Indigenous Efforts by African Farmers in Ensuring Sustainability in Agricultural Productivity in the Face of Changing Climate

Abstract

The study focused on the impact of climate change on African agriculture and how farmers around Africa have been coping through various indigenous mitigation and adaptation measures they adopt in ensuring sustainability in agricultural productivity. Indigenous methods such as traditional irrigation system, water harvesting and storage methods, soil moisture storage techniques, traditional soil protection techniques such as digging compost-filled planting pits which hold water, helping deep-rooted vegetables grow; building up grass and rock barriers around crops to protect them from soil erosion; and cultivating manure in septic tanks to use as fertilizer, intercropping trees with food crops and so on have responded well in the past to changing climatic conditions. The success of any mitigation cum adaptation strategies would rely not only on the traditional small-scale farming techniques; therefore there is urgent need to  revive more traditional farming practices and combine them with modern scientific discoveries to help mitigate and adapt to climate changes.