Abstract
Climate change and variability present a new set of obstacles that smallholder farmers in the 21st century have to face, especially hitting farmers in developing countries hard. The livelihoods of many farmers have become exacerbated due to the adverse impact of climate change. Governments and non-governmental agencies have stepped up their roles in helping smallholder farmers rise to the challenge through novel adaptation strategies. Using content analysis of relevant theoretical and empirical literature sources, this paper discusses the concept of climate change adaptation and its impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers. The susceptibility of smallholder farmers to climate change are discussed and various adaptation options and more importantly, their effect, are explored. The study concludes that interventions by government and non-governmental actors have an impact on the overall livelihood of smallholder farmers in terms of neutralizing the adverse impact brought forth by climate change. The study makes some recommendations, including advancing a combination of traditional and modern practices in adaptation processes; consideration of socio-demographic characteristics of farmers in the adaptation processes.
Highlights
The phenomenon of climate change and its impact on humanity has received wide attention worldwide over, at least in the last few decades (Rademacher-Schulz et al, 2014; Teye & Yaro 2015)
The study concludes that interventions by government and non-governmental actors have an impact on the overall livelihood of smallholder farmers in terms of neutralizing the adverse impact brought forth by climate change
African countries are hard hit by climate change and this is largely manifested in the agricultural sector, which as a consequence, generates low crop yields and high poverty (Roetter et al, 2007; IPCC, 2007)
Summary
The phenomenon of climate change and its impact on humanity has received wide attention worldwide over, at least in the last few decades (Rademacher-Schulz et al, 2014; Teye & Yaro 2015) This is against a backdrop that climate change impacts are perceived, 2019, Vol 8, No 1 acknowledged and significantly felt by people, especially so in developing countries where many vulnerable groups and rural households have limited resources to cope with and adapt to climate change and variability (Adger et al, 2005; UNFCCC, 2007; IPCC, 2007). The common climatic elements which mostly affect smallholder farmers in rural areas in Africa involve drought, erratic rainfalls, high temperatures, late onset of rains and the early cessations of rainfalls, lower levels of downpour and excessive downpours causing flooding (AAESCC, 2015) This variability of weather has left farmers with no choice but to adopt measures to might ameliorate the situation. Data demonstrate an increasing rate of global warming, especially over the past two to three decades (UNFCC, 2007)
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