Climate-smart Agriculture Adoption Research Articles

The impact of climate smart agriculture on household welfare in smallholder integrated crop\u2013livestock farming systems: evidence from Zimbabwe

BackgroundAgriculture contributes significantly to the welfare of smallholder farmers, but it has become highly susceptible to climate change, due to its reliance on the increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) offers important opportunities for enhancing food security and incomes through increased agriculture productivity. Technology evaluation through impact studies provides information on the effect of CSA on farmer welfare, thereby highlighting its potential in optimizing agriculture productivity. This paper analyses the impact of CSA adoption on food security and income of households, using cross-sectional survey data collected from 386 households across four districts in Zimbabwe. The analysis was done using the endogenous switching regression model which controls for selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity, a commonly used method in adoption impact analysis.ResultsThe study found several agricultural and socio-economic factors which affect adoption and food security. The econometric results show that the status of soil fertility in fields, distance to input and output markets, ownership of communication assets, and Total Livestock Units (TLU) have a significant impact on the decision of farmers to adopt CSA. The Average Treatment Effects on the Treated (ATT) and Average Treatment Effects on the Untreated (ATU) were found to be positive and significant for adopters and non-adopters, indicating that CSA adoption has had a significantly positive impact on the welfare of the farmers. An analysis of the outcomes revealed that the characteristics of farmers and farms, as well as market factors, significantly affect the welfare of households. The household income, with reference to the adoption of CSA, was significantly affected by factors such as the education of household head, labour size, TLU, and asset index. Food security was influenced by factors such as the education of household head, TLU, access to sanitation, and arable land size.ConclusionsThe study concludes by giving policy recommendations centred on the access to inputs, sanitation, and encouraging investing in assets and TLU. The findings indicate that the adoption of CSA has a positive impact on the welfare of farmers. To exploit the full potential of these technologies, the study suggests that access to timely weather forecasts must be ensured, that sanitation must be promoted, and that incentives must be provided for agricultural input agro-dealers to decentralize to rural areas.

Building Public Will for Climate-Smart Agriculture in Uganda: Prescriptions for Industry and Policy

Abstract The global policy community has largely converged on climate-smart agriculture as a solution to various problems driven by climate change, but mass adoption of the crucial innovations presents challenges – particularly in the developing world. Widespread, meaningful, and rapid adoption of climate-smart agriculture will require an appropriate enabling environment. This study uses the political will and public will approach to identify the obstacles and opportunities for upscaling of climate-smart agriculture innovations. In 2015 and 2018, two rounds of semi-structured stakeholder and expert interviews conducted by researchers in Uganda identified four relevant obstacle categories: agricultural extension; communication infrastructure; basic and agricultural infrastructure; and other incentives and disincentives. These categories are related to the five definitional components of public will to reveal pathways for enabling social change. Importantly, both infrastructure and appropriate incentives are necessary for diffusion and then continued use of climate-smart agriculture innovations, often in interrelated ways. The study concludes with a detailed discussion of the implications for industry, government, and donors.

Evaluating the Impact of Weather and Climate Information Utilization on Adoption of Climate-Smart Technologies Among Smallholder Farmers in Tambacounda and Kolda Regions, (Senegal)

Senegal is subjected to climate change and unstable weather conditions of the Sahel zone causing adverse negative effects on the agricultural sector and biodiversity. Weather and climate information is one of the requirements for effective adoption of climate-smart agriculture in Senegal, where Agriculture employs approximately 65% of the total population. This study evaluated the impact of weather information utilization on adoption of climate-smart technologies among smallholder farmers using a case study of Tambacounda and Kolda regions in Senegal. The study aimed at establishing the level of accessibility, understandability, usability of weather information and examined the extent to which utilization of weather information impacts the adoption of Climate-smart agriculture technologies among smallholder farmers in Tambacounda and Kolda. For this study, questionnaires were administered to 341 purposively sampled households with the help of department extension workers and local leaders. The study findings show that while smallholder farmers accessed weather information through traditional and modern media sources like radio, television, and telephone, understandability and usability of the weather and climate information received were low. Overall utilization of weather and climate information was low. Also, the overall adoption rate of climate-smart agriculture technologies was low. Utilization of weather and climate information was constrained by language problems, failure to comprehend the information, difficulty in understanding forecast terminology, inability to respond to weather and climate information in terms of farming equipment and other inputs, poor packaging of information, and user unfriendliness of weather and climate information in the study area. The regression model results (F = 22.203, P=.028) were within the significant level (p<0.05), which means that accessibility, understandability, and usability of weather forecasts were appropriate predictors of adoption of climate smart technologies among smallholder farmers. A new and effective weather information delivery system is proposed and provision of weather-based advisory services to the farming communities. Keywords : Adoption, Climate/weather information, Climate-smart technologies, Smallholder farmers, Senegal DOI: 10.7176/JEES/11-2-05 Publication date: February 28 th 2021

An Assessment of Barriers to MSMEs’ Adoption of CSA in Livestock Red Meat Value Chain, Kajiado County, Kenya

Climate change poses great risks to poverty alleviation, food security and livelihoods sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa, declining crop yields and livestock productivity, especially in ASALs that suffer from fragile ecosystems characterized by frequent droughts and low rainfall. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) objectives of improving productivity and incomes, adaptation, resilience to climate change and mitigation on GHGs emissions, are responses to these climate risks. CSA technologies, innovation and management practices (TIMPs) in general do exist, however they are concentrated in crop farming neglecting livestock production and especially in marginalized areas such as ASALs, which forms 85% of Kenyan land mass and is dominated by pastoral and nomadic livestock production. Most CSA practices are mainly at the production level and hardly extend to the entire value chain, and diffusion is slow due to several barriers. A mixed method approach was used to evaluate barriers to actors’ adoption of CSA in the pastoral Livestock red meat value chain starting from input suppliers, producers, to consumers (pasture to plate). This study used six broad perspectives to examine the barriers: 1) Knowledge and institutional; 2) Market and financial; 3) Policy and incentives; 4) Networks and engagement platforms; 5) Cultural and social; 6) Physical infrastructure barriers. These barriers can be surmounted with concerted efforts from the government, development partners, pastoral communities, value chain actors and public private partnership among others. Efforts such as modernization of the pastoral red meat value chains, integration of MSMEs into the livestock systems, access to affordable financing, availability of context based, affordable CSA TIMPs, incentives, policies and institutional support, which currently remains inadequate. Institutional barriers like lack of capacity, coupled with knowledge and behavioral barriers hinder adoption. Financial institutions and cooperative societies can be enablers, however, their reluctance to invest in the sector is a barrier too.

Impact of climate smart agriculture on food security: an agent-based analysis

The study proposes an agent-based model to investigate how adoption of climate smart agriculture (CSA) affects food security. The analysis investigates the role of social and ecological pressures (i.e. community network, climate change and environmental externalities) on the adoption of physical water and soil practices as well as crop rotation technique. The findings reveal that CSA may be an effective strategy to improve the rural populations' well-being for farm households with access to capital, strong social networks and access to integrated food markets. The climate scenario simulations indicate that farmers adopting CSA fare better than non-adopters, although CSA adoption does not fully counterbalance the severe climate pressures. In addition, farmers with poor connections to food markets benefit less from CSA due to stronger price oscillations. These results call for an active role for policy makers in encouraging adaptation through CSA adoption by increasing access to capital, improving food market integration and building social networks.

Assessment of Climate Variability in Kisii Kenya and Its Implications on Food Security

Climate change and variability have been singled out as one of the modern challenges that affect economies of several countries leading to food scarcity and food insecurity in various parts of the world and represent a fundamental contemporary environmental shock. Kenya is no exception. This research was conducted in Kisii County, a perceived Kenyan national bread basket and investigated the trend in climate variability between the years 1983-2013. The objective of the study was to examine the precipitation and temperature trend in Kisii County. The research question was to find out whether there was any significant trend and pattern of rainfall and temperature as indicators of climate variability. The study examined climate variability for thirty one years (1983 to 2013). Data was obtained from Kenya Meteorological Department and their annual means were computed. Mann Kendall statistic test was applied to establish whether the observed trend of precipitation and temperature was significant. From the analysis, rainfall did not show any significant trend in Kisii County whilst temperature revealed a significantly upward trend over the years, at 95% confidence level. The study recommends a need to incorporate weather prediction and early warning systems by the Ministry of Agriculture in Kisii County and also promote afforestation programmes to protect water catchments. To build resilient systems to climate shocks, introduction of high temperature tolerant food crops as well as adoption of climate smart agriculture (CSA) should also be explored.

Analyzing the Socioeconomic Determinants of Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture in Nawalparasi District of Nepal

Climate change is an emerging global issue and its impact on agriculture of the developing countries has been increasing substantially in the last two-decade. Relevancy of issues how much the climate smart agricultural technologies were reaching at farm level and their economics of adoption were not properly studied in the past. Research examined the various climate smart agricultural technologies, the benefit of it and the socioeconomic factors affecting its adoption in the purposively selected Agyouli village of Nawalparasi district. For obtaining primary data from the respondents, 100 samples were selected by using a simple random sampling technique. The study was done by direct interviews and focus group discussions with the selected respondents through the means of questionnaires and checklist respectively in May 2018. The results of the primary information further complemented by using secondary data collected from the published sources. The community seed bank, green manure, biogas, legume intercropping, improved varieties, integrated pest management and integrated plant nutrient management as climate smart agricultural technologies in the farms of adopters contributed significantly higher farm income, productivity, gross income and benefit-cost ratio of paddy production for the adopters by NRs. 24377.9, 1.5 t ha-1, NRs. 35298.7 and 0.88 respectively than non-adopters. Further analysis of binary logistic regression model assessed the significant effect of age of household head, economically active household members and the training on the likelihood of adoption of climate smart agriculture. The study recommends climate smart agricultural technologies throughout the country in the changing context of climate change.

Evaluating the utilisation of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices among smallholder farmers in The Lawra, Jirapa and Nandom districts of Ghana

Climate change is posing threat to agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is proposed to solve climate change impacts on agriculture. Smallholder farmers are adopting various strategies to be resilient to climate change effects. Empirical research is required to evaluate CSA utilisation in Ghana. Lawra, Jirapa and Nandom districts in the climate-risk areas of Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone were chosen and Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) tools were used. Farm budget analysis and market price methods were employed; key financial decision-making tools were net returns, profit margins and benefit-cost ratio. Soft systems content analysis, frequencies, means, ranking and data aggregation were employed to generate results. CSA use in the study districts was smallholder driven and male dominated. CSA was mainly used for staples including cereals and legumes and small ruminants under livestock. Crop-livestock integration and crop rotation were the common CSA practices with the highest costs (GH¢6,370.00) and highest revenues (GH¢9,460.00) respectively. Utilisation of CSA in the districts is beneficial and investments are profitable and financially viable. All actors and stakeholders must join forces to promote CSA in the districts. Rigorous promotional campaigns, capacity building and funding at all levels are crucial for CSA adoption in Ghana.

A gender-differentiated analysis of climate-smart agriculture adoption by smallholder farmers: application of the extended technology acceptance model

The low adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies by farmers in developing regions where agrarian livelihoods are threatened by climate-related disasters remains a concerning enigma. Adoption patterns are not commensurate with merits of CSA on food security and climate resilience and attention to gender in relation to behavioral and attitudinal patterns in CSA adoption remains scarce. An exploratory-sequential mixed methods study was conducted, using a socio-psychological theoretical lens to test the applicability of the extended technology acceptance model in predicting CSA adoption among at-risk smallholder farming communities in Malawi and Zambia. Spearman’s rho correlation results show that relationship strengths between socio-psychological factors—perceptions on ease of use, usefulness and climate risk—differed between men and women householdheads. Results also show that social processes are central in influencing women’s decision-making on adoption. For practitioners and policy-makers, these findings reflect a critical need for gender-specific behavioral change communication strategies and inclusive participatory engagement. This will promote dialogue with diverse groups of smallholder-farmers aimed at changing negative, and leveraging on positive, behavior and attitudes toward new CSA technologies. CSA technology development for smallholder-farmers needs to appreciate the role of socio-psychological factors in adoption decisions. Further scientific research is required to establish causality between related socio-psychological factors.

Land Reform in the Era of Global Warming—Can Land Reforms Help Agriculture Be Climate-Smart?

In an era of global warming, long-standing challenges for rural populations, including land inequality, poverty and food insecurity, risk being exacerbated by the effects of climate change. Innovative and effective approaches, such as Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), are required to alleviate these environmental pressures without hampering efficiency. In countries with unequal distribution of land, where issues of access to and use of land rank high on the policy agenda, policymakers are confronted with the challenge of implementing interventions such as land reforms, whilst endeavouring to ensure that sustainable agriculture approaches be adopted by farm-households. The aim of this study is to investigate how land reforms can provide an opportunity for policymakers, particularly in lower-income countries, to enhance not only equity and efficiency but also environmental sustainability. In particular, this study builds on an extensive review of the theoretical and empirical literature and employs a conceptual framework analysis method to develop and describe a framework that explores how land reforms can be associated with the CSA approach. The resultant “Climate Smart Land Reform” (CSLR) framework contains four driving pillars, namely land redistribution, tenure reform, rural advisory services and markets and infrastructure. The framework disentangles relevant channels through which land reform, via its four pillars, can foster CSA adoption and thus contribute to the attainment of sustainable increases in agricultural productivity, climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation. The framework also includes relevant channels through which more ‘traditional’ objectives of land reformers, including economic, social and political objectives, can be achieved. In turn, the (partial) attainment of such objectives would lead to improvements in agroecological and socioeconomic conditions of rural areas and populations. These improvements are considered within the framework as the ‘ultimate’ objective of land reformers. The CSLR framework represents an innovative way of conceptualising how land reforms can generate beneficial effects not only in terms of equity and efficiency but also of environmental sustainability.

Does adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices improve farmers’ crop income? Assessing the determinants and its impacts in Punjab province, Pakistan

The agriculture sector, particularly in developing countries, is the more victim of the impacts of climate change due to less adaptation. The low response to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices raises questions about the factors influencing adaptation determinants. Therefore, the present study is designed to explore the adoption of CSA practices and the intensity, assessing through its determinants, and estimating its benefits in terms of its impacts on crop yield and farm income. For this purpose, 420 farmers were interviewed across three agro-ecological zones of Punjab, Pakistan. The study employs multinomial logistic regression to examine the factors that determine the adoption of single to a full package of CSA practices. Further, it uses a two-stage least square estimation technique to control the endogeneity problem and to estimate its conditional impact on crop yield and farm income. The study reveals interesting findings and demonstrates that the adoption of single to a full package of CSA practices is mostly explained by the institutional factors, financial resources, size of land holding, and level of education attained by the farmers. Similarly, more affected farmers due to climatic shocks were more intended to adopt CSA practices. Findings confirm that farmers who adopted a full set of CSA practices gain higher yield 32% and 44% kg/ha, and higher farm income 45% and 48% US$ per ha than non-adopted farmers for cotton–wheat and rice–wheat crops, respectively. Further, the impact of adaptation also varies to the intensity of CSA practices adopted by the farmers. This study suggests effective institutional and policy implications for creating awareness and financial support to the farmers to accelerate the adoption of CSA practices. These measures can enhance the farmers’ adaptive capacity that is needed for the sustainable livelihood of rural masses and food production.

The heterogeneous effects of adoption of climate-smart agriculture on household welfare in Pakistan

ABSTRACT In this study, we analyse the heterogeneity in the impacts of adoption of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices on welfare indicators such as food and nutrition security and poverty reduction in Pakistan. We employ the marginal treatment effects (MTE) approach to estimate the treatment effects heterogeneity and policy-relevant treatment effects (PRTE). The findings show substantial heterogeneity in benefits from adoption of CSA with respect to both observed and unobserved household characteristics. In particular, the estimates show that households with higher unobserved benefits are more likely to adopt CSA practices. The empirical results show that adoption of CSA practices significantly reduces household food insecurity and increases household dietary diversity but reduces the poverty headcount and severity of poverty of the households at the lower level of unobserved resistance to adoption. The PRTE indicate that sources of climate change information and climate-resilient trainings could help to reduce rural poverty and improve food and nutrition security in Pakistan.

Effects of climatic variability on cassava production in Nigeria

Climate change has brought about irregularity in pattern and intensity of climatic variables such as rainfall and temperature that are important in crop production; making planning in agriculture difficult. The importance of cassava in the diet of Nigerian and its industrial use necessitate the need to examine the effects of climatic variability on cassava production. Secondary data obtained from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) were used for the study. Analysis of Variance and Error Correction model were utilized. The study showed that the rainforest zone had the highest averages of annual rainfall (1709mm) and relative humidity (82.1%) while the Sahel savannah had the highest mean annual temperature (35.3oC). The variability in annual rainfall and relative humidity was low in the rainforest zone. The study showed that the rainforest zone had the least dispersion of average annual relative humidity (2.06%) while the guinea savannah had highest dispersion (4.68%). The average cassava output from the agro-ecological zones was 49,118,871MT per year. Rainforest and guinea savannah accounted for 56.3% and 41.9% of total cassava output respectively. There were significant variations in the climatic variables (rainfall and temperature) among the agro-ecological zones but not significant among the years (p>0.05). The annual rainfall and solar radiation were the factors that influenced cassava output in all the agro-ecological zones. The need for affordable irrigation by cassava farmers and the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture are recommended to boost cassava production in Sudan savannah and Sahel savannah.

Understanding impacts and barriers to adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices in North-Western Nigerian drylands

ABSTRACT Purpose: Empirical evidence suggests that climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices will promote resilience against climate change. We explored location-specific CSA practices and strategies for adoption in two communities (Zango and Kofa) in the North-Western Nigerian drylands. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed methods design was employed with thirty smallholders per community selected from a baseline study of 220 smallholders from the two study communities. Smallholders were engaged in a farmer participatory learning and action (PLA) on CSA adoption for resilience. Impacts of PLA were evaluated six months post-implementation and barriers for adoption explored. Findings: Pre- and post-PLA training indicated a change in confidence to adopt some CSA practices. Both communities showed greater confidence (p < .05) related to solving climate-related problems and the use of fertiliser. Communities differed in relation to other factors: Kofa exhibited improved confidence (71.4%) in solving water challenges while Zango showed greater confidence (76%) in relation to solving environmental problems. We found gender-responsive CSA promote women participation in farming. Practical implications: A deep understanding of the underlying reasoning behind non-adoption of CSA practices could support future climate resilience policies, and the lead-farmer extension model could reduce extension agent-farmer ratio. Theoretical implications: Identification of climate-smart agriculture practices and their adoption confirms the benefit of participatory learning for transformation, in this case, empowerment of smallholders, including women, to adapt to climate change in a wider sub-Saharan Africa context. Originality/value: This study explores PLA application in supporting the uptake of CSA practices for resilience and advancement of lead-farmer extension for reducing extension agent-farmer ratio.

Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture in Rice Production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

Farmers’ adoption behavior of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a big factor in the sustainability of agricultural growth in the areas of economic, environmental, and social development. This study explores the antecedents of adoption behavior of multiple CSA, including soil and water management, yield management, and weather risk management, among farmers in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The study adopts a primary data sample of 350 rice farmers, using a multinomial logit model. The findings indicate that the most critical antecedents of CSA adoption among farmers include perceived climate change impact, educational level, farmland size, access to credit, social capital, access to extension, secure farmland tenure, and constraint to market. The results and policy implications are discussed and proposed.

Climate smart agriculture opportunities for mitigating soil greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. Corn-Belt

Widespread adoption of climate smart agriculture (CSA) has the potential to greatly mitigate agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and decreasing nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. However, quantifying the impact of land management practices on soil GHG fluxes including CO2 and N2O is difficult due temporal and spatial variability of localized weather conditions and subfield soil properties. A process-based biogeochemistry modeling framework coupled with public soils, weather, and yield data layers was used to estimate regionally specific soil GHG reductions associated with the adoption of one or more CSA practices in maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) crop production fields. Site-specific, multi-year DeNintrification-DeComposition model simulations were performed on agricultural fields within 11 U.S. Corn-Belt states that were identified to be in maize or soybean production from 2013 to 2016. Differences between modeled changes in SOC stocks to a depth of 50 cm, N2O emissions, and CH4 fluxes corresponding with alternative land management scenarios simulated across field sites were converted to a CO2 equivalent basis and spatially weighted to a county-scale to highlight regional variability. County-scale GHG reductions corresponding with a conversion from conventional tillage to no-tillage practices are estimated to be have a mean reduction potential of 1477 kg CO2e ha−1 yr−1 (SOC, N2O, and CH4 flux reductions of 945, 549, −17 kg CO2e ha−1yr−1, respectively, where a negative reduction indicates an increase in emissions.) with a standard deviation of 605 kg CO2e ha−1 yr−1. Additionally, the adoption of cover crops is predicted to provide a mean reduction of 678 kg CO2e ha−1 yr−1 (SOC, N2O, and CH4 flux reductions of 824, -173, 26.7 kg CO2e ha−1yr−1, respectively), and improved N-fertilizer timing is estimated to mitigate 413 kg CO2e ha−1 yr−1 (SOC, N2O, and CH4 flux reductions of 75, 337, 1 kg CO2e ha−1yr−1, respectively). The adoption of multiple CSA practices is estimated to have the greatest mean reduction potential of 2861 kg CO2e ha−1 yr−1 (SOC, N2O, and CH4 flux reductions of 2210, 611, 39 kg CO2e ha−1yr−1, respectively). Use of the spatially explicit subfield modeling approach based on public data provides a relatively low-cost approach for strategically targeting CSA practices to agricultural regions where adoption is most impactful.

Does women’s participation in agricultural technology adoption decisions affect the adoption of climate‐smart agriculture? Insights from Indo‐Gangetic Plains of India

AbstractIncreased participation of women in the agricultural technology adoption decision by farm households is one of the key indicators of gender empowerment in the agricultural sector. This study examines whether women’s participation in the household decision to adopt agricultural technology affects the adoption of climate‐smart agriculture (CSA), using data collected from 1,267 farm households from two Indian states of Bihar and Haryana. When we considered the sex of the household head (using a dummy variable for male‐headed vs female‐headed household) as a basis of analyzing the role of gender in the adoption of CSA, we found that women in Haryana had no role in the adoption of CSA. On the contrary, when we considered women’s participation in technology adoption decisions as a basis of gender analysis, we found that women’s participation in technology adoption decisions in Haryana is much higher as compared to Bihar. Consequently, the likelihood to adopt CSA is higher in Haryana than in Bihar. We also found that wealth, training, and access to extension and market positively influenced CSA adoption. Qualitative analysis shows that women farmers prioritize family food security rather than farm income, and therefore, they are more likely to focus on CSA to ensure food security.

Farmers’ adaptation to climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in NW Turkey

Some of the measures to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are related to agricultural activities. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a method allowing implementation of agricultural practices in compliance with the efforts to combat climate change. CSA is an approach guiding agricultural systems under changing climate conditions to provide sustainable development and food safety. The targets of this approach included sustainable increase in agricultural production, resistance and adaptation to climate change and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Farmer participation and level of consciousness play a significant role in successful implementation of CSA. The present study was conducted to put forth farmers’ adaptation of climate change. Farmer perceptions or approaches to CSA were taken into consideration. In the study, the literature was examined to analyze the adoption of CSA and the typology of CSA applications was developed. The typology consists of five categories: (1) soil management, (2) water management, (3) chemical input management, (4) crop diversification and (5) planting trees/agroforestry. Household survey data were used to create and test hypotheses about farmers’ adoption of CSA. Nonparametric tests were used to estimate the socioeconomic variables that were effective in the adoption of CSA categories. The results generally show that CSA categories have high application potential among farmers. The factors influencing farmer decisions on these issues were identified as education, participation into agricultural meetings, land size and agricultural income. Such factors may guide policymakers while taking measures against climate change.

Welfare impacts of climate-smart agriculture in Ghana: Does row planting and drought-tolerant maize varieties matter?

This study provides new evidence of the impact of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) – row planting and drought-tolerant maize varieties - on farm and welfare outcomes by estimating a multinomial endogenous switching regression model that corrects for selection bias and farmer heterogeneity in CSA choice. Application of our model to panel observations of 438 households in Ghana show that adoption of CSA increases both yield and intensity of maize commercialization but negatively affect own consumption. Specifically, the magnitude of the impact is relatively higher for adopters of row planting relative to adopters of drought-tolerant maize seeds. These results suggest the need for development practitioners to increase awareness and emphasize the importance of row planting as a key component of climate-smart agriculture.

Yield effects of climate-smart agriculture aid investment in southern Malawi

Binding resource constraints in many low- and middle-income countries aggravate food insecurity risk in the face of climate change. To help mitigate such risk and increase food security, international development agencies have invested billions of dollars in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) programs over the past decade. However, rigorous evidence on the food security impacts of CSA aid through crop yields remains scant generally, and specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. Most studies have not explicitly linked CSA adoption and yield impacts with CSA aid interventions among smallholder farmers. Here, we respond to this knowledge gap by estimating the impact of a major CSA aid effort (the United States Agency for International Development-funded Wellness and Agriculture for Life’s Advancement (WALA) project) on agricultural yields in Southern Malawi. Based on primary survey data from a sample of 808 households in the project area, we use endogenous switching regression and a control function approach to estimate CSA adoption and impacts on maize yield in 2016, controlling for potential program placement bias, selection bias in CSA adoption, and endogeneity issues. We found a 53% increase in maize yield among CSA adopters in the drought year of 2016. Results demonstrate that policies and funding streams supporting CSA in low-income, dryland contexts such as southern Malawi can have important impacts on food security by boosting crop yields in the face of increasing climate uncertainty and extreme weather shocks.