NATURAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES Helping farmers to adapt to climate change Martin Chari and Dr Leocadia Zhou problems and other challenges that Fortunately, remote sensing, a continue to threaten resource-poor technique that involves detecting communities. energy that is reflected from the earth, Predictions are that global warming provides a means of overcoming will result in some areas being these limitations. The research team more susceptible to flooding, while therefore embarked on a study that others are expected to suffer from aimed to identify what needed to be unpredictable failures in rainfall. done to ensure that remote sensing Although farmers may try to adapt could used more fully by the small- to changing rainfall patterns by scale farmers whose lives it could shifting from the production of food benefit. crops to rearing livestock, this is The study was based on a review not necessarily a positive solution of articles in the Web of Science as a rise in livestock numbers publications between 1999 and 2019. will lead to an escalation in the Overall, the team identified 1,337 production of green-house gases articles focusing on soil moisture, and a consequent increase in global 172 of which finally emerged as warming. peer-reviewed articles that used One way of addressing changes techniques to estimate soil moisture in rainfall patterns is to provide which then led to the use of strategies farmers with usable information intended to cope with climate change. on how to overcome a reduction In accounting for the marginal Dr Leocadia Zhou use of remote sensing techniques in the amount of moisture in in the papers they reviewed, the lleviating the impact of global soil by adopting climate-friendly researchers concluded that this was warming and climate change is farming practices. However, doing because most African countries have Athe focus of a study conducted this requires information about soil limited access to appropriately scaled by doctoral candidate Martin Chari, moisture at levels of spatial detail images. This then led the team to under the supervision of Professor that meet the needs of farmers argue that the best way forward is to Hamisai Hamandawana of the themselves. Although the literature formulate techniques that use freely University of the Free State’s Risk and offers information on a wide range accessible coarse resolution images Vulnerability Science Centre (RVSC) of techniques used to estimate to provide much needed information. and Dr Leocadia Zhou of the RSCV soil moisture, most are difficult to at the University of Fort Hare. The implement because they rely on high- The contribution made by Martin study aims to support farmers whose resolution datasets most developing Chari and his supervisors is valuable livelihoods are largely dependent on countries cannot afford, are labour because it shows what needs to be rain-fed agriculture and demonstrates intensive and time consuming, and done in order to enhance the ability the willingness and commitment are also incapable of providing the of farmers to adapt to changes in soil of UFH researchers to address information at a level that is usable by moisture driven by climate change. pressing climate-change related small-scale farmers. 13 | University of Fort Hare