Climate change challenges Lanka's home gardens

By Sohara Mehroze Shachi

Gamini Dissanayake has owned his vast home garden in Kandy, Sri Lanka for many generations, paramparahs as he says. He proudly displays freshly plucked nutmeg and betel leaf from his garden, and the towering jackfruit tree that is the garden's centerpiece.

"From one tree we make an income of around twenty five thousand rupees per year," he says. The January to March dry season leads to fruiting in June-July. But in recent years there have been rains in February, affecting the fruiting cycle.

"We can't fetch a good harvest," Dissanayake says, adding that he knows from decades of experience that the climate is changing.

There has been a slow and ambient rise of temperature in Sri Lanka, 0.01 - 0.03 degrees Celsius per year, which is reducing pollen viability. Research conducted in the University of Peradeniya has shown that there are more frequent occurrences of extreme weather events, with increasing number of dry days, high intensity rains and tornado winds. The wet areas are getting wetter and the dry areas drier, which are having serious implications on food production.

Kandy's case is representative of South Asian agriculture, which is usually intensive with a large number of farmers growing a small amount of produce each. A significant component of the smallholdings in the region comprise of home garden systems - 14.3% of the total area of Sri Lanka in 2014 comprised of home gardens and the figure is growing.

"Home garden is a very good land use system that helps balance the landscape. Sustainability of the Kandyan home garden is mainly due to the system structure - having perennials, the ecological functions and the ability to fulfill the socio economic needs," says Dr Ranjith Punyawardene from the Department of Agriculture of University of Peradeniya.

South Asia's home gardens comprise of a complex sustainable land use system with multiple farming components. It also involves bee keeping, poultry and cattle farming, hydroponics and rainwater harvesting etc. It effectively utilises limited spaces for crop production and ensures systematic rainwater drainage. And according to United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change's (UNFCCC) findings, home gardening would increase crop production in adverse climatic conditions.

The Asia Pacific Network on Global Change Research's (APN-GCR) project titled "vulnerability of home garden systems to climate change and its impacts on food security in South Asia" was implemented in one site of Bangladesh, one in India and three sites of Sri Lanka to shed more light on this issue. The changes in temperature and rainfall, current status of the diversity in home gardens, socioeconomic characteristics of home gardeners, and the extent to which climate shocks have influenced the usage of adaptation strategies by the home gardeners under changing climate were studied under this project.

"The conclusion of the project is that home gardens are climate resilient. People are aware of climate change and they are adapting," said Professor Buddhi Marambe, director of the Agriculture Education Unit of the University of Peradeniya.

Despite the evidence that climate change has taken place in the past 50 years, the composition of home gardens in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh has not changed substantially. Home gardeners have already adopted various strategies to adapt to climate change, such as minimising soil erosion by conserving moisture when there isn't enough rain through mulching, whereby coconut leaves are laid around tree trunks. They have also applied techniques such as changing planting dates, technology and use of new breeds.

"Strengthening and enhancing the Kandyan home garden systems in the coming years so that it continues to provide quality ecological habitats and other social and economic functions, and connects wild and other cultivated habitats will be important for the future adaptation of this globally important landscape and eco-friendly option of living," said Gamini Pushpakumara, dean of the faculty of agriculture of University of Peradeniya.

However, adaptation has its limits when there are drastic changes in yield in the face of exacerbating impacts of climate change.

"It's going to be a warmer world," said Nalaka Gunawardene, journalist trainer, media researcher and columnist, "the question is how do we contain it from getting to the worst possible scenario." (Dhaka Tribune)