Thesis Abstract

<p>                <b>ABSTRACT&nbsp;</b></p><p> Sustainable food production is one of the major challenges of the twenty-first century in the era of global environmental problems such as climate change, increasing population and natural resource degradation including soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Climate change is among the greatest threats to agricultural systems. Green Revolution though multiplied agricultural production several folds but at the huge environmental cost including climate change. It jeopardized the ecological integrity of agroecosystems by intensive use of fossil fuels, natural resources, agrochemicals and machinery. Moreover, it threatened the age-old traditional agricultural practices. Agriculture is one of the largest sectors that sustain livelihood to maximum number of people and contribute to climate change. Therefore, a climate-smart approach to sustainable food production is the need of hour. Traditional agriculture is getting increased attention worldwide in context of sustainable food production in changing climate. The present article advocates traditional agriculture as a climate-smart approach for the sustainable food production and also deliberates the correlation between climate change and agriculture. <br></p>

Thesis Overview

<p><b>1.1 INTRODUCTION&nbsp;</b><br></p><p></p><div><p>Climate change is one of the most debated issues of the twenty-first century in the socio-ecological and economic perspectives. Anthropogenic activities are largely responsible for mounting environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and natural resource degradation including soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Human-induced changes are major drivers for current and projected climate change (Solomon <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR304">2007</a>; Ramanathan and Xu <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR262">2010</a>). Now climate change is a reality and the evidences can be traced through the global warming, glacier melting, sea level rising, ocean acidification, precipitation variability and extreme weather events (Adger et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR3">2005</a>; Solomon <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR304">2007</a>). Average global temperature is expected to increase through 0.5–8.6 °F by the end of the twenty-first century (IPCC <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR132">2013</a>). This increased temperature would affect agricultural production significantly. Agriculture is among the highly sensitive systems influenced by change in weather and climate. In recent years, climate change impacts have been become the greatest threats to global food security (Tripathi et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR328">2016</a>; Islam and Nursey-Bray <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR134">2017</a>). Climate change results a decline in food production and consequently rising food prices (IASC <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR127">2010</a>; Bandara and Cai <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR26">2014</a>).&nbsp;</p><p>Climate change threats are further intensified by growing population. It is projected that global population will touch the historic mark of 9.5 billion by 2050 (Godfrey et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR102">2010</a>). To feed this large population, twofold of food production from the present level will be required (FAO <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR85">2016</a>). Climate change impacts are more severe in the developing countries due to their agriculture based economy, warmer climate, frequent exposure to extreme weather events and lack of money for adaptation methods (Parry et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR247">2001</a>; Tubiello and Fischer <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR329">2007</a>; Morton <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR216">2007</a>; Touch et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR325">2016</a>).</p><p>According to Rockström et al. (<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR274">2009</a>), the boundaries in three systems viz., rate of biodiversity loss, human interference with the nitrogen cycle and climate change have already been overstepped. We are living in the anthropocene era where human-driven environmental changes deteriorate geographical and ecological resilience of the earth system (Crutzen <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR54">2002</a>; Steffen et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR309">2007</a>; Rockstrom et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR274">2009</a>). Agriculture and climate change are correlated as both affect each other significantly (Paustian et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR249">1997</a>). It is estimated that contribution of agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) is about 21% in the total global emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) (FAO <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR85">2016</a>). Green Revolution though boosted agriculture production but at the huge socio-ecological cost such as environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, land degradation, erosion of traditional agricultural knowledge and decline in human health and livelihood (Redclift <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR268">1989</a>; Alteri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR14">2000</a>; Eakin et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR75">2007</a>; Phungpracha et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR254">2016</a>; Srivastava et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR307">2016</a>). Excessive and inappropriate use of agrochemicals, fossil fuels, natural resources, machinery and adoption of high yielding varieties (HYVs) and monocropping patterns are the major causes for such socio-ecological cost (Phungpracha et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR254">2016</a>).</p></div> Climate change mitigation and adaptation are two foremost needs to reduce global warming impacts (Kongsager et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR152">2016</a>; Song and Ye <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR305">2017</a>). Achieving the goals of eradicating hunger and poverty by 2030 while addressing the climate change impacts need a climate-smart approach in agriculture. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is based on the objectives of sustainably enhancing food production, climate adaptation and resilience and reduction in GHGs emission (FAO <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR84">2010</a>). Traditional agricultural practices have regained the increased attention worldwide as climate-smart approach. Traditional agriculture is the outcome of experiences provided by local farming practices through thousands of years (Pulido and Bocco <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR261">2003</a>). High productivity, biodiversity conservation, low energy inputs and climate change mitigation are some of the salient features of the traditional agriculture systems (Srivastava et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR307">2016</a>). Traditional agroecosystems are recognized as the time tested models of modern sustainable agriculture systems that occur today (Ellis and Wang <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR79">1997</a>). Traditional practices like agroforestry, intercropping, crop rotation, cover cropping, traditional organic composting and integrated crop-animal farming have potentials for enhancing crop productivity and mitigating climate change. Indigenous farmers and local people perceive climate change in their own ways and prepare for it through various adaptation practices (Tripathi and Singh <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR327">2013</a>).&nbsp;<p></p><p> Farmers due to dogged work and low profit shifted from traditional agriculture towards the modern one. Modern agriculture, however, enhanced food productivity but with the acceleration of several environmental problems such as climate change, food unsafety, biodiversity loss, soil degradation and environmental pollution (Zhang et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR353">2017a</a>). Modern agriculture is a major driver for the loss of crop genetic resources in the Third World due to adoption of HYVs and planting the vast fields with genetically uniform cultivars (Altieri and Merrick <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR18">1987</a>). Traditional agricultural practices are usually restricted to small farmers. Traditional vegetables grow well in drought-prone areas. Traditional vegetable knowledge is under serious threat due to habitat loss, introduction of new varieties, historical policies, stigma attached to the use of traditional vegetables and altered lifestyle (Dweba and Mearns <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR74">2011</a>). In the context of sustainable food production in changing climate, adoption of climate-smart traditional practices is an urgent need. It is right time to rediscover and reimplement traditional practices to improve the socio-ecological integrity of agroecosystems. Integration of traditional agriculture with modern agriculture is the necessity of current scenario. This integration would bridge the huge gap between indigenous and modern peasants. Moreover, it would fortify the human–nature relationships. The aim of this article is to advocate traditional agriculture as a climate-smart approach for sustainable food production. Moreover, agriculture-climate change correlation is also described at substantial level. Authors also stated some recommendations for sustainable food production in changing climate.&nbsp;</p><p></p><div><p><b>1.2&nbsp; AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE: A TWO-WAY RELATIONSHIP</b></p><p>Climate change is statistically significant difference in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, continuing for a long period usually decades or longer (VijayaVenkataRaman et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR333">2012</a>). It refers to both a shift in mean climatic conditions (e.g. temperature and precipitation) and an increase in the frequency and severity of weather extremes (Tebaldi et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR317">2006</a>; Eitzinger et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR78">2013</a>; Porter et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR257">2014</a>; Mandryk et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR192">2017</a>). Economic activities prompted by industrial revolution have been contributed to climate change through increasing GHGs emission (IPCC <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR128">2007a</a>). Agricultural activities from cropping to harvesting emit GHGs that cause climate change which in turn disturbs agriculture (Paustian et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR249">1997</a>). Therefore, climate change and agriculture are correlated (Fig. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#Fig1">1</a>)</p></div> <div><div><p>Agriculture is one of the major contributors of global warming through a share of about 10–12% increase in total anthropogenic GHG emission (Stocker et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR311">2013</a>). Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are major GHGs emitted by agricultural activities (Tellez-Rio et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR318">2017</a>). In year 2005, it was estimated that globally agriculture accounted to 50 and 60% of total anthropogenic CH4 and N2O emissions, respectively (Liu et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR178">2015</a>). Agroecosystems are highly sensitive and vulnerable to climate change (Parry and Carter <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR246">1989</a>; Reilly <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR270">1995</a>; IPCC <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR133">2014</a>). Climate change is a severe threat to both food production and human health (McMichael et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR201">2007</a>). It influences agriculture through increased temperature, precipitation variability and amplified intensity of weather extremes. Climate change affects agriculture directly through altering the agroecological conditions and indirectly by increasing demand of agricultural production (Schmidhuber and Tubiello <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR290">2007</a>). Climate change is a serious threat to all aspects of agriculture including production, distribution, food accessibility and food prices (Tai et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR315">2014</a>; Islam and Nursey-Bray <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR134">2017</a>). During 1980 to 2008, there was a 5.5% fall in wheat yields and a 3.8% fall in maize yields globally, compared to their yields in stable climate (Lobell et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR180">2011</a>). Climate change also affects the invasive crop pest species (Yan et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR345">2017</a>), livestock production (Rojas-Downing et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR275">2017</a>) and aquaculture (Porter et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR257">2014</a>). Tropical and developing countries are at the greater risk to climate change as compared to temperate and developed countries and this scenario encounters current and future food production (Gornall et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR107">2010</a>; Hillel and Rosenzweig <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR119">2010</a>; Deryng et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR61">2014</a>; Porter et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR257">2014</a>; Challinor et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR44">2014</a>).</p></div></div><div><h2>Climate-smart agriculture: principles and objectives</h2><div><p>Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) devised the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach in order to manage agriculture for food security in the era of global warming (FAO <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR84">2010</a>). The CSA approach has three objectives:&nbsp;</p><p>(1) sustainably enhancing agricultural productivity to support equitable increase in income, food security and development&nbsp;</p><p>(2) increasing adaptive capacity and resilience to shocks at multiple levels, from farm to national and&nbsp;</p><p>(3) reducing GHG emissions and increasing carbon sequestration where possible.&nbsp;</p><p>Sustainable food production while reducing GHG emissions and increasing climate resilience of agricultural system is the foremost objective of CSA (Harvey et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR114">2014</a>; Brandt et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR36">2015</a>). Lipper et al. (<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR175">2014</a>) defined CSA as the strategy that transforms and reorients agroecosystems to produce food in climate change scenario. According to Olayide et al. (<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR239">2016</a>), CSA is an emerging approach to enhance food production, biodiversity, environmental quality, agroecosystem resilience, livelihoods and economic development while addressing the climate change impacts. Relative priority of each of the objective of CSA fluctuates with locations, for example, small farmers of developing countries need more emphasis on productivity and adaptive capacity (Neufeldt et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR228">2013</a>; Campbell et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR42">2014</a>). CSA has been getting a mounting attention particularly in developing world due to its capabilities to enhance agricultural productivity and agroecosystem resilience while reducing GHG emission (Grainger-Jones <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR109">2011</a>; Long et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR182">2016</a>; Mwongera et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR220">2017</a>).</p></div></div><div><div><p><b>1.3 TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE: CONCEPT AND AGROECOLOGICAL FEATURES</b></p><p>Traditional knowledge is holistic in nature due to its multitude applications in diverse fields such as agriculture, climate, soils, hydrology, plants, animals, forests and human health (Howes and Chambers <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR122">1980</a>; Jungerius <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR148">1985</a>; Wilken <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR340">1987</a>; Agrawal <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR4">1995</a>; Pulido and Bocco <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR261">2003</a>). Husbandry and agriculture are among the oldest practices through which human have been interacting with nature and managing ecosystem services (Fisher et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR90">2009</a>). Traditional agriculture is the result of the experiences delivered by the local farming practices through thousands of years (Pulido and Bocco <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR261">2003</a>). Traditional farming practices contributed a significant role to the building of scientific knowledge in agriculture (Sandor and Furbee <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR281">1996</a>; Singh et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR296">1997a</a>). These have been nourished a sizeable population for centuries and continue to feed people in many regions of the world (Koohafkan and Altieri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR153">2010</a>).</p><p>Farmers throughout the world particularly in developing regions use local, traditional or landraces of both minor and major crops (Jackson et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR135">2007</a>). Although modern agriculture has been adopted by farmers in every corners of the globe, but 1.9–2.2 billion people still use traditional methods in agriculture (Altieri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR11">1993</a>; Pretty <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR259">1995</a>). Small farmers are stewards of the traditional agricultural practices, and globally about 84% of farms have area less than 2 ha that operate 12% of farmland (Altieri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR16">2004</a>; Lowder et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR184">2016</a>). Smallholder farmers adjust to environmental changes through their indigenous knowledge and experience such as changing farming practices and cultivating adapted crops (Lasco et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR162">2014</a>). China ranks first in terms of total small farms followed by India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam (Altieri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR17">2009</a>). In Sub Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers comprise 80% of all farms and their traditionally cultivated fields are generally more productive than that of large-scale farmers (Stifel <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR310">1989</a>; Bridge <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR37">1996</a>; Kuivanen et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR156">2016</a>). About 70% of Mexician peasants particularly smallholders cultivate their fields with traditional agriculture practices (Aguilar-Jiménez et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR5">2013</a>). Farmers in traditional agroecosystems of the Himalayan mountains are largely dependent on the locally available resources and indigenous technology (Nautiyal et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR224">2007</a>).</p><p>Traditional agricultural landscapes refer to the landscapes with preserved traditional sustainable agricultural practices and conserved biodiversity (Harrop <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR112">2007</a>; Lieskovský et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR172">2015</a>). They are appreciated for their aesthetic, natural, cultural, historical and socio-economic values (Barankova et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR27">2011</a>; Lieskovský et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR172">2015</a>). Traditional farming landscape occurs in regions where farming practices either remain same or change comparatively little over a long period of time (Fischer et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR89">2012</a>). Some prominent examples of these regions include the Western Ghats of India, the Satoyama landscapes in Japan, the Milpa cultivation systems in Mexico, traditional village systems in Eastern Europe and South-western China’s terrace landscapes (McNeely and Schroth <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR202">2006</a>; Palang et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR243">2006</a>; Ranganathan et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR264">2008</a>; Hartel et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR113">2010</a>; Takeuchi <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR316">2010</a>; Robson and Berkes <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR272">2011</a>; Fischer et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR89">2012</a>; Liu et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR176">2012</a>). The Hani rice terraces of Yunnan Province in Southwest of China are one of the well-known agricultural systems in mountainous regions. These terraces have been designated as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2009 by FAO and World Cultural Heritage (WCH) sites by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2013 (Zhang et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR354">2017b</a>).</p><p>During the last few decades, agrobiodiversity has reduced due to intensive monoculture farming (Matson et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR197">1997</a>; Evenson and Gollen <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR80">2003</a>; Sardaro et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR283">2016</a>). About 80% of the world’s arable land is planted with a handful of crops such as corn, wheat, rice, soyabean and others (Adams et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR1">1971</a>; Heinemann et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR117">2013</a>; Altieri et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR22">2015</a>). FAO estimated that 75% of the world’s food crop diversity has lost in the twentieth century due to replacement of local varieties by genetically uniform HYVs (FAO <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR83">2009</a>; Gonzalez <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR105">2011</a>). Worldwide traditional farmers are recognized as the custodians of natural resources including biodiversity (Chhatre and Agrawal <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR47">2008</a>). Traditional farmers preserve genotypes through unique and valuable traits within their herds and traditional crop varieties that tolerate environmental stresses including climate change (Boyce <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR34">2006</a>; Gonzalez <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR104">2010</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR105">2011</a>; Johns et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR141">2013</a>). High vegetational diversity and a multifaceted system of indigenous knowledge are the salient features of traditional farming systems in developing countries (Altieri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR11">1993</a>; Gliessman<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR101">1998</a>; Altieri <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR15">2002</a>). Himalayan agroecosystems are rich in crop diversity and traditional agriculture (Maikhuri et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR191">1996</a>; Singh et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR297">1997b</a>; Kuniyal et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR158">2004</a>).</p><p>Post-hunter-gather societies have been progressively dependent on extra-somatic energy for food production (McMichael et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR201">2007</a>). Food production needs energy in every step from cropping to harvesting and harvesting to distribution. Synthetic nitrogen fertlizers are among the high energy demanding sides of modern agriculture (Pelletier et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR252">2011</a>). Local knowledge and locally available resources have been utilized by peasants to develop sustainable farming systems (Altieri et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR21">1987</a>). Integration of crop and livestock is a strategy that helps farmers to reduce their reliance on external inputs such as fossil fuels, fertlizers and pesticides (Schiere and Kater <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR288">2001</a>; Naylor et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR225">2005</a>; Anex et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR24">2007</a>). Unlike the modern agriculture systems where the link between agroecosystem and consumer is uni-directional, traditional agriculture systems are linked by bi-directon through recycling of agriculture and other wastes (Ellis and Wang <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR79">1997</a>). Agrobiodiversity supplies a range of ecosystem services to agriculture and reduce the need of off-farm inputs. Composting and manuring increase soil microbial and invertebrate communities which improve nutrient cycling (Mäder et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR189">2002</a>; Reganold et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR267">2010</a>; Kremen and Miles <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR154">2012</a>). Indigenous farmers of Asia, Africa and Latin America through continuously farming in extreme weather events have developed farming systems resilient to environmental variability with minimal external inputs (Denevan <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR58">1995</a>; Altieri et al. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40974-017-0074-7#ref-CR22">2015</a>).</p></div></div> &nbsp; &nbsp; <br><div></div><div><div><div><div></div></div></div><div><div><div></div></div></div><div><div><div></div></div></div></div><br> <br><p></p>