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Rainfed areas are the home of millions of resource poor farmers whose livelihood is under continuous threat due to frequent droughts. Assuring double cropping and imparting livelihood resilience to rainfed smallholders is a challenge. A study was planned in this direction during 2013–2021 for livelihood resilience and sustainable intensification of rainfed smallholder farming systems through rain water harvesting and agroforestry based interventions. The one hectare rainfed farming system model comprising of rain water harvesting farm pond (25 m × 20 m × 2.5 m), less water requiring food crops (groundnut–barley and sorghum–chickpea), agrihorticulture [Ziziphus mauritiana + (Sesamum indicum–Cicer arietinum)], silvipasture (Leucaena leucocephala + Tri-species hybrid grass + Stylosanthes hamata) and boundary plantation (Leucaena leucocephala and Opuntia ficus-indica) was evaluated at on-station as well as promoted on-farm. The goat rearing potential of the above model was also estimated under intensive and semi-intensive systems. The on-station rainfed farming system module produced 4979 kg ha−1 barley equivalent yield consisting of multiple products like barley, chickpea, groundnut, Indian jujube fruits, sesame, fodder (sorghum, TSH, Stylosanthes, Leucaena dried leaf meal and spine-less fodder cactus cladodes) and Grewia fruits and resulted in 655 US$ year−1 net returns with a benefit cost ratio of 2.1. The carrying capacity of the above model was found to be 9 and 35 goat year−1 under intensive and semi-intensive rearing systems, respectively. The net returns increased by 36 and 226% with the inclusion of goat under intensive (US$ 892) and semi-intensive rearing system (US$ 2136), respectively in the rainfed farming system model. It was evident from the study that inclusion of goat, agroforestry and farm pond for rain water harvesting in the rainfed farming have resulted in higher profitability and resilience to less rainfall and its aberrations. Contrarily, the on-farm observations revealed that farmers could not take winter season crops without rain water harvesting. The rain water harvesting proved to be the key for reducing chances of crop failures due to droughts, ensuring double cropping (cropping intensity up to 200%) and sustainable intensification in rainfed areas. It can be concluded from the present study that intervention of water harvesting, agroforestry and goat in rainfed farming systems could enhance the farm productivity and profitability and impart resilience to the livelihood of rainfed farmers in semi-arid tropics.

This study examined the impacts of long-term (47 years) exclosure, continuous grazing, rainfed wheat farming, mowing and seasonal grazing on soil properties, especially soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN), in the cold semi-arid grasslands of Saral Research Station and Mangahol-Zardawan grasslands, Kurdistan, Iran. In this investigation, 180 soil samples were taken from 0-20 cm depth within an area of 1.0 hectare for each land use. Samples were collected in the four non-consecutive years of 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021. Results showed that the value of SOC differed significantly among different land uses (P<0.01). SOC was highest in the seasonally grazed sites and the excluded areas in 2021 with 52,000 and 35,787 kg/ha respectively, while the rainfed wheat farming site had the lowest SOC. TN was also the highest at 4,200 kg/ha in the seasonally grazed area in 2021, while the lowest concentration of TN was recorded in the rainfed farming site. The highest and lowest C/N ratios were recorded in the excluded and rainfed wheat farming with 12.63 and 4.6 respectively. This suggests that, in grasslands with similar ecological conditions, seasonal grazing may be a viable alternative to either continuous grazing, rainfed wheat farming or mowing. Of the land uses examined, exclosure had advantages over wheat growing and year-round grazing, but SOC and TN benefits of exclosure were less clear for mowed and seasonally grazed areas. The role of exclosure in maintaining SOC and TN levels needs further comparative investigations of other land uses.

Droughts continue to affect ecosystems, communities and entire economies. Agriculture bears much of the impact, and in many countries it is the most heavily affected sector. Over the past decades, efforts have been made to assess drought risk at different spatial scales. Here, we present for the first time an integrated assessment of drought risk for both irrigated and rainfed agricultural systems at the global scale. Composite hazard indicators were calculated for irrigated and rainfed systems separately using different drought indices based on historical climate conditions (1980–2016). Exposure was analyzed for irrigated and non-irrigated crops. Vulnerability was assessed through a socioecological-system (SES) perspective, using socioecological susceptibility and lack of coping-capacity indicators that were weighted by drought experts from around the world. The analysis shows that drought risk of rainfed and irrigated agricultural systems displays a heterogeneous pattern at the global level, with higher risk for southeastern Europe as well as northern and southern Africa. By providing information on the drivers and spatial patterns of drought risk in all dimensions of hazard, exposure and vulnerability, the presented analysis can support the identification of tailored measures to reduce drought risk and increase the resilience of agricultural systems.

Understanding the drivers of yield levels under climate change is required to support adaptation planning and respond to changing production risks. This study uses an ensemble of crop models applied on a spatial grid to quantify the contributions of various climatic drivers to past yield variability in grain maize and winter wheat of European cropping systems (1984-2009) and drivers of climate change impacts to 2050. Results reveal that for the current genotypes and mix of irrigated and rainfed production, climate change would lead to yield losses for grain maize and gains for winter wheat. Across Europe, on average heat stress does not increase for either crop in rainfed systems, while drought stress intensifies for maize only. In low-yielding years, drought stress persists as the main driver of losses for both crops, with elevated CO2 offering no yield benefit in these years.

Irrigation is the largest sector of human water use and an important option for increasing crop production and reducing drought impacts. However, the potential for irrigation to contribute to global crop yields remains uncertain. Here, we quantify this contribution for wheat and maize at global scale by developing a Bayesian framework integrating empirical estimates and gridded global crop models on new maps of the relative difference between attainable rainfed and irrigated yield (ΔY). At global scale, ΔY is 34 ± 9% for wheat and 22 ± 13% for maize, with large spatial differences driven more by patterns of precipitation than that of evaporative demand. Comparing irrigation demands with renewable water supply, we find 30–47% of contemporary rainfed agriculture of wheat and maize cannot achieve yield gap closure utilizing current river discharge, unless more water diversion projects are set in place, putting into question the potential of irrigation to mitigate climate change impacts.

Climate variability, particularly that of the annual air temperature and rainfall, has received a great deal of attention worldwide. The magnitude of the variability or fluctuations of the factors varies according to locations. Hence, examining the spatiotemporal dynamics of meteorological variables in the context of changing climate, particularly in countries where rainfed agriculture is predominant, is vital to assess climate‐induced changes and suggest feasible adaptation strategies. To that end, the present study examines long‐term changes and short‐term fluctuations in monsoonal rainfall and temperature over Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (hereafter KBK) districts in the state of Odisha. Both rainfall and temperature data for period of 1980–2017 were analyzed in this study. Statistical trend analysis techniques namely Mann–Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator were used to examine and analyze the problems. The detailed analysis of the data for 37 years indicate that the annual maximum temperature and annual minimum temperature have shown an increasing trend, whereas the monsoon's maximum and minimum temperatures have shown a decreasing trend. Statistically significant trends are detected for rainfall and also the result is statistically significant at 99% confidence limit during the period of 1980–2017. Rainfall is showing a quite good increasing trend (Sen's slope = 4.034) for JJAS season. In the case of maximum temperature for the observed period, it showed a slight warming or increasing trend (Sen's slope = 0.29) while the minimum temperature trend showed a cooling trend (Sen's slope = −0.006) but result of maximum temperature trend analysis is statistically significant at 95% confidence limit, on the contrary, the trend analysis result of minimum temperature is not statistically significant. Location map of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) districts in Odisha.

North Africa is considered a climate change hot spot. Existing studies either focus on the physical aspects of climate change or discuss the social ones. The present article aims to address this divide by assessing and comparing the climate change vulnerability of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia and linking it to its social implications. The vulnerability assessment focuses on climate change exposure, water resources, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The results suggest that all countries are exposed to strong temperature increases and a high drought risk under climate change. Algeria is most vulnerable to climate change, mainly due to the country’s high sensitivity. Across North Africa, the combination of climate change and strong population growth is very likely to further aggravate the already scarce water situation. The so-called Arab Spring has shown that social unrest is partly caused by unmet basic needs of the population for food and water. Thus, climate change may become an indirect driver of social instability in North Africa. To mitigate the impact of climate change, it is important to reduce economic and livelihood dependence on rain-fed agriculture, strengthen sustainable land use practices, and increase the adaptive capacity. Further, increased regional cooperation and sub-national vulnerability assessments are needed.

West Africa is known to be particularly vulnerable to climate change due to high climate variability, high reliance on rain-fed agriculture, and limited economic and institutional capacity to respond to climate variability and change. In this context, better knowledge of how climate will change in West Africa and how such changes will impact crop productivity is crucial to inform policies that may counteract the adverse effects. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of climate change impacts on agriculture in West Africa based on the recent scientific literature. West Africa is nowadays experiencing a rapid climate change, characterized by a widespread warming, a recovery of the monsoonal precipitation, and an increase in the occurrence of climate extremes. The observed climate tendencies are also projected to continue in the twenty-first century under moderate and high emission scenarios, although large uncertainties still affect simulations of the future West African climate, especially regarding the summer precipitation. However, despite diverging future projections of the monsoonal rainfall, which is essential for rain-fed agriculture, a robust evidence of yield loss in West Africa emerges. This yield loss is mainly driven by increased mean temperature while potential wetter or drier conditions as well as elevated CO2 concentrations can modulate this effect. Potential for adaptation is illustrated for major crops in West Africa through a selection of studies based on process-based crop models to adjust cropping systems (change in varieties, sowing dates and density, irrigation, fertilizer management) to future climate. Results of the cited studies are crop and region specific and no clear conclusions can be made regarding the most effective adaptation options. Further efforts are needed to improve modeling of the monsoon system and to better quantify the uncertainty in its changes under a warmer climate, in the response of the crops to such changes and in the potential for adaptation.

Climate change and variability are a major threat to the agricultural sector globally. It is widely accepted that the changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, sea water level and concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere will have the most devastating impacts on agricultural production. This paper examines the past and future crop production and food security in Kenya under variable climate. From the review, it is evident that the country is already experiencing episodes of climate change, manifested by seasonal changes in precipitation and temperature of varying severity and duration despite overreliance on rain-fed agriculture. The findings also reveal that climate change would continue to negatively affect crop production and food security to the already vulnerable communities in the arid and semi-arid areas. Future projections also indicate that climate variability will likely alter cropping patterns and yields in several regions. As the country is faced with a high population growth rate and rapid urbanization, crop production and food security systems need to become more adaptive as uncertainties of projected climate variability and change unfold. This study is important in providing decision makers and interested stakeholders with a detailed assessment of climate impacts and adaptation strategies geared towards improved crop production and food security.

Climate change is happening due to natural factors and human activities. It expressively alters biodiversity, agricultural production, and food security. Mainly, narrowly adapted and endemic species are under extinction. Accordingly, concerns over species extinction are warranted as it provides food for all life forms and primary health care for more than 60–80% of humans globally. Nevertheless, the impact of climate change on biodiversity and food security has been recognized, little is explored compared to the magnitude of the problem globally. Therefore, the objectives of this review are to identify, appraise, and synthesize the link between climate change, biodiversity, and food security. Data, climatic models, emission, migration, and extinction scenarios, and outputs from previous publications were used. Due to climate change, distributions of species have shifted to higher elevations at a median rate of 11.0 m and 16.9 km per decade to higher latitudes. Accordingly, extinction rates of 1103 species under migration scenarios, provide 21–23% with unlimited migration and 38–52% with no migration. When an environmental variation occurs on a timescale shorter than the life of the plant any response could be in terms of a plastic phenotype. However, phenotypic plasticity could buffer species against the long-term effects of climate change. Furthermore, climate change affects food security particularly in communities and locations that depend on rain-fed agriculture. Crops and plants have thresholds beyond which growth and yield are compromised. Accordingly, agricultural yields in Africa alone could be decline by more than 30% in 2050. Therefore, solving food shortages through bringing extra land into agriculture and exploiting new fish stocks is a costly solution, when protecting biodiversity is given priority. Therefore, mitigating food waste, compensating food-insecure people conserving biodiversity, effective use of genetic resources, and traditional ecological knowledge could decrease further biodiversity loss, and meet food security under climate change scenarios. However, achieving food security under such scenario requires strong policies, releasing high-yielding stress resistant varieties, developing climate resilient irrigation structures, and agriculture. Therefore, degraded land restoration, land use changes, use of bio-energy, sustainable forest management, and community based biodiversity conservation are recommended to mitigate climate change impacts.