Smallholder Farm Households Research Articles

The Impact of Agricultural Drought on Smallholder Livestock Farmers: Empirical Evidence Insights from Northern Cape, South Africa

The Northern Cape Province of South Africa faces drought that limits human endeavours, and which explains the unpredictable progress in livestock production over time. This study evaluated the impact of agricultural drought on smallholder farming households’ resilience in the Northern Cape Province. Data from 217 smallholder livestock farmers were collected and analysed descriptively and with the Agricultural Drought Resilience Index (ADRI), and Household Food insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). This study found that most smallholder livestock farmers (79%) were not resilient to agricultural drought. Further, the findings revealed that agricultural drought significantly impacted resources, food security, and government policy. This implies that a lack of access to resources, food insecurity, and ineffective government policy affected already vulnerable smallholder livestock farmers coping with severe agricultural drought. This study is significant in providing policymakers and other stakeholders with evidence-based recommendations for developing strategies and implementing policies for improving the resilience of smallholder livestock farmers by improving access to resources, including access to land. They will be better able to deal with challenges that come their way if they become more resilient, resulting in reduced household loss. This study recommends that government and stakeholders enhance the resilience of smallholder farmers by supporting less resilient farmers. The government needs to work with stakeholders to improve access to land and funds to enhance farmers’ resilience. As a result, these policies can help smallholder farmers be more resilient in times of climatic shock.

Investigating food insecurity, health and environment-related factors, and agricultural commercialization in Southwestern Nigeria: evidence from smallholder farming households.

Hunger and food insecurity remained some of the serious challenges facing our world in present time with great concerns from Sub-Saharan Africa especially countries like Nigeria. This study investigates food insecurity (FI), health and environment-related factors, and agricultural commercialization among smallholder farm households. This study was conducted in Southwestern Nigeria utilizing cross-sectional survey data from 352 farm households and employed multi-stage sampling procedure. The household FI levels was determined using food insecurity access scale (HFIAS), crop commercialization index (CCI) was used to compute each household’s CCI (four levels), while ordered logit model was used to analyse factors influencing FI. Health and environment-related factors’ access were assessed across each FI category. The results indicated that about 13% of cassava farm households are non-participant in the marketing of their produce. The findings revealed that less than 20%, 30%. and 40% of households in all four FI categories had access to piped water, improved toilet facilities, and electricity respectively. The ordered logit regression analysis indicated that age, gender, education level, farm experience, nonfarm income, and ownership of motorcycle significantly influencing FI in the study areas. Therefore, this study stressed the implementation of policy actions capable of promoting rural infrastructure development that will lead to increased agricultural production, marketing, and improved quality of life of rural dwellers.

Determinants of market participation among smallholder farmers in Southwest Ethiopia: double-hurdle model approach

BackgroundAgricultural production by smallholder farm households is a means of livelihood for many rural households in developing economies, including Africa. Commercializing smallholder farmers in the agricultural sector is an indispensable path to boost economic growth and development of most developing countries, like Ethiopia. But, maize marketing has not been given due attention, which has potential production volume and marketability. Therefore, this study is designed to identify determinants of market participation decision and volume of supply among smallholder maize producer farmers in Southwest Ethiopia.MethodsData for this study were collected through cross‑sectional survey from maize producer farm households. The primary data were generated by household survey using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. A both purposive and random sampling technique was used to draw an appropriate sample of 546 maize producer households for this cross-sectional survey study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and double-hurdle econometric model.ResultsThe result of the survey indicates that out of total 546 maize producers, 381 households are maize market participants and 165 households are non-participants. First hurdle model results show that nine variables—education level, farming experience, quantity of maize produced, cooperative membership, distance to nearest market, amount of credit received, off/non-farming income, number of oxen and perception about lagged price—significantly affect the market participation decision among maize producer farmers. The second hurdle result confirmed that seven variables—sex, family size, land allocated for maize, number of oxen, distance to nearest market, livestock holding and perception about lagged price—significantly affect the level of market participation by maize producer farmers.ConclusionThe findings of this study revealed that understanding the factors and its extent is very important for policy-making to address the problem of market participation decision and level of participation among smallholder farm households. Therefore, the study suggests that important resource and socio-economic factors must take into consideration to enhance the productivity and strength supportive institutions or infrastructural facilities in the study area to improve market participation decision and level of participation of smallholders.

The Contribution of Forest Extraction to Income Diversification and Poverty Alleviation for Indonesian Smallholder Cattle Breeders

Smallholder farmers in developing countries often lack resources. They rely mostly on extensive production approaches, such as cattle keeping and resort more to extracting forest resources at no charge. Our objective is to assess the relationship between the diversification of income sources, poverty and livelihood capital for smallholder farm households which combine cattle farming with forest extraction. We collected 600 surveys from Indonesian farmers specialized along the cattle rearing supply chain (464 breeders, 66 feeders and 70 mixed breeder-feeders). We found no correlation between poverty and income diversification. Cattle breeders have been found to rely most on forest resources. Distance to cropland and forest correlated positively, whereas their education level correlated negatively with income diversification. Feeders who were owning other livestock, were a member of a forest user group and owned some modest capital like a motorbike showed increased income diversification. Crops are the most important source of income for farmers, whereas cattle keeping and forest extraction play a role in income diversification. Increasing ecological pressure caused by forest extraction due to expanding cattle production could be best avoided by extending those parts of the cattle sector that use forest resources in a sustainable manner, for instance, through silvopastural systems or agroforestry so that incomes of poor farmers get more diversified and, therefore stabilized.

Empirical Evidence of the Livelihood Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts: A Case of Potato-Based Mountain Farming Systems in Bhutan

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an indispensable commodity, mainly cultivated by high-altitude mountain households, that sustains and supports the livelihood of an overwhelming 51% of the Bhutanese population. The popularity of potato cultivation among Bhutanese farmers can be attributed to the crop’s adaptability to a wide range of agroclimatic conditions such as a rainfed crop, high productivity, an assured market, and a reliable source of income for the farming families. We hypothesize that the changing climate would make the livelihood associated with potato cultivation in Bhutan more vulnerable. We tested this hypothesis to identify the sources of vulnerability of smallholder farming households using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and LVI-IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) approaches in six potato growing districts of Bhutan: Bumthang, Chukha, Gasa, Mongar, Tashigang, and Wangdue. Primary data were generated through a semi structured sample survey of 240 households on the seven major livelihood components of sociodemographic profiles, livelihood strategies, social networks, health, food, water, natural disasters, and climate variability. The results showed that the LVI (range 0.302 to 0.375) and LVI-IPCC (range −0.005 to 0.030) differed significantly (p < 0.001) across the districts. The districts of Tashigang and Mongar were less vulnerable than the other four districts by the LVI approach, whereas Bumthang was also revealed to be less vulnerable using the LVI-IPCC approach. The degree of vulnerability in a district differed according to their level of exposure and adaptive capacity to the climate change impacts of the potato farming household. The results are expected to serve as empirical evidence for designing a future course of actions to mitigate the negative impacts.

COVID-19 Lockdown and Exposure of Households to Food Insecurity in Uganda: Insights from a National High Frequency Phone Survey.

We estimate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown induced income shocks on household food insecurity outcomes in Uganda using five rounds of a nationally representative High Frequency Phone Survey. Relative to the baseline survey conducted just before the pandemic, there was a significant decrease in households’ participation in wage work, agricultural production, and non-farm business which in turn increased their income losses. Consequently, we find that lockdown induced income losses significantly increased incidences of food insecurity within households. With incidences of food insecurity increasing especially in rural areas, it is likely that COVID-19 reversed some of the gains recorded in recent years in lifting millions of rural smallholder farming households out of poverty. These results suggest that to assure the food security of poorer segments of the population especially in anticipation of future shocks, the government needs to invest more in social protection i.e., income and consumption support.

Farm production diversity and women's dietary diversity: Evidence from central Tunisia.

In the context of studies on the effects of agricultural production diversity, there are debates in the scientific community as to the level of diversification appropriate for improving dietary diversity. In Tunisia, agriculture is a strategic sector for the economy and a critical pillar of its food sovereignty. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, we have estimated the association between agricultural production diversity and women’s dietary diversity among smallholder farming households in the Sidi Bouzid governorate (central Tunisia). Although we found a low level of agricultural production diversity and a fairly diversified diet among women, we observed a systematic weak positive association between five different indicators of agricultural production diversity and women’s dietary diversity. We observed a stronger positive association between women’s dietary diversity and women being more educated and households being wealthier. Neither diversity of food supplies in food markets nor market distance were associated with women’s dietary diversity, whereas we observed a higher level of consumption of some products (dairy) when they were produced on the farm.

Dietary and agricultural adaptations to drought among smallholder farmers in South Africa: A qualitative study

Building resilience to environmental change is an integral part of long-term climate adaptation planning and local policy. There is an increased understanding of the impact of climate change on global crop production however, little focus has been given to local adaptation pathways and rural smallholder community responses, especially regarding food security. It is becoming increasingly evident that local level decision-making plays a vital role in reducing vulnerability to environmental change. This research aimed to qualitatively investigate coping and adaptive strategies adopted by smallholder farming households to respond to the impacts of drought in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Focus group discussions (n = 7) consisting of 5–9 participants and individual interviews (n = 9) using pre-tested topic guides, involving a total of 57 adults were conducted in rural areas of drought-affected districts: Msinga, Richmond and Umbumbulu of KwaZulu-Natal, in July 2018. The data were analysed using thematic analysis in NVivo 12. Thematic analysis identified three principal themes: 1. Perceived effects of droughts on the local food system and diets; 2. Current coping strategies; and 3. Enablers for successful adaptation. All sites reported a change in food consumption habits, with the majority perceiving drought to be the main driver behind a shift from vegetable-based to starch-based diets and decreased animal source food consumption. Only short-term coping strategies were implemented across the study sites. However, knowledge of long-term adaptation strategies existed but was unattainable to most respondents. Recommendations of perceived context-specific long-term adaptation strategies that could be used at a local scale were communicated by the respondents. However, they would need external help to actualize them. A need exists to support smallholder communities’ short-term response methods to drought to achieve more holistic resilience and successful adaptation. Short-term adaptation strategies, if implemented alone, often have significant trade-offs with longer-term adaptation and building resilience. This study highlights the need for targeted, contextualised policy solutions to improve smallholder productivity during drought through a strategic combination of both short- and longer-term adaptation measures, i.e. short-term adaptation should be guided by a long-term adaptation strategy. Proper planning, including the use of climate scenarios combined with information on nutritional status, is needed to develop context-specific and transformative adaptation strategies. These strategies should aim to strengthen resilience at a local level and should be included as policy recommendations.

Tailoring management practices to the structure of smallholder households in Sudano-Sahelian Burkina Faso: Evidence from current practices

CONTEXTTypologies are widely used to tailor management practices to structural farm households, and to identify recommendation domains. However, it has often been shown that the recommendations are not followed by farmers, especially in the agricultural context of sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVEWe aimed to identify links between a typology based on the structure of farm households and a typology based on farmers' management practices adopted by farmers in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso. METHODSWe co-developed socio-economic and technical survey with agronomists and socio-economists and collected data on 291 smallholder farming households. We used principal component analysis, followed by hierarchical clustering to build two typologies: a farm household typology and a farm management typology and analyzed the link between the two. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSOur typologies distinguished 4 types of farm households and 3 types of farm management. Although we expected to find a dominant farm management type for each type of farm household, we show that the use of the typology is not sufficient to disentangle the intra-diversity of farm household types, as, except for large-scale cotton producers, of whom 94% fall in the mineral input user category, all the farmers do not use the same set of management practices. For instance, 29.5% of medium-scale cotton-based farm types do not match the “mineral input users” type, but are characterized by their use of mulch and cereal-legume crop rotation. Based on our empirical data, we show that promoting a basket of options (a set of management practices) based on a typology of farm household structure may not always be appropriate. Moving from theory (i.e. use of typology to define ‘best fit’) to practice (i.e. collecting data on actual agricultural practices), we show that using a combined typology approach will reveal matches and mismatches when practices are tailored to a given farm type. SIGNIFICANCEIn addition to using a farm household typology to tailor practices, we also define a limited set of locally relevant variables that are representative of the diversity of farmers' practices.

Dietary Diversity of Women across Agricultural Seasons in the Kapchorwa District, Uganda: Results from a Cohort Study.

Small-holder farm households in developing countries mainly depend on rain-fed agriculture activities, thus seasonality affects eating habits and contributes to micronutrient deficiencies. This study assessed women’s dietary diversity score (WDDS) across three agricultural seasons in the Kapchorwa District, Uganda. In each season, 445 women with under five-year-old children from small-holder farm households were interviewed on socio-demographic characteristics as well as dietary practices between May 2016 and January 2017. Linear regression models estimated differences in WDDS across seasons. The mean WDDS at the lean, harvest and post-harvest seasons was 4.33 ± 1.21, 4.63 ± 1.30 and 4.36 ± 1.21, respectively. Mean WDDS was higher in urban regions across all seasons. Women in urban regions generated more income through off-farm activities, had better access to markets and consumed significantly more ‘meat, poultry and fish’ (p < 0.001), dairy products (p < 0.05), ‘vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables’ (p < 0.001) and ‘other vegetables’ (p < 0.001) during the lean season, whilst rural women ate more dark green leafy vegetables (p < 0.001) during the same period. Poorer households in the rural setting were more likely to be affected by seasonally limited food availability and accessibility. Hence, strengthening the linkages between market participation, agricultural activities, improved food storage and preservation techniques and dietary intake is recommended.

Household food insecurity and dietary diversity of women of reproductive age among smallholder farming households in northwest Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Despite Bangladesh’s remarkable progress in agricultural production over the past few decades, household food and nutrition insecurity persist, especially in rural areas. The nutrition security and dietary diversity are even more critical for women of reproductive age among smallholders. This study examined household food insecurity and dietary diversity of women of reproductive age in the rural areas of northwest Bangladesh. Using cross-sectional data collected from 252 smallholder households, we measured household food insecurity and dietary diversity of women of reproductive age by the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale and the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women, respectively. Determinants of household food insecurity were examined, and associations between household food insecurity and low dietary diversity were determined. The majority of the households were mildly insecure (51.2%) followed by moderately insecure (27.4%). The households felt anxiety of food insecurity for more than six months a year (Food Security Index = 2.10 out of 4.00). The mean food group consumed by women was 4.63 indicating low dietary diversity and dominance of diets by grains and dark green leafy vegetables. The findings also indicate a significant and positive association between household food insecurity and low dietary diversity of women. Education of household heads, household size, access to information sources, access to credit support, and perceived impacts of climate change on crop production were identified as determinants of household food insecurity. The study recommends that appropriate interventions be formulated to improve the food and nutrition security in the study areas.

Assessing nuanced social networks and its implication for climate change adaptation in northwestern Ghana

The current uncertainty, frequency and intensity of climate change impacts limits opportunities for climate adaptation among smallholder farmers in developing countries. This paper seeks to critically examine how gendered relations at the household level influence access to social networks for climate change adaptation in northwestern Ghana. By doing so, the study contributes to an improved understanding of how inter-gender dynamics shape adaptive capacities among vulnerable groups. Using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews, a total sample size of 156 respondents were studied. The study also employed an intersectional framework and a network analysis to examine the nuanced networks of smallholder farmer households. Findings revealed that the interplay of age, marital status and educational levels influenced access to social networks for support in minimising climate risk. As such, promoting adaptation actions without addressing structural and relational inequalities within vulnerable communities may deepen existing inequalities.

Smallholder Farming Households’ Make-or-Buy Decisions: Linking Market Access, Production Risks, and Production Diversity to Dietary Diversity

Smallholder Farming Households’ Make-or-Buy Decisions: Linking Market Access, Production Risks, and Production Diversity to Dietary Diversity

Adaptive capacity to climate change and food security among farm households in Southwest Nigeria

Smallholder farming households represent one of groups most exposed to the vagaries of climate change because their production and livelihood depend on climatic elements. This study assessed the effect of climate change adaptive capacity on smallholder farming households' food security in Oyo State, Nigeria. Data from 246 farming households were analysed using factor analysis to generate the Climate Change Adaptive Capacity Index (CCACI), Foster-Greer-Thorbecke Indices and Logit Regression. The most adopted adaptation strategies were intercropping, fallowing, fertilizer application, and crop rotation. Most of the households had moderate or high adaptive capacity to climate change. Econometric results show that farm households with low climate change adaptive capacity have a greater likelihood of being food insecure relative to farm households with moderate and high climate change adaptive capacity. These findings emphasize the need to enhance smallholder farmers' capacity to mitigate the adverse effect of climate change on national food security.

Income and yield effects of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption in flood prone areas of Bangladesh: Farm level evidence

Understanding the effects of climate change adaptation measures by smallholder farm households in flood-prone areas remains underdeveloped. Particularly, little is known whether adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) augments crop yield and income. Therefore, we investigate the impact of CSA adoption on yield and income in Bangladesh, one of the countries of the world most vulnerable to climate change and disaster prone. To achieve this, based on primary data from a sample of 600 smallholder farms, the endogenous switching regression (ESR) is applied while controlling for endogeneity issues and selection bias of CSA adoption. For robustness check, propensity score matching (PSM) is applied. Consistent results from both models are found indicating that CSA adoption has yield and income effects on smallholder farms. Interestingly, if non-adopting households are soil salinity conscious and adopt CSA, their yield would increase by 7.55%. In addition, non-adopting households would significantly have tremendous income gains on account of CSA adoption. Results demonstrate that policy support measures for CSA adoption in flood-prone areas can have important implications for food security and poverty eradication through crop yield boosts and income augmentation in line with the purview of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Farmers’ Perception Towards Wheat Row Planting Practices by Smallholder Farming Households in Elfeta District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to analyze the perception of farmers towards wheat row planting practices by smallholder farmers in the study area. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve the study's goals. Primary data were collected from 141sample households which are selected at randomly. Additional information was also obtained from focus group discussion and key informant interview. The data has been analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage and standard deviation by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20. Qualitative data were used to validate the responses of questionnaire. The result of the study showed that, 63.6% of the respondents were cannot read and write from non-adopter and 47.8% completion of primary school from adopter farmers in the study area. The result of the study also indicated that 51.7% of both non-adopter and adopter farmers responded as strongly disagree on access to extension service given by DA in the study area. According to the result of the study 53.9% of both non-adopter and adopter farmers responded as strongly disagree on perception on access to credit service given by government in the study area. Additionally, both non-adopter and adopter of the farmers revealed that there was low technical training from government and development agency in the study area. Therefore, the study concludes that, Policies and strategies that focus on farmers’ education, implementation of well-established extension package, linkages of farmers, researchers, development agent, and stakeholders are helpful so as to achieve wider adoption of row planting technology of smallholder farmer in the study area.

Food Security among Smallholder Farming Households in Osun State, Nigeria: Factors and Coping Strategies

Food Security among Smallholder Farming Households in Osun State, Nigeria: Factors and Coping Strategies

Food Security and Nutrition of Smallholder Farming Households in South-East Nigeria: Evidence from Imo State

Smallholder farmers play a significant role in rural economic growth, as they contribute a large portion of the workforce in the rural areas. Consumption of less diverse diets and inadequate access to sufficient food poses a danger for their health. We assessed the food security status and nutrition of smallholder farming households in Imo State, South-East Nigeria. We identified sources of food availability of the households, determined the food security status of the farming households and also determined factors affecting the food security status of the farmers. This study used survey data from 195 smallholder farming households in Imo State, South-East Nigeria. Household dietary diversity score (HDDS) and binary logistic regression model were employed to estimate the food security status and the determinants. The results show that the farmers engaged in different farming systems, including crop production, livestock production and mixed farming. The farming households relied on their farm production and food purchases to meet their energy and dietary needs, with food gifts supplementing the food available to some households. We found that male-headed households were more food secure than female-headed households. The number of food insecure households were relatively higher than the percentage of households that were food secure. The age of the household head, education, sex, household size and market-orientation significantly influence the food security status of the farming households. It is recommended that farmers should engage in diverse farming systems as well as market orientation to enhance the nutrition and food security of their households.

The effects of COVID-19 on livelihoods of rural households: South Wollo and Oromia Zones, Ethiopia

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is a global phenomenon that is heavily affecting the lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing of the entire population, the degree and severity of its effects are different among groups and sectors. In developing countries, where there is poor infrastructure coupled with a low level of education and a high incidence of poverty, the pandemic would result in increased unemployment, decreased income for daily labor, increased food insecurity, depletion of saving and relief measures, and disrupted the marketing system, among others. Recently, some studies have been conducted in Ethiopia regarding the impact of the pandemic on the people and the country as a whole by reviewing the literature and mobile call surveys. However, those studies fail to capture the representative sample and empirical data to forward informed decisions. To this end, the present study has investigated the effect of COVID-19 on the livelihood activities of smallholder farm households in South Wollo and Oromia administrative Zones, Ethiopia. A multistage random sampling procedure was employed to draw 275 respondents out of 32,214 household heads. Data were collected through interview schedules, key informants and case studies from September to November 2020. Descriptive statistics, econometric analysis and qualitative approaches were employed to analyze the data. The major livelihood activities in the study area are crop production (97.4%), livestock rearing (77.4%), daily work (47%), small business (31.4%), livestock trading (30.7%), remittance (24.8%), labor migration (14.8%), sale of firewood (11.1%) and income from Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) (17%). The study shows that the livelihoods of 88.89% of the households were affected by the pandemic. The pandemic significantly affected and forced households to cease their livelihood activities such as daily labor (34.82%), small business trade (26.3%), livestock trading (23.7%), income from remittance (21.49%) and labor migration (11.48%). This implies that the pandemic particularly affected non-farm and off-farm livelihood diversification strategies. Therefore, the government and other rural development partners should focus on immediate and long-term intervention strategies to recover the most affected households through social security programs, creating market linkage and revolve funding mechanisms.

Milk quality and hygiene: Knowledge, attitudes and practices of smallholder dairy farmers in central Kenya

Milk production is an important livelihood source for smallholder dairy farmers in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Kenya. However, milk quality and safety are a challenge due to unhygienic handling and non-adherence to food safety standards. The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and adoption of milk quality and food safety practices by smallholder farmers in Kenya. Ten Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), involving 71 smallholder farmers, were held to collect qualitative data on knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) of smallholder dairy farmers in Laikipia, Nakuru, and Nyandarua counties. Additionally, data were collected through a cross-sectional administered to 652 smallholder farming households. The results of the study revealed low knowledge level and negative attitudes towards respecting antibiotics treatment withdrawal periods, milk quality standards and food safety regulations. Farmers stated they had received low levels of training on milk quality and safety standards. The majority of farmers adopted animal health measures and hygienic measures such as hand washing and udder cleaning. However, unhygienic milking environments, the use of plastic containers, the use of untreated water, and lack of teat dipping compromised milk quality and safety. Currently, milk production, handling and consumption could expose actors along the dairy value chain to health risks. The adoption of milk quality and food safety practices was influenced by farmers’ knowledge, socioeconomic characteristics, and choice of marketing channel. There is a need to improve farmers’ knowledge and attitudes and implement hygienic control, disease control and antibiotic residue control practices in the milk production process to meet required milk quality and food safety standards. Awareness campaigns and training programmes for smallholder dairy farmers could foster behavioural change and lead to an improvement in milk quality in Kenya. • Kenya dairy sector is constrained by farmers' low adherence to milk quality standards. • Lack of training hinders farmers' compliance with milk quality standards. • Poor farm-level hygiene compromises milk quality and safety. • Socioeconomic characteristics determine farmers' milk quality standards compliance.