Resilience Of Smallholder Farmers Research Articles

Drivers of transformation of the maize sector in Nigeria

Maize is widely used for food, animal feed, and industrial raw material in Nigeria. This paper documents the important changes that characterize Nigeria's maize production and area expansion along with contributing factors that have transformed maize from a backyard food crop to a dominant food security and commercial crop. Using both secondary and primary data on maize production and varietal adoption over the last six decades, we found that Nigeria now produces ten times more maize than it did in 1960 and four times more maize than it did in 2005. Our findings further suggested that government policies and institutional arrangements that promoted access to and use of modern inputs and increased demand of maize grain for food, feed, and other industrial uses have played major roles in transforming maize from a backyard crop to a dominant staple and commercial crop in Nigeria. Considering the impeding climate change threats to food security in Nigeria, policy interventions should be tailored towards further scaling-up of stress resilient and climate-smart maize varieties to improve the productivity, income, and resilience of smallholder farmers. This requires strong support not only to get recently released superior improved varieties into the hands of smallholder farmers but also to accelerate varietal turnover.

Impact of small-scale irrigation on the livelihood and resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change stresses: Evidence from Kersa district, eastern Oromia, Ethiopia

This study mainly aimed to evaluate the impact of small-scale irrigation on the livelihood and resilience of farmers toward climate change in Kersa district of the eastern Oromia region of Ethiopia. A sample of 288 randomly selected households (158 non-adopters and 130 adopters) was used to gather the data. The data were analyzed using the resilience capacity index and propensity score matching methods. The resilience capacity index was utilized to summarize all the resilience indicators into a single value, and propensity score matching was used to evaluate the impact. The results of the average treatment effect on the treated analysis revealed that adopters were better-off in crop yields by 84.72 quintals per hectare, 55641.60 birr in total income, and by 2.02 resilience capacity index compared to non-adopters. The results of the study indicate that small-scale irrigation significantly improves farm households' livelihoods and mitigates the effects of climate change by enhancing their ability to respond to erratic weather events, which builds their resilience. Therefore, policymakers should prioritize small-scale irrigation practices to improve rural households' livelihoods and farmers’ resilience in areas with irregular rainfall and a high risk of drought.

Climate shock response and resilience of smallholder farmers in the drylands of south-eastern Zimbabwe

Climatic shocks are exerting pressure on livelihoods of Zimbabwe's smallholder farmer—who irrigate only 2% of their farms. The smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas are more exposed to drought because of their limited ability to cope with shocks and their greater concentration in less favorable climatic regions. This study was done to analyze shock-response approaches, which farmers use to cope with climatic shocks. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to analyze impact of World Vision Zimbabwe (WVZ) and other actors' interventions on farmer resilience to climatic shocks. Results show that mixed cropping and diversification in general were among the major strategies that pastoralists and crop farmers used to cope with climatic shocks. Crop farmers diversified types of crops as well as raising livestock. Similarly, pastoralists started growing short-term crops. Other coping strategies included intercropping, selling livestock, moving livestock to other places that did not experience drought. Both crop producers and livestock keepers engaged in nonfarm activities. About 60% of WVZ households reported that World Vision and partners helped them respond to shock and build resilience against climate change. These coping strategies had favorable impacts on household welfare. Diversification increased dietary diversity index by more than two and the increase was much greater among female-headed households than male-headed households. The WVZ intervention also significantly reduced the odds of going to bed without eating food or sleeping hungry. Non-farm income and value of assets for WVZ beneficiaries increased by about 20% and by 22% among treated female-headed households. The results show that diversification and providing grass root training of smallholder farmers increases their resilience to climate shocks.

Agricultural Rituals and Resilience of Smallholder Farmers towards Food Security in Africa: The case of the four socio-cultural and ecological zones of Cameroon

Agricultural Rituals and Resilience of Smallholder Farmers towards Food Security in Africa: The case of the four socio-cultural and ecological zones of Cameroon

CONCEPT AND RATIONALE OF EVOLUTIONARY BARLEY BREEDING UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE IN JORDAN

In this study, we reviewed the climate changing and the impact on crop production, and evolutionary breeding as adaptation key to crop resilience. The increasing climate change impact on the agriculture system has renewed interest to the broadest possible germplasm base for a resilient and sustainable food system. Heterogeneous populations developed through evolutionary plant breeding could be the ideal solution to reduce the effects of environment variability on cereal crop planted under low-input conditions.The study assessed the genetic basis of adaptation of a barley population which evolved in different rainfed locations and years in Jordan without any human selection as suggests model of plant breeding strategy to improve food security, nutrition, income and resilience of smallholder farmers in the dryland regions in the climate change scenarios. The study suggests that the breeder can shift the undesirable traits in evolutionary populations by practicing individual selection for specific adaptations, or individual selection from populations showing wide adaptations and high stability. On the other hand, the breeder can overcome the undesirable traits by keeping the highest variations within the population by seed sieving to remove small seed and plant mowing for tallest head.

Examining Farmers’ Resilience to Climate Change and Policy Ramifications in North-West Cameroon

Over half of the world’s population depends on smallholder farms for their daily food needs. However, high levels of vulnerability and low levels of resilience to the adverse effects of climatic variations and changes constitute major threats to smallholder farms and farmers. It is within this context that this paper assessed the levels of resilience of smallholder farmers as well as the factors affecting smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change in north western Cameroon. A mixed research approach was adopted during data collection, and data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that climate extremes were the order of the day, and farmers perceived income level, practice of agroforestry and land accessibility as the main determinants of resilience. The main resilience option practiced by most smallholder farmers was agroforestry. Chi-square and t-test statistics showed the existence of a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between smallholder farmers resilience to climate change and different environmental, institutional and socio-economic variables. Logistic regression coefficients showed the existence of a statistically significant cause-effect relationship (p<0.05) between farmers’ resilience to climate change and different environmental, institutional and socio-economic variables such as income level, land accessibility, credit accessibility, information accessibility and number of farms. From the foregoing, income level, land accessibility, credit accessibility, information accessibility and number of farms play a significant role towards enhancing smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change. Policy makers therefore need to factor in these variables when crafting policies geared towards improving smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change.

Climate change and variability awareness and livelihood adaptive strategies among smallholder farmers in semi-arid northern Ghana

This study examined smallholder farmers' observation of climate change and variability, its effect on agricultural output, and the livelihood adaptive strategies being used in response to such dynamic changes. A total of 121 smallholder farmers were randomly selected from three vulnerable rural farming communities in northern Ghana through a mixed methodological approach involving household surveys, interviews and focus group discussions. Data were analysed using descriptive and binary logistic regression with the help of IBM SPSS statistical software package integrated with qualitative thematic analysis involving transcription, categorization and interconnecting. The results show that majority (95.9%) of the smallholders have observed climatic changes in their local ecology with manifestations involving protracted drought (95.9%), unpredictable rainfall pattern (94.2%), high temperature (99.2%), strong winds (66.9%) and frequent flood events (99.2%). As a consequence, smallholders have observed that changes in temperature (99.2%) and rainfall patterns (97.5%) result in decreased agricultural output. In resolving the impacts, these smallholders employ preferred livelihood adaptive strategies involving non-farm diversification (51.2%), crop diversification (75.2%), changes in farm location (76.9%) and agrochemical application (100%) with moderate or high levels of effectiveness across space. The logistic regression results revealed that factors such as age, gender and access to credit significantly influenced smallholder farmers’ observation and adaptation to climate change and variability. The findings suggest the need for a location-specific climate adaptation policy. By this, the local knowledge, adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder farmers could be built upon to mitigate their vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty.

A case study of the relationship between smallholder farmers' ICT literacy levels and demographic data w.r.t. their use and adoption of ICT for weather forecasting

Food insecurity caused by climate change has become one of the main issues on the global agenda. Worldwide, the importance of digital tools as a means to enhance adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder farmers (SHFs) in the face of climate variability has long been recognised. Technology-based systems in agriculture frequently neglect to consider the actual context of use and adoption by SHFs in rural and developing contexts. These conditions, as pointed out in the literature, range from high “illiteracy” rates to poor technology infrastructure to a requirement for smartphone-based technology of which very few SHFs in the developing world can take advantage. However, very little is known about the information and communication technology (ICT) literacy levels of SHFs in general in terms of supporting them in their farming decisions. This paper, therefore, explores the ICT literacy levels of Msinga SHFs in order to understand what could enhance their use and adoption of ICT for weather forecasting. Msinga is a hotspot for climate change. Consequently, the means of livelihood of the SHFs in this municipality have been negatively impacted.Volunteering sampling was used, in which 35 SHFs were purposively selected from a population of 100 SHFs who belong to the Asisukume Msinga Agricultural Cooperative (AMAC) – all irrigation farmers. A sequential transformative mixed method design, embedded in an Indigenous research framework, was employed. This paper reports on the quantitative aspects of the study which addressed the following two research questions: (i) What are Msinga SHFs ICT literacy capability levels? and (ii) What is the relationship between SHFs ICT levels and their demographic data w.r.t. their adoption of ICT tools in their agricultural practices? Data were collected using a demographic details questionnaire (examining age, marriage, educational level, and years of farming experience) and an assessment of ICT literacy (assessing 5 ICT literacy skills which included mobile phone symbol identification to advanced ICT literacy). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, specifically the use of Spearman rank-order correlation using IBM® Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS®), version 20.The results suggest that for the ICT literacy levels, SHFs were not able to display use of the various ICT related skills, with the exception of ICT levels 1 and 2 where satisfactory display of ICT literacy were displayed among most of the SHFs. When examining the associations between ICT literacy levels and the demographic variables, significant negative associations were found between the ICT literacy levels and age as well as years of experience, while significant positive associations were found between ICT literacy levels and educational level. The results, furthermore, suggest that marital status has no correlation with ICT literacy proficiency.The findings arising from this study highlight the “importance of context” in helping SHFs to mitigate the threats of climate change on food production, an issue that is completely ignored in curriculum policies and policies aimed at integrated national adaptation responses to climate change impact and vulnerability.

Understanding climate smart agriculture and the resilience of smallholder farmers in Umguza district, Zimbabwe

Climate smart agriculture has enhanced the viability and sustainability of smallholder farming in Umguza District of Zimbabwe. This study documents how smallholder farmers in Umguza District have r...

A multi-dimensional adoption approach for improved sorghum varieties in eastern Kenya: a climate change adaptation perspective

ABSTRACT In this era of changing climatic conditions, agricultural technology developers continue to promote suitable innovations to cushion and improve resilience of smallholder farmers against adverse effects and shocks. These improved varieties contribute towards attainment of household and national food security. This paper aims to understand what influences households’ decision to adopt, speed of uptake and extent of use of improved sorghum varieties (ISVs). Data from 452 households were analysed using Double Hurdle and Duration models. Study revealed that consumption expenditure levels, income and tropical livestock unit are important determinants of three household’s adoption decisions. Access to agricultural credit, distance to administration centres and adoption intensity depicts unexpected a priori. The findings also show that households are credit constrained and use own or neighbour’s home saved seeds to expand the use of ISVs. Study concludes that the three facets of ISVs' adoption are influenced by different combination of determinants. Due to the vastness and rough terrain in Tharaka Nithi County, agricultural credit lenders should come up with effective low cost, sustainable and scalable outreach strategies. Policies targeting to derisk sorghum value chain with an aim of incentivizing financial institutions increase their lending appetite to cash-constrained smallholder farmers and agro-dealers should be implemented.

Social vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate change in Zambia: the applicability of social vulnerability index

This study assesses social vulnerability and coping strategies of smallholder farmers in two districts in Zambia and the applicability of the social vulnerability index (SVI) approach. Household data from 194 households were collected for the assessment of vulnerability and coping strategies. Using six demographic, economic and social indicators, farmers in Chirundu district were found to be more vulnerable to climate change than those in Masaiti district having recorded SVI of 0.47 and 0.41, respectively. Economic factors (low income level; less diversified sources of income) and social factors (low level of ownership of radio or television; low level of access to climate change information) influenced the vulnerability level of farmers in Chirundu district. Most engaged coping strategies were planting of drought tolerant species, varying the timing of planting, crop diversification, reliance on government assistance and engagement in non-farm jobs. The study makes practical recommendations on how to improve adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change impacts. To help tailor the SVI approach for placed-based assessment of social vulnerability to climate change, the paper concludes with recommendations on validity, interrelationships, weighting and aggregation of indicators and scale of application (spatial and temporal) regarding the development and use of SVI.