How to Effectively Enhance Sustainable Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems: A Comparative Study from Western Kenya

Abstract

Increasing communities’ adaptive capacity is crucial to enhancing the sustainability of livelihoods and landscapes in smallholder systems. This study evaluates the contributions of an asset-based community-driven local development project, which has an objective to enhance farmer livelihoods through context-specific agricultural and agroforestry training, in line with farmers’ identities, interests, and preferences. The project was implemented in two areas of the wider Nyando river basin: the Lower and Middle Nyando sites. The project effects on farmer livelihoods were evaluated by analyzing overall income enhancement through the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices via the computation of total values of harvest. Socioeconomic data from 183 households, half of which were involved in the project, were considered. The findings showed that locality played an important role in the adoption and success of good agricultural practices. Additional significant positive factors included project participation, size of land operated, horticulture farming, livestock ownership, ownership of a title deed, hours worked, and crop species richness. The number of years farmed had a significant negative correlation with the value of harvest. Considering the stark differences in livelihood effects in both sites, researchers conclude that external support for climate-smart agriculture uptake needs to be considerate of, and respond to, biophysical and socioeconomic context.

Can the Right Composition and Diversity of Farmed Species Improve Food Security Among Smallholder Farmers?

“…In general in Kenya, livestockdominated farms, and to some extent mixed farms, tended to have poorer outcomes on average than diverse cropping and cash cropping farms (Figure 7). This observed negative effect of higher livestock holdings on outcomes, either directly or indirectly via modifying the effect of SR, is surprising given that many other studies indicate that higher livestock levels have a generally positive role in smallholder farms (Moll, 2005), including in western Kenya (Fuchs et al, 2019). Our result may reflect the "one-off " nature of our survey; perhaps it was undertaken during a period of relatively high crop product prices, favoring crop producers over livestock farmers, for example.…”

How to promote the balanced development of urban and rural China? Evidences from reallocating idle rural residential land of Zhejiang province, China

“…To analyze regional industry development, this study relied on RII to measure the strength of industry development at the county level, using regional employment rates, real economic output value, import and export trade, industrial structure reorganization, and upgrading to reflect the overall economic strength of industry development (Tables A2 and A3 in S1 Appendix ). It was noteworthy that industrial structural transformation and upgrading had a significant impact on regional economic development strength through industry-city linkage and economic growth effects [ 18 ]. Thus, a higher RII score indicated better regional industry development.…”

Geospatial Tools and Remote Sensing Strategies for Timely Humanitarian Response: A Case Study on Drought Monitoring in Eswatini

“…Fuchs et al [56] emphasize the significance of enhancing communities' adaptive capacity to ensure the sustainability of livelihoods and landscapes in smallholder systems. The benefits of bolstering the adaptive capacity include targeted improvements that positively impact communities' ability to overcome climate-related constraints and other developmental barriers [57].…”