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

Abstract

This study investigated the perceived effects of climate change on crop production and household livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Mopani and Vhembe district, South Africa. Data was collected through a questionnaire administered to 150 smallholder farmers. The questionnaires were complemented by 8 focus group discussions and secondary data. Multinomial logit regression model was used to analyse the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation strategies. The study findings revealed that subsistence farmers perceived prolonged droughts (56.4%) as the main shock stressing crop production. Droughts often lead to low crop yield and high crop failure (73.3%). In response to the prevailing climatic conditions different gender adopted different strategies, 41% of female farmers adapted by changing planting dates, while male farmers employed crop variety and diversification (35%) and mixed cropping (15%). The smallholder farmers were vulnerable with limited adaptive capacity to withstand climate change due to compromised social, human, physical, natural and financial assets. The results showed that smallholder farmers tend to adapt better when they have access to extension officers (P<0.01). Therefore, it is important for the government to strengthen the relationship between smallholder farmers and extension officers for better climate change adaptation.

“Are They Aware, and Why?” Bayesian Analysis of Predictors of Smallholder Farmers’ Awareness of Climate Change and Its Risks to Agriculture

“…Similar to most questionnaire surveys, some respondents for this study perhaps answered the question based on their limited knowledge about the phenomenon. As in most climate change observational studies (e.g., [6,7,10,11,36,47]), the perception or awareness of climate change is solicited based on recall methods and experience, which are subject to inaccuracy from respondents. As argued by [13], memory can be faulty.…”

“…However, successful adaptation to climate change may have to depend on farmers' knowledge or perception of the marvel. Ubisi et al [6] suggest that the success of climate change adaptation strategies depends on whether farmers fully understand what climate change is, and are therefore 2 of 22 able to consider the necessary adaptive initiatives. Similarly, [7] argue that understanding people's perception of climate change is a necessary prerequisite for conveying climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.…”

Factors Determining the Adoption of Strategies Used by Smallholder Farmers to Cope with Climate Variability in the Eastern Free State, South Africa

“…However, agricultural production is highly sensitive to climate change/variability as the result of its high reliance on climate variables such as rainfall, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity [4][5][6]. Furthermore, the majority of the African smallholder farmers farm in soils of low fertility, have inadequate farm equipment and limited income, have restricted access to climate information and often lack basic agronomic knowledge, thus making them highly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate variability [7,8].…”

“…The need to limit the adverse effects of climate-related risks on agriculture production through effective adaptation and mitigation strategies is becoming more urgent to support sustainable agricultural productivity and to improve food security for African smallholder farmers [9,10,[15][16][17]. Several adaptation strategies have been developed, validated, and recommended to cope with the effects of climate variability on rainfed crop production [8,18,19]. These can be broadly grouped into two categories, i.e., traditional adaptation strategies and scientific adaptation strategies.…”

“…Despite the well-documented effectiveness and feasibility of the traditional strategies to cope with climate change in resource-constrained rural communities, adoption remains low in Africa mainly due to the lack of awareness of climate change and effective adaptation strategies [18,20,21]. On the other hand, the low adoption of scientific strategies to cope with climate change is often attributed to low levels of education, age, low income, lack of awareness of climate change and adaptation strategies, lack of labour, poor access to credit and extension services [8,18,19,23]. Previous studies on farmers' perceptions of climate change across the African continent indicated that the majority of smallholder farmers often perceive the variability of onsets, rainfall amount and duration of the rainy season as well as the frequent occurrence of droughts and incidences of pests and diseases to be the major weather-induced risks attributed to climate change that affect their agricultural production [24][25][26].…”