scholarly journals Climate-Smart Agriculture and Non-Agricultural Livelihood Transformation

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Hellin ◽  
Eleanor Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Farm Households ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Agricultural Technologies ◽  
Land Distribution ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Farming Households

Agricultural researchers have developed a number of agricultural technologies and practices, known collectively as climate-smart agriculture (CSA), as part of climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. Development practitioners invest in scaling these to have a wider impact. We use the example of the Western Highlands in Guatemala to illustrate how a focus on the number of farmers adopting CSA can foster a tendency to homogenize farmers, instead of recognizing differentiation within farming populations. Poverty is endemic in the Western Highlands, and inequitable land distribution means that farmers have, on average, access to 0.06 ha per person. For many farmers, agriculture per se does not represent a pathway out of poverty, and they are increasingly reliant on non-agricultural income sources. Ineffective targeting of CSA, hence, ignores small-scale farming households’ different capacities for livelihood transformation, which are linked to the opportunities and constraints afforded by different livelihood pathways, agricultural and non-agricultural. Climate-smart interventions will often require a broader and more radical agenda that includes supporting farm households’ ability to build non-agricultural-based livelihoods. Climate risk management options that include livelihood transformation of both agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods will require concerted cross-disciplinary research and development that encompasses a broader set of disciplines than has tended to be the case to date within the context of CSA.

Economic Analysis of Non-Farm and Off-Farm Income Sector: A Way Ahead in Making Farmers Income Profitable

2021 ◽  
pp. 112-119
Keyword(s):  
Public Investment ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Small Farmers ◽  
Income Diversification ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
Multi Stage

Income diversification is an important strategy to augments income among small and marginal farmers. This study evaluated the income diversification among farm households in the Ariyalur district. A multi-stage sampling technique was used, and 115 rural households were selected by applying Arkin and Colton formula. The data collected were analyzed using the Herfindahl index and Gini-coefficient. The results showed that the average number of income sources accessed by all marginal farmers is about 1.81, and small farmers are about 1.90, and small farmers had an income diversification range of 0.64 to 0.65, which is a medium diversification category. When the non-farm and off income were considered together with agricultural income, the overall income inequality dropped. The results suggested that the local government should take serious steps to create employment avenues for smallholders outside agriculture that provide credit, training, and necessary inputs to rural households and recommended for public investment in rural infrastructures, such as roads and bridges, telecommunications, education, energy, and water.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting Farmers’ Access to Formal and Informal Credit: Evidence from Rural Afghanistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaood Moahid ◽  
Keshav Lall Maharjan
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Credit Constraints ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Hurdle Model ◽  
Informal Credit ◽  
Double Hurdle Model ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Double Hurdle ◽  
Farming Households

Adequate access to credit is necessary for the sustainable development of agriculture. This study uses a double hurdle model to investigate what affects farming households’ credit participation and amount, and a Probit model to find out credit constraints. For this purpose, the data from a survey of 292 farming households in Afghanistan was utilized. The study finds that households obtain credit for their agricultural activities from various formal and informal sources. The results of the double hurdle model reveal that the financial activities of the households were positively determined by crop diversity, education, number of adults in a household, size of land, and access to extension. Non-agricultural income decreases the likelihood of participation. The results of the analysis of credit constraints indicate that formal credit did not help small-scale and remoter farming households; however, these households relied on informal credit, especially when they faced income shock. Furthermore, religious belief increased the chances of avoiding formal credit but not informal credit. It is suggested that formal credit should be expanded to rural areas, especially to small-scale farming households. Policy makers should also consider increasing access to extension. Formal financial institutions should provide Sharia-compliant credit, which increases the confidence level of households in using formal credit in Afghanistan.

scholarly journals The Dynamics of Climate Change Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Climate-Smart Agriculture among Small-Scale Farmers

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor O. Abegunde ◽  
Melusi Sibanda ◽  
Ajuruchukwu Obi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Small Scale Farmers ◽  
Farming Households

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as a credible alternative to tackle food insecurity under the changing climate is gaining wide acceptance. However, many developing countries have realized that concepts that have been recommended as solutions to existing problems are not suitable in their contexts. This paper synthesizes a subset of literature on CSA in the context of small-scale agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa as it relates to the need for CSA, factors influencing CSA adoption, and the challenges involved in understanding and scaling up CSA. Findings from the literature reveal that age, farm size, the nature of farming, and access to extension services influence CSA adoption. Many investments in climate adaptation projects have found little success because of the sole focus on the technology-oriented approach whereby innovations are transferred to farmers whose understanding of the local farming circumstances are limited. Climate-smart agriculture faces the additional challenge of a questionable conceptual understanding among policymakers as well as financing bottlenecks. This paper argues that the prospects of CSA in small-scale agriculture rest on a thorough socio-economic analysis that recognizes the heterogeneity of the small farmer environment and the identification and harnessing of the capacities of farming households for its adoption and implementation.

scholarly journals Adoption of Small-Scale Irrigation Farming as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Practice and Its Influence on Household Income in the Chinyanja Triangle, Southern Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Mango ◽  
Clifton Makate ◽  
Lulseged Tamene ◽  
Powell Mponela ◽  
Gift Ndengu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

This article concerns the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice and its influence on household income in the Chinyanja Triangle. Chinyanja Triangle is a region that experiences mid-season dry spells and an increase in occurrences of drought due to low and erratic rainfall patterns which is attributed largely to climate variability and change. This poses high agricultural production risks, which aggravate poverty and food insecurity. For this region, adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice is very important. Through a binary logistic and ordinary least squares regression, the article determines factors that influence the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice and its influence on income among smallholder farmers. The results show that off-farm employment, access to irrigation equipment, access to reliable water sources and awareness of water conservation practices, such as rainwater harvesting have a significant influence on the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming. On the other hand, the farmer’s age, distance travelled to the nearest market and nature of employment negatively influenced the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming decisions. Ordinary least squares regression results showed that the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice has a significant positive influence on agricultural income. We therefore conclude that to empower smallholder farmers to quickly respond to climate variability and change, practices that will enhance adoption of small-scale irrigation farming in the Chinyanja Triangle are critical as this will significantly impact on agricultural income.

scholarly journals Basket of options: Unpacking the concept

2021 ◽  
pp. 003072702110194
Author(s):  
E Ronner ◽  
J Sumberg ◽  
D Glover ◽  
KKE Descheemaeker ◽  
CJM Almekinders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Agricultural Technologies ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Individual User ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
The Face ◽  
Potential Adaptation

How to stimulate technological change to enhance agricultural productivity and reduce poverty remains an area of vigorous debate. In the face of heterogeneity among farm households and rural areas, one proposition is to offer potential users a ‘basket of options’ – a range of agricultural technologies from which potential users may select the ones that are best suited to their specific circumstances. While the idea of a basket of options is now generally accepted, it has attracted little critical attention. In this paper, we reflect on outstanding questions: the appropriate dimensions of a basket, its contents and how they are identified, and how a basket might be presented. We conceive a basket of options in terms of its depth (number of options related to a problem or opportunity) and breadth (the number of different problems or opportunities addressed). The dimensions of a basket should reflect the framing of the problem or opportunity at hand and the objective in offering the basket. We recognise that increasing the number of options leads to a trade-off by decreasing the fraction of those options that are relevant to an individual user. Farmers might try out, adapt or use one or more of the options in a basket, possibly leading to a process of technological change. We emphasise that the selection (or not) of specific options from the basket, and potential adaptation of the options, provide important opportunities for learning. Baskets of options can therefore be understood as important boundary concepts that invite critical engagement, comparison and discussion. Significant knowledge gaps remain, however, about the best ways to present the basket and to guide potential users to select the options that are most relevant to them.

scholarly journals Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Lopez-Ridaura ◽  
Luis Barba-Escoto ◽  
Cristian A. Reyna-Ramirez ◽  
Carlos Sum ◽  
Natalia Palacios-Rojas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Energy Yield ◽  
Common Beans ◽  
Nutritional Security ◽  
Nutrient Adequacy ◽  
Faba Beans ◽  
Total Productivity

AbstractWe present an assessment of the extent, diversity, and nutritional contribution of the milpa through a quantitative analysis of data from a survey conducted in 989 small scale farm households in the Western Highlands of Guatemala (WHG). The milpa is a traditional agricultural system in which maize is intercropped with other species, such as common beans, faba beans, squashes or potatoes. Our study shows that more than two-thirds of the 1,205 plots recorded were under the milpa system, with a great diversity of crop combinations. As shown with the 357 plots for which specific yields were available, milpa systems present higher total productivity than monocropped maize, expressed as total energy yield of the harvested crops in the respective system, and were also better at providing the recommended daily allowances of fourteen essential nutrients, based on a Potential Nutrient Adequacy (PNA) indicator. Maize-bean-potato, maize-potato, and maize-bean-faba intercrops had the highest PNAs, and monocropped maize, the lowest. These results support the implementation of milpa systems tailored to different agro-ecologies in order to improve nutrition in the WHG and a variety of similar regions.

scholarly journals Does adopting legume-based cropping practices improve the food security of small-scale farm households? Panel survey evidence from Zambia

Food Security ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1463-1478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine M. Sauer ◽  
Nicole M. Mason ◽  
Mywish K. Maredia ◽  
Rhoda Mofya-Mukuka
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Cropping Practices

scholarly journals Features and Socio-Economic Sustainability of Traditional Chestnut Forestry Landscape in China: A Case of Kuancheng County, Hebei Province

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 952
Author(s):  
Lulu He ◽  
Qingwen Min ◽  
Chuanchun Hong ◽  
Yongxun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Labor Input ◽  
Cultivation System ◽  
Cultural Sustainability ◽  
Ecological Farming ◽  
Farming Households ◽  
Effective Conservation ◽  
Difficult Issue

Since Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) were launched by the FAO to protect the sustainable traditional agricultural systems around the world, their conservation has become a new difficult issue under the context of urbanization. Farmers in IAHS sites giving up small-scale traditional farming due to their low economic benefit and high labor intensity are considered as the main cause hindering effective conservation of these heritages. This study takes the Kuancheng traditional chestnut cultivation system (KTCCS) in northern China as a case to assess its economic and socio-cultural sustainability. Based on questionnaires and interviews, this study found that: the traditional ecological farming methods were still used by local farming households to plant chestnut trees; and most farmers support IAHS conservation. KTCCS performs economic and socio-cultural sustainability. For a household, the labor productivity of chestnut cultivation was 1.33 times that of their non-farm jobs because of the low labor input of chestnut cultivation. Farmers widely consider they live in a harmonious social environment but are lower than other households in economic status. Most farmers still lack an understanding of indigenous traditional knowledge and cultures. In the future, secondary and tertiary industries should be developed to provide farmers with employment opportunities in their hometowns for protecting KTCCS.

scholarly journals Socio-economic characteristics influencing small-scale farmers' level of knowledge on climate-smart agriculture in mahikeng local municipality, North West province, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
K.L. Setshedi ◽  
S. Modirwa
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
North West ◽  
Local Municipality ◽  
Level Of Knowledge ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Small Scale Farmers

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to identify knowledge gaps and the level of knowledge on climate-smart agriculture among small-scale farmers in Mahikeng Local Municipality. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 170 respondents from a population size of1449. A descriptive and quantitative research design was used for this study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data. Most respondents were males, married, had high school education and farming experience of more than 20 years. Livestock farming, was found to be the main agricultural activity amongst the respondents. Knowledge test statements revealed that, respondents had a low level of knowledge about climate-smart agriculture. Age, access to climate information, farm income per month and access to off-farm income had statistically significant relationships with respondents' level of knowledge on climate-smart agriculture. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that, there should be training and education activities which should be implemented to assist small-scale farmers in Mahikeng Local Municipality in increasing their knowledge on climate-smart agriculture. Keywords: Climate-smart agriculture, Knowledge, Small-scale farmers, Socio-economic characteristics

scholarly journals Influences of the Transaction Intention of Farmland Transfer under Information Asymmetry: An Empirical Study of 1100 Questionnaires from China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3739
Author(s):  
Yingchao Li ◽  
Ruyu Du ◽  
Linli Li ◽  
Guanghui Jiang ◽  
Zhiyuan Fan
Keyword(s):  
Information Asymmetry ◽  
Imperfect Competition ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Agricultural Science ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Agricultural Income

The original intention of the tripartite rural land entitlement system was to activate farmland management rights and improve the efficiency of land element allocation. However, information asymmetry is prevalent in a market with imperfect competition. We analyzed the key factors affecting farmland transfer transactions with the structural equation model using survey data from farmers in five major grain-producing counties in Henan province, China. The purpose of our study was to investigate how these factors contribute to the avoidance of a “lemon market” emerging in farmland transfer and can promote the market regulation of farmland transfer operations. This study was conducted under the framework of asymmetric theory analysis with the purpose of discussing the fundamental forces driving farmland transfer transactions. The results show that (1) the economic characteristics of farmers play an important role in the formation of farmland transfer transactions, and their impacts on the willingness to transfer farmland in and out were 0.69 and 0.97, respectively; and (2) among the observable variables, the satisfaction degree of agricultural technology training and the proportion of non-agricultural income had a strong ability to explain the choice of farmland transfer behavior, and the factors that strongly impacted farmland transfer out behavior were physical condition and farmland quality. Thus, we recommend establishing a detailed land transfer pricing system based on the background quality of farmland and increasing the agricultural science and technology education, focusing on dredging information transmission channels to fulfill the new requirements of the three-right separation system on the government’s supervision of farmland transfer to promote effective links between small-scale peasant economies and modern agriculture.

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