Abstract
In view of the spatial hierarchical order of factors influencing farmers’ decision making on climate change adaptation we should note that adaptation occurs at two main levels; farm level that focuses on micro-level analysis of farmer decision making and national, or macro-level factors that are concerned about agricultural production at the national and regional scales. The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors determining smallholder farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change, in Nachingwea district and toward sustainable management of their agricultural production and livelihood. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected by use of structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Based on the research plan, a total of 250 individual households were randomly selected and interviewed. About 92% of smallholder farmers in the study area indicated climate change is really happening. To smallholder farmers the concept “climate change” was associated with variability in weather conditions such as rainfall inconsistency and unpredictability over years. At the community level the effects of climate change and variability were revealed through food shortages as reported by 52.8% of the respondents, infestation of uncommon pests (53.5%), too much rainfall (43.2%), diminishing rainfall/drought (64.6%) and human diseases (32.5%). The findings of this study have important policy implications for the promotion of climate change adaptation strategies at the farm level in semi‐arid regions, coastal area and elsewhere. To facilitate farmer's investment in long‐term adaptation options, government should ensure that tenure arrangements, even in communal smallholder farming system in the country, are secured.
Highlights
Both they are used interchangeably, there are surprisingly few published definitions of either “subsistence peasant” or “smallholder/small scale farmers.” The subsistence peasants are people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace [1, 2]
This study examines the smallholder farmers’ perception of climate change impacts and their preference on climate smart agricultural practices in the breadbasket areas of the Southern Region of Tanzania.Through the study of local perception of the climate change, local practices and potential implication of adoption of climate smart agriculture (CSA) on agricultural production among smallholder farmers
People in the studied areas were not able to define climate change and adaptation strategies as used in their fields. When they were interviewed on the source of information about climate change about 30% of farmers indicated it is from their own observations while only 6.4% indicated it is from different village meetings (Figure 2)
Summary
Both they are used interchangeably, there are surprisingly few published definitions of either “subsistence peasant” or “smallholder/small scale farmers.” The subsistence peasants are people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace [1, 2]. Both they are used interchangeably, there are surprisingly few published definitions of either “subsistence peasant” or “smallholder/small scale farmers.”. Most subsistence farmers today reside in developing countries where Tanzania is not exceptional. Their amount of trade as measured in cash is less than that of consumers in countries with modern complex markets, many have important trade contacts and trade items that they can produce because of their special skills or special access to resources valued in the marketplace [3]. Smallholder/small scale farmers is used more generally to describe rural producers, predominantly in developing countries, who farm using mainly family labor and for whom the farm provides the principal source of income [4]. Definitions by scale are relative to national contexts, and “smallholders” in transitional or developed countries may have farms (and incomes) many times larger than those in developing countries
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