The structures underpinning vulnerability: examining landscape-society interactions in a smallholder coffee agroforestry system

Abstract

Smallholder farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture are particularly vulnerable to extreme climate events and, therefore, it is necessary to identify adaptive measures that would increase farmer resilience to these shocks. The management options in a low-input system, like forest coffee (Coffea arabica), are limited and there are several factors out of farmers' control driving their vulnerability to changing climatic conditions. These can relate to social structures and landscape factors, which can interact to reduce farmers' adaptive capacity, creating a state of contextual vulnerability. We explored the potential synergies of this interaction across elevation, patch area and shade management gradients for smallholder coffee farms around the UNESCO Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve in Ethiopia before, during and immediately following the 2015/16 El Niño. We documented a dramatic collapse in coffee yields across all farms, resulting in coffee incomes 29.5%±18.0% and 19.5%±10.0% of 2014 incomes in 2015 and 2016, respectively. We identified farms at elevations between 1500 and 1600 m with canopy openness between 40% and 45% as being consistently low yielding over our study period. We found these farmers had the highest rates of income diversification and, therefore, were already exhibiting adaptive capacity. Farmers with the largest income losses were spatially concentrated between 1600 and 1700 m, located in larger patch areas with lower canopy openness. Farmers at this elevation have access to poor infrastructure, restrictions on shade management and reported higher dependence on income from coffee, indicating an interaction of biotic and social factors exacerbating their vulnerability. Unfortunately, due to a nationally declared state of emergency, we were unable to survey farmers on the adaptive measures they undertook; therefore, we are limited in assessing their resilience. However, we do show the importance of considering both biotically and socially-mediated influences for assessing smallholder vulnerability, particularly barriers to diversifying incomes.

Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems

“…In Gabon, two plots are located in Ivindo National Park (IVI), and two plots are located in Lopé National Park (LPG; Rifai et al, 2018). In Ethiopia, two plots are located at transitional montane rainforest of Yayu Forest Coffee Biosphere Reserve (YAY), as part of the Exploring the Ecosystems Limits to Poverty Alleviation in African forest‐agriculture Landscapes (ECOLIMITS) project (Morel, Hirons, et al, 2019).…”

Agricultural Information's Impact on the Adaptive Capacity of Ghana's Smallholder Cocoa Farmers

“…Vulnerability describes the degree to which a system, such as a community or a farm-is susceptible to the adverse effects of stressors and change (Blaikie et al, 2005;Brooks et al, 2005;Adger, 2006;Birkmann, 2006;Smit and Wandel, 2006;Tschakert, 2007). Tropical countries are extremely vulnerable to changes in rainfall patterns (De Souza et al, 2015) and the livelihoods of those tending to rain-fed farms are even more vulnerable (Parry et al, 2007;Thornton et al, 2011;Morel et al, 2019b). Water stress is a significant yield-determining factor for cocoa (Carr and Lockwood, 2011), yet Ghanaian cocoa smallholders depend on regular rain patterns (Schroth et al, 2016).…”

The role of social vulnerability in improving interventions for neglected zoonotic diseases: The example of Kyasanur Forest Disease in India

“…For instance, differences in household occupational activities and poverty status will determine the degree of impact when two households are exposed in the event of a disease outbreak [27], [ Fig 1]. Adaptive capacity in this context is the ability to address, plan for, or adapt to adverse disease-related outcomes and take advantage of new opportunities and benefits [28,32]. Fig 1 typifies factors such as access to disease information, enabling governance structures and access to healthcare determine the potential of an individual or household to adapt in the face of emerging disease risks.…”

“…Prior work [30,32,33] distinguishes between vulnerability of outcome and contextual vulnerability. O'Brien et al [30] for instance, argue that a contextual ('place-based') framing of vulnerability allows a holistic analysis of socio-ecological systems, particularly how socially and biophysically mediated factors can interact to reduce adaptive capacity, as opposed to focussing on how impacts of an external perturbation (in this case KFD) manifest and, thus, inadvertently create a focus on technical interventions [32]. Community-focused scholars [28,34] contend that the underlying social structures are fundamental to understanding contextual vulnerability and household and community level adaptation pathways.…”