Strategic Intervention for Climate-Smart Agriculture

Abstract

Agroecological typologies are indispensable for sustainable agricultural production. In recent years, agroecology has gained worldwide attention as a new holistic farming model, based on its principles. Many farmers and stakeholders in the global farming business face several obstacles when trying to switch to agroecology, such as a lack of a structured theoretical knowledge base, supportive regulations, and necessary technical equipment. To overcome the aforementioned challenges and accelerate the transition, a long-term vision backed up with indigenous knowledge as well as a joint financial effort by the states is needed. This chapter comprehensively documents existing rice agroecological typologies. We reviewed published papers on rice cropping systems, including articles, theses, reports, journal papers, and other relevant publications. Our findings consolidate a broad range of well-defined effective evidence of agroecological typologies for adoption within the rice farming communities. They include integrated rice–animal farming, the system of rice intensification, organic manure, crop rotation systems, rice polycultures, and pest management. Prior to upscaling, it is necessary to evaluate the typologies on a site-specific basis in rice growing regions, as agroecology emphasizes the importance of tailoring practices to individual sites in order to achieve optimal results. This chapter is relevant not only to food system actors but also to researchers and social activists.