The increased involvement of food relief agencies nearly on an annual basis is a clear indication that agricultural production continues to decline as a result of climate change. In order to mitigate the negative effect of climate change, households engage on adaptation strategies. The extent to which these impacts are felt depends mostly on the level of adaptation in response to climate change. The main objectives of the study were to identify the adaptation strategies employed by households and to analyse factors influencing the choice of adaptation strategies by households using personal interviews. The study used data from a random sample of 350 households. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression model were used to analyse the data. The results showed that adaptation strategies employed were; drought tolerant varieties, switching crops, irrigation, crop rotation, mulching, minimum tillage, early planting, late planting and intercropping. The results showed that the choice of adaptation strategies by households was significantly (p <0.05) influenced by; age of household head, occupation of household head, being a member of a social group, land category, access to credit, access to extension services and training, high incidences of crop pest and disease, high input prices, high food prices, perceptions of households towards climate change. Moreover, the analysis showed that perceptions of households towards climate change significantly influence all adaptation strategies. However, sex and education level of the household head were insignificant in influencing household choice when adapting to climate change. It is recommended that there is need to educate households about the negative impact of climate change on cropping systems. The study also recommends that agriculture extension services should be strengthened, agriculture financial institutions should accommodate subsistence farmers on communal land and rural micro-finance institutions should be developed, in order to facilitate farmers to choose effective adaptation strategies.
Prolonged drought and floods as a result of climate change are a serious problem for households at Mpolonjeni ADP because their livelihood is mainly rainfedfarming. This is evident as there is high level of food insecurity, crop failure, poverty and hunger, which has forced many households to abandon farming and survive by food aid. The study was a descriptive survey aimed to identify private adaptation strategies to climate change and conduct a cost benefit analysis for the identified adaptation strategies. A stratified random samplingtechnique was used to select 350 households. Personal interviews were conducted using structured questionnaires. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and cost benefit analysis where net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) were used as decision rules. Adaptation strategies used were; drought resistant varieties, switching crops, irrigation, crop rotation, mulching, minimum tillage, early planting, late planting and intercropping. Switching crops had the highest NPV, where maize (E14.40) should be substituted with drought tolerant crops such as cotton (E1864.40), sorghum (E283.30) and dry beans (E292.20). The study recommends that households should grow drought tolerant crops such as cotton, sorghum and dry beans instead of maize. The government should provide irrigation infrastructure, such as dams, strengthen extension services and subsidise farm inputs in order to improve crop production.
This study investigated household vulnerability to climate change and the factors affecting vulnerability of the households at Mpolonjeni Area Development Programme in Swaziland. Primary data were collected through personal interviews from 323 randomly sampled households. The household vulnerability index was used to establish household vulnerability and the multinomial logistic regression model was used to identify the factors affecting household vulnerability. The results show that 39.6% of the households were lowly vulnerable, 58.2% were moderately vulnerable and 2.2% were highly vulnerable. Parameter estimates of the multinomial regression model show that the number of sick members, number of employed members, number of dependants, household size and the livestock index influence households to move from low vulnerability to moderate vulnerability or high vulnerability. Households are vulnerable to external shocks thus appropriate policy interventions should be put in place. A health policy would help reduce vulnerability of households and a rural development policy would create employment opportunities leading to improved livelihoods.
Soil degradation is globally concerning due to its adverse effects on the environment and agricultural production. Much of Swaziland is at risk from degradation. This paper assesses farmer perceptions and responses to soil degradation in 2002 and 2014, focusing on two land uses that underpin rural livelihoods: arable land and rangeland areas. It uses repeat household surveys and semi‐structured interviews, in two case study chiefdoms in the country's middleveld (KaBhudla and Engcayini) in the first longitudinal study of its kind. We find that observations of land degradation are perceived mainly through changes in land productivity, with chemical degradation occurring predominantly on arable land and physical degradation and erosion mainly in rangeland areas. Changes in rainfall are particularly important in determining responses. While perceptions of the causes and impacts of degradation largely concur with the scientific literature, responses were constrained by poor land availability, shorter and more unpredictable cropping seasons because of changing rains and low awareness, access to or knowledge of agricultural inputs. We suggest that sustainable arable land management can be enhanced through improved access to alternative sources of water, use of management practices that retain soil and moisture and greater access to agricultural inputs and capacity building to ensure their appropriate use. We suggest collaborative management for settlement planning that integrates soil conservation and livestock management strategies such as controlled stocking levels and rotational grazing could improve land quality in rangeland areas. Together, these approaches can help land users to better manage change. © 2016 The Authors. Land Degradation & Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
This study sought to investigate the impact of climate change on livestock production at the Mpolonjeni Area Development Programme in Swaziland. Primary data were collected using an interview schedule from 323 sampled households. Climate data were collected from the Swaziland Meteorology Department and Livestock data were collected from the Ministry of Agriculture. Perceptions of households and climate data were used to establish climate patterns in Mpolonjeni Area Development Programme. The Recardian regression model and descriptive statistics were used to establish the impact of climate change on livestock production. A total of 99.4% of the respondents suggested that temperatures were increasing whilst 98% felt that rainfall patterns were erratic. About 95% of the respondents have experienced drought at some point in time. Results of the Ricardian model showed that goats net revenue was sensitive to winter temperature, winter temperature squared, winter rainfall Journal of Agricultural StudiesISSN 2166-0379 2014, Vol. 2, No. 1www.macrothink.org/jas 2 and winter rainfall squared. The study concludes that climate change impacts negatively on livestock production and thus livestock owners need touseclimate change adaptation strategies, adapt especially when it comes to drinking water sources for the animals. In case of poor rainfall, farmers need to provide their animals with drinking water. Government should assist livestock farmers with reliable water sources such as canals and dams.
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