Smallholder Farmers and Climate Smart Agriculture: Technology and Labor-productivity Constraints amongst Women Smallholders in Malawi

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) focuses on productivity, climate-change adaptation, and mitigation, and the potential for developing resilient food production systems that lead to food and income security. Lately, several frameworks and tools have been developed to prioritize context-specific CSA technologies and assess the potential impacts of selected options. This study applied a mixed-method approach, the climate-smart agriculture rapid appraisal (CSA-RA) tool, to evaluate farmers’ preferred CSA technologies and to show how they link to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The chapter examines prioritized CSA options across diverse study sites. The authors find that the prioritized options align with the food security and livelihood needs of smallholder farmers, and relate to multiple sustainable development goals. Specifically, CSA technologies contribute to SDG1 (end poverty), SDG2 (end hunger and promote sustainable agriculture), SDG13 (combating climate change), and SDG15 (life on land). Limited awareness on the benefits of agriculture technologies and the diversity of outcomes desired by stakeholders’ present challenges and trade-offs for achieving the SDGs. The CSA-RA provides a methodological approach linking locally relevant indicators to the SDG targets.

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Adoption and the Role of Fertilizer Trees and Shrubs as a Climate Smart Agriculture Practice: The Case of Salima District in Malawi

Environments ◽

10.3390/environments5110122 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (11) ◽

pp. 122

Author(s):

Frank Musa ◽

Judith Kamoto ◽

Charles Jumbe ◽

Leo Zulu

Keyword(s):

Land Tenure ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Household Survey ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Tobit Model ◽

Degraded Soil ◽

Smart Agriculture ◽

Trees And Shrubs ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

Fertilizer trees and shrubs can improve degraded soil and avert the impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers in Malawi. This paper analyses the roles of fertilizer trees and shrubs and factors that determine adoption, as well as the intensity of use of fertilizer on trees and shrubs in maize-based farming systems using the Tobit model. A household survey involving 250 smallholder farmers was conducted in Salima district, Malawi. The analysis shows that adopters of fertilizer trees and shrubs considered fertility improvement, shade, source of food and erosion control as main roles of fertilizer trees and shrubs. The Tobit model shows that households with relatively more land are more likely to adopt fertilizer trees and shrubs than those with small land sizes. Adoption is higher among farmers who had been exposed to fertilizer trees and shrubs for longer periods than others had. Land tenure, education and availability of labor also influence the adoption of fertilizer trees and shrubs. Results further show that household and farm characteristics and availability of extension services explain the current adoption rates of tree-fertilizer technologies. Our findings can guide effective targeting of farmers to ensure higher adoption and sustainability of fertilizer-tree and shrub technology for climate-smart agriculture among the smallholder farmers.

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Understanding gender dimensions of climate-smart agriculture adoption in disaster-prone smallholder farming communities in Malawi and Zambia

Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/dpm-10-2018-0347 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 530-547 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sizwile Khoza ◽

Dewald Van Niekerk ◽

Livhuwani David Nemakonde

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods Research ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Household Survey ◽

Gender Mainstreaming ◽

Main Role ◽

Smallholder Farming ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Content Type ◽

Household Heads ◽

Smart Agriculture

Purpose Through the application of traditional and contemporary feminist theories in gender mainstreaming, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to emergent debate on gender dimensions in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption by smallholder farmers in disaster-prone regions. This is important to ensure that CSA strategies are tailored to farmer-specific gender equality goals. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory-sequential mixed methods research design which is qualitatively biased was applied. Key informant interviews and farmer focus group discussions in two study sites formed initial qualitative phase whose findings were explored in a quantitative cross-sectional household survey. Findings Findings shared in this paper indicate the predominant application of traditional gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA focusing on parochial gender dichotomy. Qualitative findings highlight perceptions that western gender approaches are not fully applicable to local contexts and realities, with gender mainstreaming in CSA seemingly to fulfil donor requirements, and ignorant of the heterogeneous nature of social groups. Quantitative findings establish that married men are majority adopters and non-adopters of CSA, while dis-adopters are predominantly de jure female household heads. The latter are more likely to adopt CSA than married women whose main role in CSA is implementers of spouse’s decisions. Access to education, intra-household power relations, productive asset and land ownership are socio-cultural dynamics shaping farmer profiles. Originality/value By incorporating African feminisms and intersectionality in CSA, value of this study lies in recommending gender policy reforms incorporating local gender contexts within the African socio-cultural milieu. This paper accentuates potential benefits of innovative blend of both contemporary and classic gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA research, practice and technology development in disaster-prone regions.

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Using climate analogue tools to explore and build smallholder farmer capacity for climate smart agriculture

AAS Open Research ◽

10.12688/aasopenres.12822.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 24

Author(s):

Phyllis Opare ◽

Johnson O. Akintonde ◽

Daniel Obeng-Ofori ◽

Valerie Nelson

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Food Security ◽

Weather Forecasting ◽

Food Sovereignty ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Transformative Change ◽

Social Infrastructure ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Smart Agriculture

Background: The phenomenon of climate change (CC) and its attendant challenges in agriculture have been widely document. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) focuses on sustainable agriculture intensification for food sovereignty through the adoption of mitigation and adaptation practices. Agriculture provides the livelihood for 70% of rural poor in the developing world, so building farmer capacity in CSA is imperative for food security. Studies show that transformative change must be bottom-up – integrating scientific and ethical dimensions, using participatory research approaches that employ simple comprehensive tools for building participants’ capacity to adapt. Methods: The study uses the “Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security” (CCAFS) climate analogue and weather forecasting tools. These participatory learning tools allow participants to interrogate and explore their own geographical and climatic histories and to draw conclusions on climate variability. This study examined smallholder farmers’ understanding of CC and their resilience to it. The study consisted of 5 stages – selection of tools, planning and training of teams, meetings with community leaders and community members to select participants, focus group discussions, modelling sessions and community dissemination meetings. Results: Participants showed awareness of CC, explained in terms of rainfall variability, decreasing rainforest, increasing temperature and excessively long hot days. Farmers illustrated gendered perception of past and present landscapes, time use, past seasonal trends, vulnerabilities and access to key resources. They also observed that natural resources were declining, while population and social infrastructure increased. Participants modelled the shift in seasons and projected possible future scenarios. Finally, participants were willing to adopt climate smart agronomic practices. Conclusions: After establishing that farmers are aware of CC, follow-on-studies addressing the impediments to adaptation and provision of necessary tools and resources to facilitate adaptation must be carried out. This study can also be replicated among a larger smallholder population for increased capacity to practice CSA.

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