Abstract:
In Lesotho, agriculture remains a major source of income for more than 80% of rural population. The
arable land accounts for about 9% of the total land area and the current crop yields are half the level
achieved in the late 1970s. Despite its contribution to Lesotho’s development, the rural economy has
been languishing due to poor land management and farming practices, declining soil fertility, poor
weather conditions and poor management of water resources. Communities living in marginal lands
and whose livelihoods are highly dependent on natural resources are among the most vulnerable to
climate change. In Lesotho, about six farming technologies, namely, block farming, mono-cropping,
conservation farming, keyhole garden, double digging and the Machobane Farming systems are
practiced. We assessed the distribution and diversity of Bacillus spp., the non-symbiotic Nitrogen
Fixing Bacteria (NFB) and physico-chemical variables including soil texture, pH, organic carbon, and
available phosphorus as quality indicators of soils from various farming systems in Lesotho in an
attempt to elucidate the adaptive capacity of various farming systems to climate change. Amongst the
six farming systems assessed, the Machobane Farming System (MFS) practicing fields exhibited
significant level of soil quality improvement in microbial composition and physico-chemical property
compared to other farming systems. These findings provide, for the first time, scientific evidence that
the MFS, which combines indigenous knowledge and technology, may show better resilience to climate
change for high and sustainable production of variety of crops throughout the year.
