Smallholder farmer resilience to water scarcity

Francisco X Aguilar,James M Roshetko,Judith Stallmann,Dienda Hendrawan,Zhen Cai

doi:10.1007/s10668-021-01545-3

Abstract

Water scarcity poses one of the most prominent threats to the well-being of smallholder farmers around the world. We studied the association between rural livelihood capitals (natural, human, social, financial, and physical) and resilience to water scarcity. Resilience was denoted by farmers’ self-reported capacity to have avoided, or adapted to, water scarcity. Proxies for livelihood capitals were collected from two-hundred farmers in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and their associations with a typology denoting water scarcity impacts analyzed with a Taylor-linearized multinomial response model. Physical and natural assets in the form of irrigation infrastructure and direct access to water sources were saliently associated with overall resilience (avoidance and adaptation) to water scarcity. Years of farming experience as a form of human capital asset was also strongly associated with resilience to water scarcity. Factors solely associated with the capacity to adapt to water scarcity were more nuanced with social capital assets showing closer associations. A household with a larger number of farm laborers had a higher likelihood of being unable to withstand water scarcity, but this relationship was reversed among those who managed larger farming areas. We discuss possible mechanisms that could have contributed to resilience, and how public policy could support smallholder farmers cope with water scarcity.

Highlights

Smallholder farmers, households working on land plots smaller than two hectares, are the backbone of global agricultural production harvesting some 80% of the world’s annual crops (FAO et al, 2018)
Resiliency captures the ability of farmers to avoid or adapt to the impacts caused by water scarcity while retaining the function, structure, and identity of their livelihoods (Carpenter, 2001; Folke et al, 2010)
Capital asset coefficients that exhibited the largest odds ratios and statistically significant (p < 0.05) direct associations were in declining order: (i) access to irrigation infrastructure, (ii) altitude > 300 m.a.s.l., (iii) direct natural access to water source, (iv) 75th percentile income × livestock units, (v) total farm area × family labor, (vi) years of farming experience, and (vii) percentage of farm under agroforestry system

Summary

Introduction

Smallholder farmers, households working on land plots smaller than two hectares, are the backbone of global agricultural production harvesting some 80% of the world’s annual crops (FAO et al, 2018). Water scarcity affects the quality and quantity of agricultural yields with a direct effect on food security, the likelihood of social conflicts, and wider rural poverty (Kang et al, 2009; Rahmati et al 2014, Maleksaeidi et al, 2016). In this context, resiliency captures the ability of farmers to avoid or adapt to the impacts caused by water scarcity while retaining the function, structure, and identity of their livelihoods (Carpenter, 2001; Folke et al, 2010)

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