The changing diets and growing population are fueling the global demand for food. However, weather patterns are becoming unpredictable, and production is struggling to level up. Natural resources such as biodiversity, water, and soil are becoming more stretched. For this reason, farmers must adopt sustainable practices to sustain the growing population.

Climate-smart farming aims to improve agricultural productivity and food security by enhancing crop yields and reducing emissions while maintaining or increasing biodiversity.

Achieving the Outcomes of Climate-smart Agriculture

Climate-smart farming aims at achieving the following outcomes:

Increased productivity: This involves producing more quality food, addressing food security, and boosting the farmer’s income.

Enhanced resilience: This involves mitigating climate-related shocks and risks such as drought, reducing the vulnerability to pests and diseases, and improving the farm’s capacity to adapt to long-term stresses such as erratic weather patterns and shortened seasons.

Reduced emissions: The activities in your orchard can increase emissions to the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. These include extensive use of pesticides and fossil fuels and unsustainable production practices. Climate-smart farming aims at lowering these emissions, minimizing deforestation, and identifying ways to sequester carbon.

Top 3 Climate-smart Practices in Fruit Farming

Use High-quality, Well-adapted Fruit Tree Seedlings

It's practically impossible to achieve optimum production with bad seedlings. An indispensable input for climate-smart farming is by using well-adapted varieties. These varieties are drought and frost tolerant, resistant to pests and diseases, and can grow well in different ecological conditions. This helps reduce the reliance on pesticides, enables farmers to use less water, and minimizes their impact on the agricultural ecosystem and the climate.

Sustainable Soil and Land Management

The soil is one of the most important assets in fruit production. You need to maintain it in good condition to produce quality fruits for extended periods. To achieve this, you should embrace agricultural practices that are compatible with the natural environment and improve the productivity of your trees. Sustainable soil and land management involve several interrelated aspects such as soil fertility, conservation, water quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Soil conservation prevents further erosion of the topsoil from agricultural activities.

Sustainable soil and land management in fruit farming involve several different factors, including:

Using the right fertilizers: Extensive use of chemical fertilizers can harm your soil and plants. As a climate-smart farmer, you need to apply it in the right amounts and at the appropriate time.

Using the right pesticides: If not used properly, pesticides can pollute water sources, harm your soil, and result in pesticide resistance when applied for extended periods. You should only apply them in the right amounts.

Using water properly: The water quality affects the performance of your plants and the soil quality. It's a scarce resource that should be used in the right way. For instance, if growing grapes or strawberries, you should consider using efficient drip irrigation systems to apply water sustainably.

Plant trees or crops at the edge of your orchard to minimize soil erosion.

Mulch around your trees to minimize water loss and keep your plants healthy. The mulch also enhances soil fertility.

Biodiversity Management

Many of the world's natural resources are being depleted, and their ecosystems are under stress. With these problems comes the need for a new method of sustainable development. Biodiversity management aims at maintaining a healthy natural environment and an ecological balance by reducing or preventing undesirable changes in the ecosystem.

You can achieve this by implementing conservation measures, using sustainable practices, creating green economies, and planting different fruit trees in the orchard. Create an effective and reliable planning system, practice agroforestry, plant trees, and use your small space. Planning your land well will help you maintain a healthy environment and achieve higher yields from your farm. Embrace different practices such as crop rotation, intercropping, and relay cropping.

OxfarmAg offers you high-quality, certified seedlings to help you kickstart your journey to being a climate-smart farmer. Place your order today!

 

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