Don’t Underestimate Local Knowledge Of Agriculture In Dealing With Climate Change

Climate change has and will continue to cause changes in weather and climate across the world. For many parts of the developing world, these changes are life or death - changes in rainfall, heat, and climate variability can mean crops failing, and more of the population going without food.

Enter the Fatick region of Senegal. Within one of the least developed countries in the world, 58% of the region live in poverty on less than two dollars a day. Crops, such as millet, cassava, and maize, are grown almost entirely with the help of rainfall. A good year or a bad year for rain has a direct correlation with how much there is to eat. But even with these circumstances, a new study out of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona shows that local and indigenous knowledge of crops and climate can make a huge difference in how much there is to eat.

Crops Responding to Climate

The study, published in the Journal of Ethnobiology, shows how local farmers use a diversity of crops in response to changes in climate and rising temperatures.

In the last 100 years, the Fatick region has seen four major periods, as described by local farmers.

The first, before 1960, had a long heavy rainy season with high temperatures, followed by a colder season. Then, in the early 1970s, an intense drought led to warmer weather and no cold spells. Crops suffered, herds died with lack of pasture, and many wild animals disappeared. In the 1980s, rainfall eventually returned, but for shorter periods, and the cold spells never returned. Then in the 2000s, rainfall was again abundant, but only for a short season.

When the droughts began in the 1970s, farmers responded. They introduced a variety of short-season crops. These crops need less time to mature. As rains returned, farmers reinstituted many of the longer season crops once again.

Using indigenous knowledge of farming, crops, and local weather can be instrumental in informing policy as we move forward in a world influenced by climate change. “Understanding how they use crop diversity to adapt to climate variations can be the basis of climate change adaptation policies that address local needs and constraints,” say the authors.