Building climate-resilient farming systems is important to promote the sustainability of agriculture at the global level. Scaling-up agroecological approaches in main staple crops, such as maize, is particularly important in enhancing the climate resilience of millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries. In this regard, push–pull technology (PPT) is an ecological approach to a farming system that aims to improve the climate resilience of maize producers in a smallholder mixed farming system. PPT is primarily designed to control pests and weeds in an ecofriendly approach, to improve soil fertility, to improve livestock feed, and to increase farmers’ incomes. In this study, we compared the level of climate resilience between PPT maize farming systems and non-PPT maize farming systems in southern Ethiopia. Using the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Self-Evaluation and Holistic Assessment of Climate Resilience of Farmers and Pastoralists (SHARP), we measured 13 agroecosystem indicators of climate resilience and compared the degree to which the two farming systems differ in their level of resilience to climate change. The results indicate that PPT farming systems are more climate-resilient than their non-PPT counterparts. PPT maize farming systems had a significant impact on 8 out of the 13 agroecosystem indicators of climate resilience. To harness the full benefits of PPT, governmental extension agents, NGOs, and agricultural researchers should promote PPT-based maize farming systems. The promotion of PPT needs concerted efforts and strong national coordination in solving PPT implementation barriers, such as improving access to input and output markets and animal health services.

With the increasing scarcity of natural resources, the ability to maintain quality standards during resource-scarce times becomes more critical for business performance.Theories on managing resource scarcity cannot be easily tested in contexts where resources are still abundant. This study therefore turns to an emerging market context in which natural resource availability naturally varies strongly between seasons, namely, that of Ethiopian pastoralists who for many generations learned to adapt to natural resource scarcity. Central to our theory is the natural resource deployment capability, which is the ability of a business to make efficient and effective use of available resources to maintain business performance during resource-scarce times.Using three-wave longitudinal data from 120 pastoral family-based livestock businesses, the study shows that when resources are scarce or extremely scarce, market knowledge helps to better deploy the scarce natural resources, leading to higher product quality. The findings imply that businesses with a better understanding of markets have stronger natural resource deployment capability. The lesson for businesses that are confronted with approaching resource scarcity is therefore to strengthen their ability to deploy resources efficiently and effectively by strengthening their market knowledge in which such capability is rooted.

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