Effect of Climate Smart Agriculture Innovations on Climate Resilience among Smallholder Farmers: Empirical Evidence from the Choke Mountain Watershed of the Blue Nile Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

Smallholder farmers’ capacities need to be strengthened to enable them to better withstand the upcoming impacts of climate change; these capacities not only include the responsive capacity, but also consider innovation, learning, and anticipation to be prepared for the projected impacts of a changing climate on the agriculture system. The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of climate smart agriculture (CSA) innovations on building climate resilience capacity in smallholder agriculture systems. A cross-sectional household survey was conducted among a multi-stage sample of 424 smallholder farmers selected from five agroecosystems of the Upper Blue Nile Highlands in Ethiopia. The study used an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to examine the impact of CSA innovations on building climate resilience capacity among smallholder farmers. The true average adoption effects of climate resilience capacity under actual and counterfactual conditions showed that different CSA innovations have different effects on the climate resilience capacity of households. Except for SWC adopters, all CSA innovations significantly increased the climate resilience capacity of households. However, improved variety, crop residue management, and SWC have more profound effects on the non-adopters than adopters, =if non-adopters had adopted these CSA innovations. Strong absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities through strong disaster and early warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, a strong public agricultural extension system, a strong informal safety net, and social networks build a climate-resilient agriculture system among smallholder farmers. Thus, scaling up of CSA innovations may expand the benefit of CSA innovation on building the climate resilience capacities of households. Thus, strong risk management, disaster mitigation and early warning systems, adaptive strategies, information and training, informal safety nets, social networks, and infrastructure use may build the climate resilience capacity of smallholder farmers by facilitating the adoption of CSA innovation. Therefore, policies that strengthen good governance, social cohesion, disaster communication and early warning systems, input supply of drought-resistant varieties, climate smart extension service, and climate-resilient infrastructure are necessary.

Assessing Agricultural Impact on Greenhouse Gases in the European Union: A Climate-Smart Agriculture Perspective

“…Farmers could benefit from innovative agricultural technologies and practices that enable them to achieve higher yields and reduce negative environmental impacts [62,[103][104][105][106][107]. For example, technologies like efficient irrigation, drought-resistant seed varieties, and soil conservation practices could contribute to increased crop yields and the conservation of water and soil resources [108]. Implementing these techniques and technologies can provide significant opportunities for farmers to improve their food security and incomes, reduce risks associated with climate change, and mitigate the agricultural sector's impact on the environment [109,110].…”

Public agricultural research, political economy, and climate change: A literature review

“…Because digital agriculture can play a significant role in supporting climate-smart agricultural innovation by providing tools and technologies that enable farmers to make informed decisions based on real-time data, improve resource efficiency, and adapt to changing climatic conditions, it is unsurprising that the pink cluster is positioned adjacent to the red one in Figure 4. The pink cluster is prominently represented by the works by Geda and Kühl (2021) and Teklu et al (2022Teklu et al ( , 2023aTeklu et al ( , 2023b. Geda and Kühl (2021) investigate the alignment between farmers' preferences and breeders' priorities in Ethiopia, focusing on bean varieties.…”

“…Their findings highlight the need for demand-driven breeding and dissemination strategies to enhance the adoption of climate-smart bean varieties. Teklu et al (2022Teklu et al ( , 2023aTeklu et al ( , 2023b evaluate the impact of CSA innovations on food security, climate adaptation, climate resilience capacity development, and GHG emissions reduction. They also study the adoption rates, intensities, and factors influencing the uptake of CSA innovations in Ethiopia.…”

Climate smart agriculture impact on food and nutrition security in Ethiopia

“…The feedback due to climate change will affect the decision to adopt CSA innovations. Moreover, the increase in food security of the household will increase the welfare of the household and encourage the adoption of CSA innovations that enhance food security (Teklu et al, 2023a). Thus, improving agricultural productivity is a means of enhancing the availability of food, rural income, and other livelihood assets for farm households.…”