This study describes an interdisciplinary methodology for helping small farmers prepare for climatic variability. We facilitated workshops in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, Mexico, in which groups of small farmers described how they had adapted to and prepared for past climate challenges. Farmers reported that their cropping systems were changing for multiple reasons: more drought, later rainfall onset, decreased rural labor, and introduced labor-saving technologies. Examination of climate data found that farmers’ climate narratives were largely consistent with the observational record. There have been increases in temperature and rainfall intensity, and an increase in rainfall seasonality that may be perceived as later rainfall onset. Farmers also identified 14 indicators that they subsequently used to evaluate the condition of their agroecosystems. Farmers ranked landscape-scale indicators as more marginal than farmer management or soil quality indicators. From this analysis, farmers proposed strategies to improve the ability of their agroecosystems to cope with climatic variability. Notably, they recognized that social organizing and education are required for landscape-scale indicators to be improved. This outcome suggests that climate change adaptation by small farmers involves much more than just a set of farming practices, but also community action to tackle collective problems.

Research on perennial staple crops has increased in the past ten years due to their potential to improve ecosystem services in agricultural systems. However, multiple past breeding efforts as well as research on traditional ratoon systems mean there is already a broad body of literature on perennial crops. In this review, we compare the development of research on perennial staple crops, including wheat, rice, rye, sorghum, and pigeon pea. We utilized the advanced search capabilities of Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Agricola to gather a library of 914 articles published from 1930 to the present. We analyzed the metadata in the entire library and in collections of literature on each crop to understand trends in research and publishing. In addition, we applied topic modeling to the article abstracts, a type of text analysis that identifies frequently co-occurring terms and latent topics. We found: 1.) Research on perennials is increasing overall, but individual crops have each seen periods of heightened interest and research activity; 2.) Specialist journals play an important role in supporting early research efforts. Research often begins within communities of specialists or breeders for the individual crop before transitioning to a more general scientific audience; 3.) Existing perennial agricultural systems and their domesticated crop material, such as ratoon rice systems, can provide a useful foundation for breeding efforts, accelerating the development of truly perennial crops and farming systems; 4.) Primary research is lacking for crops that are produced on a smaller scale globally, such as pigeon pea and sorghum, and on the ecosystem service benefits of perennial agricultural systems.

SUMMARY: Perennial grain crops have been proposed as a transformative approach to agriculture. Replacing annual staple crops with perennialized growth types of the same crops could provide environmental services, improve labour efficiency and weather resilience, reduce seed costs and produce livestock fodder or fuelwood production. Yet, the technologies and science for agricultural development in Africa have focused almost exclusively on annuals. In this paper, we review the literature to explore what has been potentially overlooked, including missed opportunities as well as the disadvantages associated with perennial grains. The case studies of pigeon pea and sorghum are considered, as an analogue for perennial grain crops in Africa. We find that a substantial number of farmers persist in ‘perennializing’ pigeon pea systems through ratoon management, and that sorghum ratoons are widely practiced in some regions. In contrast, many crop scientists are not interested in perennial traits or ratoon management, citing the potential of perennials to harbour disease, and modest yield potential. Indeed, an overriding prioritization of high grain yield response to fertilizer, and not including accessory products such as fodder or soil fertility, has led to multipurpose, perennial life forms being overlooked. Agronomists are encouraged to consider a wide range of indicators of performance for a sustainable approach to agriculture, one that includes management for diversity in crop growth habits.

The management of staple crops as perennials is a historic legacy and a present-day strategy in some regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, yet perenniality is rarely an agronomic subject. Farmers in Malawi cut annual crops, such as pigeonpea and sorghum, to extend production for more than one growing season. Cassava, a perennial food crop, has a proven track record of abating hunger. Here we review ratooning, as well as the historic role of perennial staple crops in Malawi. Ratooning is a method of harvesting a crop which leaves the roots and the lower parts of the plant uncut to give the ratoon or the stubble crop. This review is completed with interviews with Malawian farmers. The major points follow. The management of staple crops as perennials is underserved by research. Indeed, we retrieved only 86 references on ratooning sorghum and pigeonpea. Of these, 9 % and 19 % respectively were from the African continent. The literature and interviews indicate that pigeonpea and sorghum have high productive potential when well managed in ratoon systems. Thirty-five percent of interviewee responses that supported ratooning mentioned saving seed. Other primary reasons to ratoon include stimulating regrowth (30 %) and saving labor (20 %). However, 31 % of responses that were against ratooning cited increased disease potential, as well as excessive vegetative regrowth (18 %).

This article explores whether a shift in development paradigm resulted in coexistence with semi-aridity for residents of the Semi-Arid region of Brazil (SAB). If so, which strategies contributed and which conditions facilitated it? We conducted a comparative analysis of the transformations that occurred in 10 territories of the SAB during two time periods: PI (1973–2001) when “development” policies almost exclusively aimed to “combat drought and its effects”; and PII (2002–2016) when a concept of coexistence with semi-aridity informed policy making. Our study from the 10 territories of the SAB show significant changes between PI and PII. On average, there was a substantial improvement in Access to Water Infrastructure (+33%∆), Diversification of Production Systems (Animals +36%∆; Crops +61%∆), Management of Common Pool Resources (+45%∆), Involvement in Spaces of Political Organizing (+24%∆), and Access to Public Programs (+29%∆). As such, “coexistence” went from concept to action as a consequence of structural, agroecological, social, and management transformations in combination with a strengthening of mechanisms for community reciprocity. These were characterized by (a) the creation of resource reserves for use during times of drought; (b) the efficient use of available natural resources; and (c) enhanced articulation between diverse actors.