increasing crop output and ensuring food security. Desertification caused by humans and water shortages have further exacerbated the world's regular water scarcity, putting a significant impact on food production. Water scarcity and rising food demands necessitate greater efficiency in water use, both in rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. Hence, it is the most demanding requirement for the farming community to use some type of irrigation planning to conserve the limited water resources. The purpose of this study is to calculate crop water requirements and irrigation scheduling for some major crops in Sindh using the CROPWAT model developed by FAO of United Nations. In this regard, selection from among the major crops cultivated in the Sindh province of Pakistan was made in such a way at least one crop from each category be included in this research. Accordingly, Wheat as Rabi, Rice as Kharif, Sugarcane as Perineal and Chili and Rape-seed Mustard as Cash Crops were selected. CROPWAT model calculates crop water requirements and irrigation scheduling from existing or new climatic- and crop-information. The Input crop data for CROPWAT software was obtained from various online resources and published information, whereas, climatic data incorporated in the CLIMWAT tool attached with CROPWAT was utilized. In addition, the software used average rainfall data of the particular years for each crop observed at DRIP Tandojam metrological station. The results of water requirements for the crops were obtained through CROPWAT model are: Wheat (352.1 mm); Rice (1662.5 mm); Sugarcane (2184.5 mm); Chili (714.4 mm); and Rape-seed Mustard (475.6 mm), while those by lysimeter were: Wheat (415 mm); Rice (1633 mm); Sugarcane 2150 mm); Chili (808.9 mm); and Rape-seed mustard (424.87 mm). These results delineate that there is decrease in crop water requirement of Wheat, Rice, Sugarcane and Chili to the tune of 15%, 1.5%, 11.6% and 1.7%, respectively, whereas an increase of 12% for Rape-seed mustard.

Assessing climate change-induced poverty of mixed crop-livestock smallholders in Wolaita zone

Climate changes manifest itself through increased temperature, a more variable rainfall and more extreme events. As a matter of fact, smallholder farmers who produce climate-sensitive crop-livestock species are among the most affected to it due to reliance on rainfall, inadequate use of irrigation, and weak adaptive capacity. Accordingly, there are little evidences that reveals climate change is causing multi-dimensional poverty among mixed crop-livestock smallholders. Thus, this study was aimed at analyzing climate change-induced multidimensional poverty and its factors which contribute to it. Thus, data from households on socio-economic and environmental issues and thirty years rainfall and temperature data were collected. At the meantime, multi-dimensional poverty index, probit model, parametric test were applied to analyze data along with descriptive statistics. Accordingly, eleven variables showed statistically significant differences between poor and non-poor. Furthermore, the temperature in the study area was increased but rainfall trend decreased overtime. Since the livelihood of smallholder farmers is extremely dependent on rain-fed agriculture, the change in these climatic parameters negatively affected their livelihood. On the other hand, using a multidimensional-based measure of poverty; the estimates show that 82% of the sample households were multi-dimensionally poor. The incidence of poverty was highest in Abala Gefeta village (89%) followed by Bossa Wanche (80%) and Abala Shoya (84%). The result of probit regression estimation procedure revealed that variables such as access to climate information, productive safety net program and off/non-farm income at (1%), credit amount gained at (5%), sex, utilizing improved agricultural technologies and livestock holding at (10%) affects climate change-induced poverty negatively and significantly. Therefore, it is concluded that climate change-induced poverty of crop-livestock smallholders would be reduced through improving agricultural technology utilization by the farmers and providing timely climatic information and putting early warning system in place.

Assessing the Influence of Water Conservancy Projects on China’s Reserve Resources for Cultivated Land

The development of reserve resources of cultivated land (RRCL) is a vital way of supplementing cultivated land in the northern arid and semi-arid regions of China. This study developed a suitability evaluation system for reserve resources of cultivated land from the nature–function–environment perspective. The evaluation considered the construction of water conservancy projects, establishing two scenarios of rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. The evaluation results for unused land were divided into four levels, including highly suitable, relatively suitable, moderately suitable and unsuitable, using the three-dimensional Rubik’s cube spatial classification method. The results show that: (1) Under the rain-fed agriculture scenario, the developable quantity and quality of unused land were poor. The potential area of reserve resources of cultivated land only accounted for 5% of the total area. (2) Under the irrigated agriculture scenario, the potential area of reserve resources of cultivated land increased to 21% of the total unused land. The areas were mainly distributed in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu. The research considered the impact of water conservancy projects on the development and utilization of reserve resources of cultivated land. It can provide references for the development of arable land resources and territorial spatial planning in China.

Technical Efficiency of Irrigated and Rain-fed Rice Farms in North Sumatra, Indonesia

The present paper compares the efficiency of irrigated and rain-fed farming in North Sumatra using a household farm survey for the 2022 growing season. The authors use the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, mean difference test, and Tobit regression. Empirical results reveal that irrigated farming is more efficient than rain-fed based on CRS and SE assumptions. However, access to irrigation was found to harm rice farming efficiency. Unequal distribution of water, scarcity of water during the growth period, and excess water during the harvest cause a decrease in the efficiency of irrigated farming. The age of the head of household, education, and access to credit was also found to harm technical efficiency. In contrast, the experience variable in participating in farmer groups because it has a positive impact on the efficiency of rice farming. The results provide valuable insights for transforming water management and strengthening the need for investment in irrigation infrastructure as a poverty alleviation mechanism and means to achieve rice farming sustainability in North Sumatra.

Adapting the land agricultural suitability assessment scheme for drylands edaphoclimatic conditions

ABSTRACT The rational exploitation of the land requires planning its agricultural use, which can be supported by the agricultural land suitability (ALS) assessment. The scheme to assess ALS proposed by Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) has been adopted in Brazil based on guiding charts for subtropical, humid tropical and semi-arid tropical climate. However, the guiding chart used for the semi-arid region has dramatically limited the ALS in drylands on which rainfed agriculture has been practiced. In this study, an adequation for the ALS assessment regarding the edaphoclimatic conditions of semi-arid region was proposed to improve the representation of agricultural areas and to allow a better planning of soil conservation practices. The ALS of the south region of Ceará State (Brazil) was assessed according to the FAO scheme and its initial adaptation to the Brazilian conditions; subsequently, this assessment was obtained by two adequations. Adequation I disregarded the limiting factor of water availability, while adequation II, besides disregarding the factor of water availability, established new limits for the classes of effective soil depth. The adequations resulted in an increase of 177.19 % in the areas with regular suitability for crops to the detriment of areas with restricted suitability for crops and areas with suitability only for pasture or grazing lands. The adequations increased the agricultural suitability in 41.26 % of the area of the mapping units, and 16.77 % of them were due to the modifications related to the effective soil depth, while the other 26.35 % were due to the changes related to water availability. The results related to water availability were equivalent to those observed through the dynamic analysis of land-use and cover associated with the rainfall, which demonstrated an increase in the areas for rainfed agriculture and a reduction in fallow and pasture areas in the years with rainfall within the climatic normality. The areas considered suitable for crop production with the adequation of the scheme may be included in soil conservation programs.

Climate Change Effects on Employment in the Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector

Climate change poses mounting risks to agricultural development and rural livelihoods in Nigeria. This study investigates the impacts of climate change on agricultural sector employment in Nigeria. Agriculture provides income and sustenance for much of Nigeria’s rural population. However, smallholder rain-fed farming predominates, with minimal resilience to climate shifts. Historical data reveal rising temperatures and declining, erratic rainfall across Nigeria’s agro-ecological zones since the 1970s. Crop modeling predicts further climate changes will reduce yields of key staple crops. This threatens the viability of smallholder agriculture and risks widespread job losses. The study adopts a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) modeling approach to evaluate climate change effects on agricultural sector employment in Nigeria from 1990 to 2020. Findings reveal reduced rainfall initially raises employment, as farming requires more labor in dry conditions. However, protracted droughts significantly reduce agricultural jobs. Increased temperatures consistently lower farm employment through reduced yields and incomes. Based on these findings, the study recommends that adaptive strategies are urgently needed to build resilience, promote climate-smart agriculture, and safeguard rural livelihoods.