Smallholder farmer’s perceived effects of climate change on crop production and household livelihoods in rural Limpopo province, South Africa

Ubisi, Nomcebo R; Mafongoya, Paramu; Kolanisi, Unathi; Jiri, Obert

doi:10.1515/energyo.0130.00001

Cited by 5 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…The farmers reported that seeing a half-moon facing east means there is no rain is expected, but a downward facing crescent shape signals high rainfall in the next three days. These findings are in agreement with research conducted in Limpopo by Ubisi et al (2017) and by Risiro et al (2012) in Zimbabwe. The Nkomazi smallholders further elaborated that a moon with a halo was a good indication of good and continuous rains to come within about two weeks.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

“…These climate change effects decreased yield which had a negative impact on food security for the smallholders. These observations are similar to those of Kalanda-Joshua et al (2011), Rankoana (2016), Soropa et al (2015) and Ubisi et al (2017) who noted that climate change had a huge impact on smallholders due to their reliance on climate sensitive resources.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Most smallholders in Southern Africa use indigenous climate indicators for weather prediction to make critical short-term decisions about their farming practices and adaptive measures (Jiri et al, 2015). Similar observations were highlighted by Rankoana (2016) and Ubisi et al (2017) in Limpopo Province, as well as Kipkorir et al (2012) in Kenya. These studies provide evidence that though smallholders are facing severe climatic variability, they have developed indigenous skills in their communities to cope with prolonged droughts and severe heat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

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The Role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Rural Smallholder Farmers’ Response to Climate Change: Case Study of Nkomazi Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Ubisi

Kolanisi

Jiri

2019

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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Climate change and variability have direct negative impacts on rural smallholder farmers. These impacts involve extreme climatic events such as excessive temperatures, prolonged droughts and floods which affect people’s livelihoods. This study was conducted in Nkomazi Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The main objective of the study was to investigate indigenous weather and climate indicators used by smallholder farmers and the role of indigenous knowledge in their farming systems. The research used qualitative methods, including focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The findings indicated that farmers observed animal behaviour, plants, atmospheric indicators and human ailments to predict weather.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

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The Role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Rural Smallholder Farmers’ Response to Climate Change: Case Study of Nkomazi Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Ubisi

Kolanisi

Jiri

2019

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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“…Transcripts from key informant interviews and focus group discussions were translated to English and analysed through content analysis by identifying recurring themes, concepts, patterns, trends, and key words [ 38 ]. During qualitative content analysis, LEK on impacts of climate change was extracted and synthesized.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local Ecological Knowledge on Climate Change and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Strategies Promote Resilience in the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve, Zimbabwe

et al. 2019

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Understanding local community perceptions on impacts, causes, and responses to climate change is vital for promotion of community resilience towards climate change. This study explored local ecological knowledge (LEK) held by local communities on climate change trends and impacts in the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve (MZBR), Zimbabwe. The objectives of the study were to (i) investigate local community perceptions on trends and causes of climate change, (ii) identify biophysical impacts of climate change at the local level, and (iii) explore the ecosystem-based adaptation strategies towards climate change. The study used a mixed methods approach where a household questionnaire survey (n=320), key informant interviews (n=12), and focus group discussions (n=8) were used to collect data between April 2015 and October 2016. Results from the study show that local communities have observed decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures as key indicators of climate change. Local communities observed water scarcity, changes in vegetation phenology, livestock and wildlife mortalities, and food shortages due to drought as the major impacts on their livelihoods. LEK can contribute to adaptive management strategies that enhance resilience of socioecological systems (SES) in the face of climate change by providing information on the status and use of biophysical components of the environment and by highlighting potential local adaptation strategies that can sustain key livelihood practices.

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“…South African farmers are expected to adapt their agricultural practices to build their adaptive capacity and boost their resilience. CSA targets both crop and livestock production and can include conservation agriculture, soil and land management practices, use of new crop varieties and animal breeds, rainwater harvesting, agroforestry, mixed cropping, crop type diversification, adaptation to changing soils structure (Below et al, 2010;Mpandeli et al, 2015;Rankoana, 2016;Ubisi et al, 2017). Given the evidence that climaterelated challenges demand modification to agricultural practices, the transition to CSA necessitates farmers" access to productivity-enhancing and climate-smart technologies (Mutamba and Mugoya, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smallholder adoption of technology: Evidence from the context of climate smart agriculture in South Africa

Senyolo¹,

Long²,

Blok³

et al. 2021

J. Dev. Agric. Econ.

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Climate change represents a serious threat to African agriculture, consequently leading to water scarcity and climate variability. These challenges negatively impact agricultural production. Climatesmart Agriculture (CSA) technologies, such as drought-tolerant seed varieties (DTSVs), can provide a solution. However, effective adoption and use of these technologies within smallholder communities is not straight forward. This study investigated the factors determining adoption of CSA technologies by exploring the farmers' characteristics, contextual factors, and considered additional factors extracted from farmers' perceptions of CSA technology-specific attributes. The study was carried out in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Quantitative and qualitative data from farmers' cross-sectional survey (n=196) and focused group discussions (n=5), was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Factor analysis reduced 19 identified CSA technologies specific attributes to 5 factors that were used in the multinomial logistic regression model. Results show a range of drivers and barriers influencing DTSVs adoption. The adoption of DTSVs by sampled smallholder farmers were influenced by training and demonstration; knowledge and benefits related to DTSVs; necessary requirements like receiving tractor services on time, knowledge on better dates of DTSVs and weather information; enabling factors like additional training on DTSVs and information including knowledge about other CSA technologies other than DTSVs, gender, marital status and credit access. These results have policy implications for various stakeholders which reinforce multi-actor approach to climate change adaptation and building of functional institutions, enhancing training of smallholder farmers, improving on access to sufficient demonstrations, climate change information and credit support amongst other support.

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Smallholder farmer’s perceived effects of climate change on crop production and household livelihoods in rural Limpopo province, South Africa

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

The Role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Rural Smallholder Farmers’ Response to Climate Change: Case Study of Nkomazi Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa

The Role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Rural Smallholder Farmers’ Response to Climate Change: Case Study of Nkomazi Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Local Ecological Knowledge on Climate Change and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Strategies Promote Resilience in the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve, Zimbabwe

Smallholder adoption of technology: Evidence from the context of climate smart agriculture in South Africa

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