Perceptions of climate change impacts and adaptation measures used by crop smallholder farmers in Amathole district municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa

GeoJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 1205-1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwabunmi Oluwaseun Popoola ◽  
Nomakhaya Monde ◽  
Shehu Folaranmi Gbolahan Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Eastern Cape Province ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Adaptation Measures

scholarly journals Coping with and Adapting to Climate Change: A Gender Perspective from Smallholder Farming in Ghana

Environments ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsie Assan ◽  
Murari Suvedi ◽  
Laura Schmitt Olabisi ◽  
Andrea Allen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Savings And Loans ◽  
Adaptation Capacity ◽  
Adaptation Practices

The negative impacts of climate change on agriculture could erode gains made toward gender equality in Ghana. Much of the literature on gender dimensions of climate change adaptation has focused on assessing differences in coping and adaptation practices of smallholder farmers. Mostly overlooked is whether gender influences influenced perception of effectiveness of adaptation practices and preferences for institutional support for future adaptation. Using key informant interviews, household surveys, and focus group discussions, we address these gaps by exploring coping and adaptation measures adopted by heads of farm households to counter climate change impacts on their livelihood activities and household well-being in the Guinea Savanna agroecological zone in Ghana. Additionally, we assessed the preferred institutional adaptation support of heads of farm households in adapting to future projected impacts. We find that female heads of farm households relied mainly on borrowed money from village savings and loans group as a coping measure; male heads of farm households depended primarily on sales of livestock. Varying planting and harvesting dates, crop diversification, and use of improved crop varieties were the major adaptation strategies adopted by farmers. We argue that provision of dams and/or dugouts, postharvest processing facilities, adaptation capacity-building resources, and improved access to markets and credit could enhance the adaptive capacity of male and female heads of farm households to mitigate projected climate change impacts on their livelihood activities and household well-being.

scholarly journals Dairy farmers’ knowledge and perception of climate change in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanga Simamkele Diniso ◽  
Leocadia Zhou ◽  
Ishmael Festus Jaja
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Farm Workers ◽  
Eastern Cape Province ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Dairy Farmers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Participants

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dairy farmers about climate change in dairy farms in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted following a cross-sectional research design (Bryman, 2012). The study was conducted mainly on dairy farms located on the south-eastern part of the Eastern Cape province in five districts out of the province’s six districts (Figure 1). These districts include Amathole, Chris Hani, OR Tambo and Cacadu; these regions were not included in a recent surveying study (Galloway et al., 2018). Findings In all, 71.7% of dairy farm workers heard about climate change from the television, and 60.4% of participants reported that they gathered information from radio. Eighty-two out of 106 (77.4%) correctly indicated that climate change is a significant long-term change in expected weather patterns over time, and almost 10% of the study participants had no clue about climate change. Approximately 63% of the respondents incorrectly referred to climate change as a mere hotness or coldness of the day, whereas the remainder of participants correctly refuted that definition of climate change. Most of the study participants correctly mentioned that climate change has an influence on dairy production (92.5%), it limits the dairy cows’ productivity (69.8%) and that dry matter intake of dairy cows is reduced under higher temperatures (75.5%). Research limitations/implications The use of questionnaire to gather data limits the study, as respondents relied on recall information. Also, the sample size and study area limits use of the study as an inference for the excluded parts of the Eastern Cape Province. Also, it focused only on dairy farm workers and did not request information from beef farmers. Practical implications This study imply that farmers without adequate knowledge of the impact of climate change keep complaining of a poor yield/ animal productivity and changing pattern of livestock diseases. Hence, a study such as the present one helps to bridge that gap and provide relevant governing authority the needed evidence for policy changes and intervention. Social implications Farmers will begin to get help from the government regarding climate change. Originality/value This a first study in South Africa seeking to document the knowledge of dairy farm workers about climate change and its impacts on productivity.

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