A Scholarly Analysis of Indigenous Agricultural Practices: Evaluating the Efficacy of Chitemene Farming in Addressing dry Spell Challenges in Zambia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51699/ijbea.v4i1.245Keywords:
Farming, Agriculture, Dry, Conditions, Climate Change, Agroforestry, Crop Productivity, Environmental ChangeAbstract
This working paper presents a scholarly synthesis of Chitemene farming, an indigenous farming system critical to the livelihoods of communities in the Miombo woodlands of Zambia and its capacity to tackle dry spell pertinence. Chitemene farming hails from a traditional farming practice in Zambia. It follows a technique that involves cutting vegetation or biomass and heaping it before burning to create an appropriate fertility top dress through ash. However, this method has offered several moral and sustainable means of food production over the years. However, due to its various environmental impacts, it has come under much scrutiny and criticism over time, such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity and declining soil fertility. Besides this, sufficient production in current scenarios is harrowing to achieve and further criticizhing it over long-term sustainability due to climate change and population growth. This research employs ethnographic fieldwork in Chiunda Ponde, Luvushimada District, and an agronomic and ecological data review. The research shows two stories of practice by analyzing the practice using ecological, social and economic perspectives. On the one hand, Chitemene farming taps into the factor of adaptation in increasing crop productivity, improving water holding capacities in the soil and offering a temporal cushion between the farmer and unpredictable rainfall distribution. On the other hand, the method is declining due to the alarming rates of deforestation, reduction in nutrient availability, and the variability of climate change factors such as the extended dry season. As such, Indigenous techniques must be harmoniously combined with contemporary techniques to make farming sustainable and cope with the impacts of climate change. Some of the specific suggestions based on the recommendations include supporting agroforestry involving planting trees and food crops, practising conservation farming to avoid disruption of soil fertility, and carrying out community-based tree planting to rehabilitate degraded areas. Furthermore, there is a need to promote climate-smart agriculture and locally endorsed innovation to encourage smallholder farmers to respond to change. Besides considering Chitemene farming as a way of farming common in the past and appreciated in culture, this study is useful in discussing sustainable agriculture that could develop strategies appropriate for areas facing the same conditions. Finally, the study recommends integrating conventional practices, their limitations, food security, and effective environmental management for improved Zambia and other countries.
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