Smallholder Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change and Conservation Agriculture: Evidence from Zambia

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Progress H Nyanga ◽  
Fred H Johnsen ◽  
Jens B Aune ◽  
Thomson H Kalinda
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Conservation Agriculture

Increasing adaptation to climate stress by applying conservation agriculture in Southern Africa.

2022 ◽  
pp. 270-283
Author(s):  
Christian Thierfelder ◽  
Peter Steward
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Drought Stress ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
On Farm

Abstract Climate change and soil fertility decline are threatening food security in southern Africa and efforts have been made to adapt current cropping systems to the needs of smallholder farmers. Conservation Agriculture (CA) based on minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop diversification has been proposed as a strategy to address the challenges smallholder farmers face. Here we analyse the potential contributions of CA towards adaptation to the effects of climate change by summarizing data on infiltration, soil moisture dynamics and crop productivity under heat and drought stress. The data were taken in the main from CIMMYT's on-farm and on-station trial network. Data show that CA systems maintain 0.7-7.9 times higher water infiltration than the conventional tilled system depending on soil type, which increases soil moisture during the cropping season by 11%-31% between CA treatments and the conventional control treatment. This leads to greater adaptive capacity of CA systems during in-season dry spells and under heat stress. A supporting regional maize productivity assessment, analysing the results of numerous on-farm and on-station experiments, showed that CA systems will outperform conventional tillage practices (CP), especially on light-textured soils, under heat and drought stress. With higher rainfall and low heat stress, this relation was more positive towards CP and on clay soil there was no benefit of practising CA when rainfall was high. The long dry season and limited biomass production of CA systems in southern Africa require complementary good agricultural practices to increase other soil quality parameters (e.g. increased soil carbon) to maintain higher productivity and sustainability over time. This can be addressed by combinations of improved stress-tolerant seed, targeted fertilization, inclusion of tree-based components or green manure cover crops in the farming system, scale-appropriate mechanization and improved weed control strategies.

scholarly journals Climate Smart Agriculture and Its Implementation Challenges in Africa

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Behailu Legesse Kaptymer ◽  
Jemal Abdulkerim Ute ◽  
Musa Negeso Hule
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Sharing ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Pests And Diseases ◽  
Smart Agriculture

The changing climate is hitting smallholder farmers hard. It is doing so especial in the African continent which is regularly pronounced as most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.  Climate change brings droughts and floods, pests and diseases; it means poorer crops, less food, and lower incomes. Agriculture in Africa must undergo a major transformation in the coming decades in order to meet the intertwined challenges of achieving food security, reducing poverty and responding to climate change without depletion of the natural resource base. Climate-smart agriculture seeks to increase productivity in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change, and reduce agriculture’s contri­bution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage on farmland. Climate-smart agriculture includes practical techniques including mulch­ing, conservation agriculture, integrated crop-livestock management, crop rotation, intercropping, agro forestry, improved grazing, and improved of water management system. In spite of the potential of Climate Smart Agriculture to improve resilience and to enhance agricultural production and rural livelihoods, systematic response to climate change through adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture practices and technologies is still very limited in Africa for a host of reasons. some of the challenges facing Climate-smart agriculture in Africa includes, Lack of practical understanding of the approach; Lack of data and information and appropriate analytical tools at local and national levels; Inadequate coordinated, supportive and enabling policy frameworks; Lack of adequate and innovative financing mechanisms and effective risk-sharing schemes; Limited credit and finance and Poor physical and social infrastructure to mention few.  To support the implementation of climate-smart agriculture and resolve the challenges in Africa, it is necessary to improve the coordination of policies and strengthen local, national and regional institutions.

scholarly journals Adapting to Climate Change Through Conservation Agriculture: A Gendered Analysis of Eastern Zambia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Bwalya Umar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
High Moisture ◽  
Men And Women

This study explored the use of conservation agriculture (CA) as a climate adaptation strategy among smallholder farmers in Eastern Zambia. Using 761 household interviews and 33 focus group discussions (FGDs) with smallholder farmers from six districts, data was collected on how smallholder farmers in the region experience climate change, what CA practices they had adopted, and benefits and challenges associated with CA practice. Results show that men and women farmers had similar experiences of climate change, namely late onset of a shortened rainy season, intra-seasonal drought and higher temperatures. Farmers' perceptions of gender-mediated effects of climate change had important nuances. The three most cited effects of climate change on women mentioned by women were lower crop yields, outbreaks of armyworms and reduced livestock fodder. The men thought women were most affected by increased hunger, lower crop yields and reduced domestic water sources. According to the women FGDs, men were most affected through reduced crop yields, increases in livestock diseases and increased hunger. The men self-reported reduced crop yields, reduced water for livestock and outbreaks of armyworms. Both men and women saw CA as having climate change adaptation benefits. For the women, men most benefitted from CA through the high moisture holding capacity of basins, higher crop yields and reduced labor requirements through use of oxen ripping. The men most appreciated the high crop yields, improved soil fertility and reduced costs as less fertilizer is used. The women cited the high moisture holding capacity of basins, high crop yields and improved soil fertility as benefits they most commonly derived from CA, while the men thought the women most benefitted from CA through the higher crop yields, improved soil fertility and crop tolerance to droughts. The study concludes that there is room for CA to serve as a climate smart agricultural system for both men and women smallholder farmers in Eastern Zambia. However, this will require addressing important challenges of high weed pressure, high labor demands, and low access to manure, and CA farming implements. The CA package for Zambia should include access to timely climate information and climate informed crop choices.

scholarly journals Climate Change Awareness and Joint Decision to Adopt Agroforestry and Conservation Agriculture Practices in Zambia

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses C. Tembo ◽  
Elias Kuntashula ◽  
Thomson Kalinda
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Adoption Studies ◽  
Joint Decision ◽  
Small Holder

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges that small holder farmers face in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia. In response to this, various interventions such as Agroforestry (AF) and Conservation Agriculture (CA) have been promoted within the country so as to enhance uptake among farmers and ultimately mitigate climate change. However, the adoption rates of these technologies has been low. To understand the adoption process several adoption studies have focused on the effects of socio-economic and other institutional factors on adoption of the technologies. The direct link between small holder farmer’s climate change awareness and the uptake of both AF and CA is an area that has received less attention among these studies. This paper estimates the effect of climate change awareness on the adoption of AF and CA, and establishes whether the adoption of the two technologies is jointly determined in Zambia. Data used emanated from the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) and University of Zambia (UNZA) Climate Change and Land Use Project that implemented a supplemental climate change survey in 2013 on Rural Agricultural Livelihood Survey (RALS 2012) panel sample of 1,231 households in six districts of Zambia. Results showed that the majority of farmers (77.2 %) were aware of climate change issues and their consequences on agriculture production and the environment. It was also observed that holding other factors constant, a farmer aware of climate change and its consequences was 6% more likely to adopt both AF and CA compared to those not aware. The decision to adopt AF and CA was found to be jointly determined by farmers. In addition to climate change awareness, the other factors affecting the joint decision to adopt the two technologies included gender, farmer group membership of the household head as well as ownership of radio sets and rippers. There is need therefore to deliberately increase climate change awareness among smallholder farmers and promote the simultaneous uptake of both AF and CA through the mass media and the provision of an environment that increases accessibility to tools that ease up the uptake of these technologies.

scholarly journals Factors affecting multiple climate change adaptation practices of smallholder farmers in lower Eastern Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hezron R. Mogaka ◽  
Lydia N. Muriithi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Sampling Procedure ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Adaptation Practices

The study investigated the socioeconomic and institutional factors influencing uptake of multiple climate change adaptation practices among smallholder farmers in lower Eastern Kenya. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 384 small-scale farmers. Percentage and regression were used in the analysis. Among the socio-economic factors, gender positively and significantly influenced adoption of conservation agriculture and water harvesting at 5%, respectively. Among the institutional factors, distance to markets positively or negatively influenced uptake of all the technologies at 1% and 5%, respectively. Due to complementarity in adoption of all the seven adaptation practices, age and distance to nearest markets should be considered during technology dissemination. The study, therefore, calls for agricultural policy reforms that aim at designing incentive programmes which adequately address most of the socioeconomic and institutional issues related to uptake of adaptation practices as well as encouraging off-farm diversification.

scholarly journals Health impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers

One Health ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 100258
Author(s):  
Byomkesh Talukder ◽  
Gary W. van Loon ◽  
Keith W. Hipel ◽  
Sosten Chiotha ◽  
James Orbinski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Analysis of smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate change and variability in south Wollo, north east highlands of Ethiopia: An agro-ecological system-based approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yimer Mohammed ◽  
Kindie Tesfaye ◽  
Menfese Tadesse ◽  
Fantaw Yimer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Scale Level ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Micro Scale ◽  
Climate Change And Variability ◽  
North East ◽  
Agro Ecological Zones

Abstract Background: Climate change and variability has been significantly affecting the Ethiopian agricultural production and thereby smallholder farmers livelihoods. The level of vulnerability varied across agro-ecological zones (AEZs). Identification of difference in the level of vulnerability of a system is important in selecting appropriate and effective adaption options to climate change. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the level of vulnerability of agricultural communities to climate change and variability at micro-scale level in five agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of south Wollo, north east highlands of Ethiopia. Data was collected from a representative of 502 sample households from five AEZs through multi stage random sampling methods. Focus group discussion and key informant interviews were also carried out to supplement and substantiate the quantitative data. The indicator based approach was used to empirically calculate vulnerability. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to give weight for indicators and generate index of vulnerability contributing factors. Results: The results showed that each of the vulnerability contributing factors (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) varied across the AEZs. M3, SM2 and SM3 are the most exposed AEZs but having a relatively better adaptive capacity whereas M1, M2 and M3 are the most sensitive AEZs with relatively low adaptive capacity to climate variability and change. Overall, SM2 is the most vulnerable AEZ which exhibited high sensitivity and low adaptive capacity followed by M1. Conclusions: The study explored sources and levels of vulnerability to each agro-ecology. Since the study is conducted at micro-scale level, it helps decision makers and development partners to have context-specific understanding of the impact of climate change and variability and design appropriate adaptation measures to address the specific situations.

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