Understanding the determinants of climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder maize farmers in South-west, Nigeria

Climate change adaptation strategies adopted by pastoralists in rangelands in Golestan province, Iran

Climate change is a serious challenge to pastoralism in rangelands. Adaptation strategies adopted by pastoralists can reduce their livelihood vulnerability to cope with adverse effects of climate change. This study was done to investigate the adaptation strategies of pastoralists in the north of Golestan province, Iran. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population consisted of 200 pastoralists from 3 pastoral units, of which 127 individuals were sampled using stratified random method. The results showed that 33.1% of the pastoralists had moderate adaptability to climate change. They had more adaptive capacity in cost saving and improving savings, health and veterinary services, and use of technology. The pastoralists' adaptability to climate change was enhanced with increasing age. Large and less-educated pastoralists had more adaptability compared to small and well-educated ones. Pastoralists who had jobs other than animal-husbandry and who participated in educational and extension courses on climate change had more adaptability to climate change. Pastoralists owning agricultural lands and local knowledge in dealing with climate change were also more adaptable to climate change. The results of the study can be used to strengthen pastoralists' adaptability to climate change to reduce their livelihood vulnerability.

Factors Affecting the Choice and Level of Adaptation Strategies Among Smallholder Farmers in KwaZulu Natal Province

Smallholder vegetable farmers grow diverse crops for family use and surplus sales. These farming activities contribute to enhancing local food security and the economy, but the farmers face challenges like limited resources and climate vulnerability. These smallholder farmers are more susceptible to climate variability and therefore need effective adaptation strategies to mitigate the challenges. This study sought to determine the factors that influence the choice and level of adaptation strategies among smallholder vegetable farmers in KwaZulu Natal Province. Primary data utilized in this study were obtained from 200 participants that were selected through random sampling. The descriptive results indicated that the majority of the farmers experienced climate variability and employed carbon and water-smart agricultural practices. The study employed the Multivariate Probit Model and Count Data Model/GLM Correlation Test to analyze the adaptation strategies and the level of their implementation by the selected vegetable farmers. The first hurdle of the probit model results showed that education level and land size positively and significantly influence smallholder farmers' adaptation strategies, while marital status, household size, income source, soil type, membership of the association, and supply chain involvement had a significant and negative effect on adoption of adaptation strategies. The results from the second hurdle showed that household size, the total size of land used for vegetable production, sandy, silt, and loam soil had a significant and negative effect on the level of adaptation strategy used, whilst the total size of land owned had a positive and significant impact on the level of adaptation strategy used by the smallholder vegetable farmers. The study concludes that education level and total land size are associated with improved farmers' climate variability adaptative capacity. The vegetable farmers' ability to adapt to climate variability challenges was negatively influenced by factors like marital status, household size, and soil type negatively impacted these strategies. The study recommends that the government considerably supports the Climate Smart Agriculture initiatives, such as alternatives like hot houses, training, credit access, and sustainable practices to enhance farmers' resilience and national food security. These may include but are not limited to alternatives like hot houses, as well as addressing barriers through training, credit access, and sustainable practices to enhance farmers' resilience and national food security.

Assessing the impacts of climate change on high mountain land-based livelihoods: An empirical investigation in District Nagar, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Land-based livelihoods in Pakistan's high mountain regions are highly vulnerable to climate change due to the complex interactions between people and their natural environment. This study uses a mixed-method approach to explore how climate change affects land-based livelihoods in the high mountain Nagar District, Pakistan. Data were collected using a structured household survey of 430 randomly selected farmers, supplemented by focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The findings reveal that 87.7 % of farmers have observed negative impacts of climate change, such as increased crop diseases, reduced water for irrigation, and lower crop yields. Bivariate results indicate that factors related to farming practices, such as farming experience and cropping zones, significantly influence farmers' perceptions of impacts. The study emphasizes the urgent need for targeted government intervention and agricultural planning to boost the resilience of farmers in Nagar District. It calls for improved irrigation, crop disease management, and support tailored to high-mountain farming practices. The research highlights the importance of developing adaptation strategies to protect vulnerable farming communities from climate change impacts and supports the need for effective autonomous adaptation measures. This research contributes to a better understanding of climate change impacts on high-mountain agriculture and emphasizes the need to safeguard vulnerable farming communities.

Smallholder farmers' vulnerability to climate change and variability: Evidence from three agroecologies in the Upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia

This study delves into the profound impact of climate change on agriculture in Ethiopia, particularly the vulnerabilities faced by smallholder farmers and the resulting implications for poverty. Focusing on three distinct agroecologies, namely: highland, midland, and lowland zones. The study employed a robust methodology, combining a cross-sectional survey, spatial-temporal trend analysis using GIS, and the development of an overall vulnerability index through the balanced weighted average method. The study, encompassing 646 households, combines data from a variety of sources and analytical tools like the vulnerability index, ArcGIS 10.8, and ERDA's IMAGINE 2015. Utilizing the LVI-IPCC scale, the study shows that climate change is an immediate vulnerability in all agroecological zones. It identifies highland areas as the most sensitive and exposed regions, while lowland households are found to be the most vulnerable in terms of overall vulnerabilities. The research reveals specific challenges faced by communities, such as inadequate health facilities and insufficient food and water supplies in both highland and lowland agroecosystems. Additionally, our investigation has observed a significant alteration in land use practices, specifically the shift from communal grazing land to private cultivation and plantations, emphasizing eucalyptus. This alteration enhances the ecosystem's vulnerability to climate disturbances. The study suggests targeted interventions, such as advocating for sustainable land-use practices, afforestation, and adopting climate-smart agriculture practices. It is important to implement policy measures that prioritize conserving and restoring shrubland, grazing land, and natural forests to ensure both long-term socio-economic and ecosystem resilience. The study's nuanced insights are instrumental in understanding the diverse challenges posed by climate change in Ethiopian agriculture, supporting informed policymaking and sustainable interventions.

Managing uphill cultivation under climate change - An assessment of adaptation decisions among tribal farmers in Nagaland state of India

Tribal farmers in the Himalayas are vulnerable to climatic changes, as their rain-fed cultivation systems, practiced on steep, sloping terrain, are susceptible to changes in rainfall while at the same time being the primary means of livelihood. Soil and water conservation practices (SWCP) can improve the resilience of these cultivation systems to adverse climatic conditions. However, little is known about adaptation within these tribal farming communities. This is the first empirical study on the adaptation decisions of tribal farmers in the Himalayan uplands of Northeast India. Starting from the analysis of future climate risks, we surveyed 372 tribal farmers in Nagaland state to analyze perceived climate and environmental changes in relation to socio-demographic factors. We estimate current adoption rates of SWCP together with farmers' goals and values and employ a binary logit model (BLM) to quantify the influence of diverse factors on adaptation decisions. Our results show that increases in temperatures and crop diseases were the most perceived changes by tribal farmers. Climate projections indicate that precipitation amount and intensity, along with temperatures, will increase towards the end of the century, underlining the importance of SWCP. However, all considered SWCP were employed by less than half of the tribal farmers. Adoption probabilities for all practices were significantly increased when farmers participated in agricultural training. After that, participation in a civil society organization, livestock ownership, high-altitude locations, and perceived increases in droughts were found to increase adoption probabilities significantly, while socio-demographic factors were of only minor importance. If the most effective factor was employed to all farmers, average adoption rates of SWCP could at least double. Adoption decisions were mainly motivated by improving livelihoods, sustaining natural resources, reducing workload, and preserving cultural aspects of cultivation. This research contributes to understanding adaptation decisions of tribal farmers and quantifies the untapped potential for climate change adaptation of marginalized and climate-vulnerable farming communities in mountain regions.

Factors Influencing the Uptake of Agroforestry Practices among Rural Households: Empirical Evidence from the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

Agroforestry is recognized as a significant element in climate-smart agriculture due to its high potential for addressing food insecurity, climate change challenges, and ecosystem management. However, despite the potential benefits of agroforestry practices, the adoption by rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa is low. Adopting agroforestry practices requires understanding rural households' socio-economic and socio-psychological factors. Hence, this study empirically examined the role of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions in the uptake of agroforestry practices among rural households to better understand the adoption process. A sample of 305 households was obtained from three communities, namely, Swayimane, Umbumbulu, and Richmond, in KwaZulu-Natal province. Principal component analysis and a binary logistic regression model were employed to analyze the data. Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards agroforestry were found to positively influence the adoption of agroforestry practices. The results also revealed that age, farming experience, education level, and land size were determinants of agroforestry adoption. Therefore, the study recommends that policymakers, extension officers, and climate change champions consider rural households' socio-economic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions when designing agroforestry projects. Implementing training programs with practical demonstration is also recommended to increase awareness of the benefits of agroforestry practices and encourage rural households to protect on-farm trees and shrubs.

Intensity of adaptations to heat stress in poultry farms: A behavioural analysis of farmers in Ondo state, Nigeria

The detrimental consequences of heat stress due to high ambient temperatures, particularly in the poultry industry, have led to the invention of several adaptation strategies. However, there is still limited information on the intensity of adaptations and the likely behavioural factors that influence farmers' decisions. Thus, understanding the practical adaptation behaviours of poultry farmers would improve our knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms for developing effective interventions. To fill this void, using a count data model, the study empirically examines the farmers' behavioural factors and the intensity of heat stress adaptation strategies' adoption among poultry farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. The data were drawn from a survey of 150 poultry farmers using a multistage sampling procedure. The empirical results show that the majority of the farmers perceived an increase in temperature, frequently experienced heat stress, and believed that heat stress is induced by climate change. An average of six adaptation strategies were simultaneously adopted to mitigate heat stress in the area. The results of the count regression model reveal that farm-level factors such as permanent water sources, the quantity of feed, and bird stock density exert a significant effect on the intensity of adaptations. Climate-related factors such as access to climate information, training participation, perceived increases in temperature, attitudes toward climate change, and motives for adoption have a significant behavioural effect on the intensity of adaptations. Likewise, variables such as poultry farming experience, educational status, and access to credit are accounted for as socioeconomic behavioural factors that influence the intensity of adopting heat stress adaptation strategies in the area. This concludes that behavioural factors are crucial in addressing heat stress adaptations and assisting in improving environmental management, which would form a key variable in the policy interventions.

Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies in South India: Empirical evidence

The phenomena of climate change pose multifaceted challenges to crop and livestock farming, with severe implications on smallholder farmers' income and livelihoods. Climate change has profound implications (economic, environmental, and social) predominantly on rainfed regions in developing countries like India, where agriculture constitutes the backbone of the economy. In this context, the current study analyzes how farmers perceive climate change in the rainfed ecosystem in India, farmers' adaptation strategies, and their major determinants in addressing climate change. Data were collected from 400 sample farmers in South India. Discriminant and multinomial logit models were employed to identify the adaptation strategies of the farmers. It was evident that the factors such as off-farm income, farm income, and farming experience significantly influenced the adaptation strategies for tackling climate change. Furthermore, access to climate change information and literacy level are vital determinants in different climate change adaptation strategies, including crop diversification, integrated farming system, contingency plans for farm operations, and adoption of soil and water conservation techniques. However, the study highlights the increasing role of institutions (government and private) in future to safeguard the interests of farmers by offering a wide range of policy, research, and technology interventions. In a nutshell, R&D focus on climate-resilient agriculture, application of ICTs in agro-advisory services, and creation off-farm employment opportunities for the farmers is crucial to sustaining their livelihoods as these serve as potential mitigation strategies to impart resilience to climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture in rainfed ecosystems in India or any other countries.

Long-term projection of future climate change over the twenty-first century in the Sahara region in Africa under four Shared Socio-Economic Pathways scenarios

Climate change affects air quality and people's health. Therefore, accurate prediction of future climate change is of great significance for human beings to better adapt and mitigate climate change. Using the projection simulation dataset of the CMIP6 multi-model ensemble, the future climate change in the Sahara region under the four scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) is analyzed. The results show that annual and seasonal average surface air temperature in the Sahara region will continue to rise throughout the twenty-first century relative to the baseline period 1995-2014 if greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations continue increasing. Under the four SSPs scenarios, the warming in the Sahara region will be more pronounced than in the whole world through the twenty-first century. The annual maximum temperature (TX), the annual minimum temperature (TN), the annual count of days with maximum temperature above 35 °C (TX 35), and the annual count of days with maximum temperature above 40 °C (TX 40) in the Sahara region will continue to increase until the end of the twenty-first century under the four scenarios. The results of climate change prediction can provide scientific reference for climate policy-making.

The Determinants of Adoption and Intensity of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices among Smallholder Maize Farmers

Smallholder farmers' maize production is highly susceptible to climate change. Higher temperatures may result in reduced yields while encouraging weed, pest, and disease infestation. The impacts of climate change on agriculture are projected to be negative, threatening global food security; therefore, this is an important area of empirical research. This study sought to identify the factors affecting the adoption and intensity of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption among smallholder maize farmers in the uMshwathi and uKhahlamba Municipal areas of KwaZulu Natal. The study used the primary data collected from 99 respondents who were selected through simple random sampling. The descriptive results indicated that farmers had experienced severe climatic conditions such as drought, pests, diseases, hailstorms, heavy rains (floods), soil infertility, and frost in their farming system. The first hurdle of the probit model results showed that drought, on-farm income, and household size significantly influenced the adoption of CSA practices. In contrast, the main source of income and educational level had a significant negative influence. The results from the second hurdle showed that drought had a significant positive impact on the intensity of CSA adoption, while marital status had a significant negative effect. Several factors influence the adoption of an intensification of CSA practices. The study recommends that policymakers and climate change champions consider smallholder farmers' socioeconomic factors when developing climate change adaptation programs. Local climate change organizations must scale up climate change awareness and adaptation programs collaboratively. Investments in public climate and adaptation education or training are needed, as well as localized meteorological observations and early warning systems. Mass media dissemination of climate change and adaptation information in locally understood languages is urgently required.

Traditional Subsistence Farming of Smallholder Agroforestry Systems in Indonesia: A Review

Agroforestry has been practiced for decades and is undoubtedly an important source of income for Indonesian households living near forests. However, there are still many cases of poverty among farmers due to a lack of ability to adopt advanced technology. This literature review aims to identify the characteristics and factors causing the occurrence of agricultural subsistence and analyze its implications for the level of farmer welfare and the regional forestry industry. The literature analysis conducted reveals that small land tenure, low literacy rates, and lack of forest maintenance are the main causes of the subsistence of small agroforestry farmers. Another reason is that subsistence-oriented agroforestry practices are considered a strong form of smallholder resilience. All of these limitations have implications for low land productivity and high-sawn timber waste from community forests. To reduce the subsistence level of farmers, government intervention is needed, especially in providing managerial assistance packages, capital assistance, and the marketing of forest products. Various agroforestry technologies are available but have not been implemented consistently by farmers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an integrated collaboration between researchers, farmers, and regionally owned enterprises (BUMD) to increase access to technology and markets. Although it is still difficult to realize, forest services, such as upstream–downstream compensation and carbon capture, have the potential to increase farmer income.

Smallholder Farmers Access to Climate Information and Climate Smart Adaptation Practices in the Northern Region of Ghana

In Ghana over 70% of people who are employed in the agricultural sector are smallholder farmers' living in less developed communities engaging in rudimentary agriculture. Climate change poses a serious threat to smallholder farmers which impacts on their income, food security and wellbeing. Climate information could be a vital resort for smallholder farmers' adoption of climate smart adaptation strategies in order to better manage climate risk. This study is aimed at investigating factors that influence smallholder farmers' joint decision to access climate information as well as adopt climate smart adaptation practices in the Northern Region. Data used was collected from a cross-sectional survey of 475 smallholder farmers'. The joint decision of smallholder farmers to access climate information and also adopt climate smart adaptation practices was analysed by using bivariate probit regression model. The econometric estimates reveal that age, household size, farm income, access to agricultural extension services and assets are the key drivers of smallholder farmers joint decision to access climate information and adopt climate smart adaption practices. Government, district assemblies and non governmental organisations supporting smallholder farmers’ adoption of climate smart adaptation strategies in order to overcome climate risk should also assist in the accessibility of climate information since they complement one another. Smallholder farmers literacy and knowledge level should be increased through non-formal and informal educational programmes, and extension education using the farmer-field schools method.

Quantifying the determinants of climate change adaptation strategies and farmers' access to credit in South Africa

The damaging effects of climate change on agricultural productivity are on the increase. Relevant adaptation strategies are important to cope with climate change risks and sustain agricultural productivity. This study employed descriptive statistics, multivariate probit (MVP) model and endogenous switching regression model (ESRM), to analyze the data collected using a survey questionnaire from four provinces in South Africa. The study estimated the determining factors influencing the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies and credit access among smallholder farmers in the study areas. The empirical results of the multivariate probit model showed that location, access to extension, non-farm income, farming experience, crop and livestock production, susceptibility, agricultural training and access to credit variables influenced the smallholder decision to adopt climate change adaptation strategies. On the other hand, the ESRM showed that location, age, marital status, gender among others, influenced the decision to adopt climate change adaptation strategies. The variables such as location, education, drought experience affected the smallholder farmers' access to credit. Thus, to improve the adaptive capacity of farmers, stakeholders and government must cooperate and collaborate to improve the conditions under which farmers can gain access to climate change information and suitable agricultural credit as well as policy incentives to ensure overall sustainability of the agricultural sector.

Climate change adaptation strategies by smallholder farmers in Nigeria: does non-farm employment play any role?

Non-farm employment in agrarian communities in developing countries has received a lot of attention. However, its role in implementing climate change adaptation strategies is rarely discussed. This study employs a cross-sectional data to examine whether rural households in Southwest Nigeria are increasing the extent of climate change adaptation practices through their participation in non-farm employment. To account for selectivity bias, the study used endogenous treatment effect for count data model (precisely Poisson) augmented with the inverse probability-weighted-regression-adjustment (IPWRA) estimator. Both estimators found that rural non-farm jobs increase smallholder farmers' adaptive capacities and that participants would have used less adaptation techniques if they had not participated in non-farm work. Efforts to boost rural development must provide more employment opportunities for farmers, particularly during the off-cropping time. This will help farmers improve their ability to adopt more climate change adaptation strategies and, consequently increase farm productivity.