Abstract
This study was undertaken to understand the smallholder farmer’s perception of the effects of climate variability, their adaptation strategies to cope with climate variability and factors determining the adoption of their adaptation strategies in the eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Adaptation strategies were grouped into two categories, i.e., traditional adaptation strategies and scientific adaptation strategies. Traditional adaptation strategies consisted of practices that require minimal technical expertise and less external inputs such as changing from crops to livestock, crop diversification, increasing land under production, changing crop type and water harvesting. Scientific adaptation strategies consisted of practices that require additional external inputs, labour, and some level of technical expertise such as changing crop variety, improving soil fertility and soil conservation. Data were collected from 391 smallholder farmers using a structured household questionnaire and were verified through focus group discussion meetings with key informants. Data were analysed using the descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and a binary logistic model. Results indicated that the majority of smallholder farmers perceived that climate change had triggered food-related impacts in the study area and had adopted at least one adaptation strategy. This study showed that awareness and knowledge were the key factors that determined the adoption of traditional adaptation strategies in the study area. The adoption of scientific adaptation strategies was additionally determined by the availability of external financial investments. It is recommended that the promotion of traditional practices should focus on raising awareness of climate change and adaptation strategies while the promotion of scientific practices additionally requires the provision and accessibility of financial institutional support and incentives.
Highlights
Agriculture is widely recognized as the vehicle through which rural development, food and nutrient security can be attained in Africa [1,2,3]
This study was undertaken to understand the smallholder farmer’s perception of the effects of climate change on their crop production, their adaptation strategies and factors determining the adoption of their adaptation strategies in the eastern Free State Province of South Africa
The results further revealed that water harvesting (51%), change of crop variety (47%), soil conservation (46%) and improved soil fertility (28%) were the most common practices used by smallholder farmers to cope with climate variability in the study area, while increased land under production (18%), diversified crops (15%), change of crop type (11%) and change from crop to livestock production (5%) were the least adopted practices (Table 5)
Summary
Agriculture is widely recognized as the vehicle through which rural development, food and nutrient security can be attained in Africa [1,2,3]. In Africa, an increase in air temperatures, the high variability of rainfall onsets and amounts, prolonged dry spells, and the frequent occurrence of intensified extreme weather hazards such as floods and droughts are expected as a result of predicted climate change [9,10,11]. Such changes are already affecting agricultural production with evidence of crop failure, food insecurity, death of livestock as well as outbreaks of pests and diseases being reported in recent years in this region [9,10,12]. Climate change and variability are already affecting and will continue to threaten the livelihood and food security of the majority of the smallholder farmers in Africa due to their vast reliance on rainfed agricultural production and often having restricted adaptation capacity as a result of financial, resources and knowledge constraints [6,9,13,14,15]
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