Abstract
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.
Highlights
Introduction and BackgroundIn recent years, various studies have shown negative impacts climate change has had on agriculture in many countries (Valipour 2017, 2015, 2013; Valipour & Montazar 2012; Valipour 2012; Valipour M., Mousavi, Valipour R & Rezaei, 2012)
There have been rigorous programmes started by the government, agricultural based NGO’s and other organizations to encourage the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices among small holder farmers to mitigate climate change, improve resilience and increase food security
The Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) and University of Zambia (UNZA) Climate Change supplemental survey of 2013, the basis of the data used in this study sought to assess the levels of climate change awareness by the farmers and what mitigation and adaptation measures they were putting in place
Summary
Introduction and BackgroundIn recent years, various studies have shown negative impacts climate change has had on agriculture in many countries (Valipour 2017, 2015, 2013; Valipour & Montazar 2012; Valipour 2012; Valipour M., Mousavi, Valipour R & Rezaei, 2012). The threats posed by climate change, environmental degradation and food insecurity has risen to the top of the developmental agenda in most Sub-Saharan African countries including Zambia. There have been rigorous programmes started by the government, agricultural based NGO’s and other organizations to encourage the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices among small holder farmers to mitigate climate change, improve resilience and increase food security. Agroforestry (AF) and Conservation Agriculture (CA) are some of the few practices under CSA that can simultaneously mitigate climate change and increase household food security. There have been a lot of programmes that have been developed and designed to encourage the adoption of both AF and CA by small holder farmers across Zambia and Sub-Saharan Africa but surprisingly adoption rates for the two technologies remain relatively low. Ajayi (2007), estimated 20.6% as the adoption rates of AF in Eastern Zambia where the technology has been vigorously promoted while Neubert et al (2011) estimated that in 2007, only 10% of the farmers had embraced CA in Zambia
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