Abstract
Crop diversification is a climate-smart agricultural technique which helps to improve resilience for farmers in the face of volatile weather due to climate change. Previous research on its effects on technical efficiency has shown mixed results. Despite burgeoning literature on the subject, an important research question that remains uninvestigated is: does crop diversification involve a compromise between technical efficiency and resilience (income stability) for rural farmers? Using nationally representative rural household survey data from Zambia, this study empirically answers this research question. We employ the Data Envelopment Approach (DEA) for efficiency and a two- step least-squares approach for income variability. Our results show evidence that crop diversification significantly improves income stability but significantly reduces technical efficiency. The paper provides useful implications for policies that promote crop diversification in Zambia and other countries.
Highlights
The challenge of meeting the increased demand for food while striving to eradicate hunger and poverty is more daunting in the face of climate change
Our results indicate that the average crop diversification index among rural farmers in Zambia is
We find that crop diversification has a negative significant impact on technical efficiency at the 5% significance level under the assumption of variable or non-increasing returns to scale production technology (Columns 2 and 3, respectively)
Summary
The challenge of meeting the increased demand for food while striving to eradicate hunger and poverty is more daunting in the face of climate change. This challenge is even more serious in. 65% of the labor force is employed in agriculture [2,3]. As with the rest of SSA, Zambia’s agriculture is heavily reliant on rainfall, making the country highly vulnerable to climate change. Wineman and Crawford [4] contend that at least 90% of smallholder farmers in Zambia depend on rain-fed agriculture—which exacerbates farmers’ exposure to climate change impacts. Mulungu et al [5]. Hamududu and Ngoma [6] and Mulungu and Ng’ombe [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
