Rethinking Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption for Resilience-Building Among Smallholder Farmers: Gender-Sensitive Adoption Framework

Abstract

This study identifies the need for holistic understanding of gender-differentiated climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption by smallholder farmers who are at the frontline of climate-related hazards and disasters in Africa. CSA adoption is predominantly informed by a parochial linear approach to farmers’ decision-making processes. Resilience-building and adaptation, which forms the second pillar of CSA and can enhance understanding of the CSA adoption nuances at farmer level, often receives less attention in adoption investigations. To appreciate CSA adoption from a resilience perspective, this study focused on resilience-building based on the interlinkage between CSA and disaster risk reduction and applied a resilience perspective in a gendered approach to CSA adoption by smallholder farmers. Through primary data collected in an exploratory sequential mixed method design, the study presents a proposed normative gender-sensitive CSA adoption framework to guide CSA implementation strategies and policies. The framework is anchored in resilience thinking, and some of its key components include gender-sensitive CSA technology development, risk-informed decision-making by heterogeneous smallholder farmers, gender-sensitive enabling factors, resilience strategies, gender equitable and equal ownership, and control of and access to resilience capitals. The proposed framework can be used to improve CSA adoption by smallholder farmers by addressing gendered vulnerability and inequality that influence low adoption.

Gendered vulnerability and inequality: understanding drivers of climate-smart agriculture dis- and nonadoption among smallholder farmers in Malawi and Zambia

“…This study considers CSA based on the interconnectedness of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR; FAO 2013, Lei 2014, DasGupta and Shaw 2017, Khoza et al 2020. We explore gender-differentiated CSA disadoption and nonadoption drivers among smallholder farmers in Malawi and Zambia through a gendered vulnerability and inequality lens (Hai and Smyth 2012, Makondo et al 2014, Zulu 2017.…”