Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Crops: Options for Climate Smart Agriculture and Local Adaptation in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Impact of climate change on agriculture may manifest in the form of deficit in yields from rain-fed agriculture (due to water stress and temperature change) and reductions in crop growth period (e.g. changing pattern of onset of rain days and the changing nature of dry spells). Researchers have shown that every 1°C increase in the minimum temperature, rice yields decrease between 10-25%. Small farmers are more vulnerable to the change therefore they will be affected most by climate extremes. Overall, climate change have put more pressures in local food systems especially production sub-systems. In Sumba Island, small farmers often face production deficit due to erratic climate condition and changing pattern of rainfall. In addition, farmers often face difficulties in growing enough main crops such as maize because of the shocks in production often lead to seed deficits for the next planting seasons. Access to alternative seeds is limited due to lack of ability to pay for seeds in the local market which in many cases not suitable for the local climate. While the local government often has their own budget cycle that is not compatible with the farmer's seed demand and local climate system as they often lately distribute seeds and other means to farmers. The erratic climate of NTT has strongly impacted the local food system especially the seed availability and therefore food security in general. Subsistence farmers often loss their seeds due to harvest failure especially when dry spell occurs soon after planting corn or either harvest were rotten as the rain come coincidentally. In this paper we identify some of the innovation in water use efficiency and water management at crop levels such as mulching, water diversification measures and agro-forestry system being exercised by a few successful farmers. We propose some of the interventions such as dripping irrigation for (mainly for cash crops) agriculture, rainwater harvesting, identification (and re-introduction) of some drought resistant crop varieties, building a sustainable local seed systems, participatory breeding, livestock adaptation measures and improvement of existing agroforestry as well as knowledge management.