Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, and the agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farming systems. The farming systems are facing constraints such as small land size, lack of resources, and increasing degradation of soil quality that hamper sustainable crop production and food security. The effects of climate change (e.g., frequent occurrence of extreme weather events) exacerbate these problems. Applying appropriate technologies like climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help to resolve the constraints of smallholder farming systems. This paper provides a comprehensive overview regarding opportunities and challenges of traditional and newly developed CSA practices in Ethiopia, such as integrated soil fertility management, water harvesting, and agroforestry. These practices are commonly related to drought resilience, stability of crop yields, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, and higher household income. However, the adoption of the practices by smallholder farmers is often limited, mainly due to shortage of cropland, land tenure issues, lack of adequate knowledge about CSA, slow return on investments, and insufficient policy and implementation schemes. It is suggested that additional measures be developed and made available to help CSA practices become more prevalent in smallholder farming systems. The measures should include the utilization of degraded and marginal lands, improvement of the soil organic matter management, provision of capacity-building opportunities and financial support, as well as the development of specific policies for smallholder farming.

Farming systems, with their concerns of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and productivity and production issues towards progress in human needs, wellbeing, and sustainable development, are challenging in most biosphere reserves. In this study, we assess the levels and trends of the agro-biodiversity and ecosystem services of different farming systems in the Yayo Biosphere Reserve in Ethiopia. Interviews with a total of 120 farmers, 16 key informants, and 12 focal group discussions (FDGs) were conducted, and species composition was assessed based on data collected on ten plots per major farming system. Result indicate that four farming systems, namely homegardens (HG), plantation coffee (PC), semi-forest coffee (SFC), and annual crop production (CP) systems, can be identified. Shannon and Evenness indices were highest in the HG system (H′ = 3.14, E = 0.8), and lowest in the CP system (H′ = 0.71, E = 0.18). Additionally, more diversified and relatively less cultivated farming systems provide more ecosystem services, and land users tend to practice less diversified farming systems in order to increase food supply at the expense of other ecosystem services. Therefore, this study recommends that diversified farming systems need to be considered to conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in ways that reduce their negative tradeoffs.