Reimagining landscape sustainability through integrated farming system models and policies under changing climate scenarios

In the context of climate change, natural resource degradation, and decreasing farm and input productivity, there is an urgent need to redesign agricultural systems with the use of integrated, landscape-level approaches. This review aims to present a model system-based approach at the landscape-level to transform the present-day non-profitable, high-risk agriculture into productive and resilient farming systems in the semi-arid tropics of India and similar agroecologies across the globe. The review highlights that IFS, characterized by diversified production systems, encompasses a comprehensive strategy focusing on the integration of crop husbandry, agroforestry, horticulture, and livestock production systems at the landscape level, which substantially reduces production risks, optimize resources, and enhances productivity, profitability, and system resilience, outperforming conventional monocropping systems. The study witnessed that the crop + livestock model is widely adopted in India as the dairy component is critical in most of the farming systems. The sequence of percent adoption rate of IFS in India is like crop + dairy (42%); crop + dairy + horticulture (11%); crop + dairy + goatery (7%) followed by other systems. However, there is less investment in adopting IFS at the landscape level, primarily due to lack of awareness, non-availability of on-time credit and financial aid to small and marginal farmers. Thus, to address the heterogeneity of farming systems, academicians, end-users, and policymakers should deploy farm typologies as a key tool to develop site-specific landscape-level IFS models. In these given scenarios, the present review sheds light on the region-specific approach, practices, future directions, and policy recommendations at the landscape level for developing and scaling successful IFS models in India and similar agroecologies worldwide.