Agriculture in Shifting Climates: The Configuration and Ripeness of Problem Understandings in Uganda and Senegal

Abstract

The international community has advocated the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as lower-income countries deal with the negative consequences of climate change. Scaling up such policies, practices, and programs successfully will require support from a variety of local stakeholders. Such support requires alignment between CSA solutions and the problem understandings of stakeholders. However, problem understandings can differ across individuals, stakeholder groups, and geographic areas. Consequently, we examine understandings of climate problems and socioeconomic and infrastructure problems related to agriculture among different stakeholder groups in Uganda and Senegal. We operationalized and measured these problem understandings following the detailed guidance of the political will and public will approach for analyzing social change. Semi-structured interviews elicited stakeholder-generated lists of problems for each group. Limited quantification of problem understandings and their relative importance or "ripeness" demonstrates how contexts might shape opportunities for CSA.

Political will and public will for climate-smart agriculture in Senegal

“…Assessment can proceed by looking at “attitudes and beliefs about problem status,” the “nature and volume of expressions of concern” and converging “beliefs about the situation and its causes” (Raile et al , 2014, p. 112). As this component is the in-depth focus of a recently published companion paper (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018), the current paper spends less time on it.…”

“…Based on the first-round interview data, inadequate rainfall and variability in precipitation and seasons are the climate-driven agricultural problems most “ripe” to be addressed based on frequency and breadth of mentions among stakeholders who could form potential publics (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018). However, these problems compete with a number of other climate-driven agricultural problems like seawater intrusion, deforestation and loss of biodiversity (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018).…”

“…Based on the first-round interview data, inadequate rainfall and variability in precipitation and seasons are the climate-driven agricultural problems most “ripe” to be addressed based on frequency and breadth of mentions among stakeholders who could form potential publics (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018). However, these problems compete with a number of other climate-driven agricultural problems like seawater intrusion, deforestation and loss of biodiversity (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018). All these problems also compete for public agenda space with socioeconomic and infrastructure problems like urban migration, insufficient irrigation, lack of mechanization, access to water and persistence of traditional agricultural methods (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018).…”

“…However, these problems compete with a number of other climate-driven agricultural problems like seawater intrusion, deforestation and loss of biodiversity (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018). All these problems also compete for public agenda space with socioeconomic and infrastructure problems like urban migration, insufficient irrigation, lack of mechanization, access to water and persistence of traditional agricultural methods (Raile, Young, Bonabana-Wabbi, Kirinya, Mbaye, Wooldridge, Raile and Post, 2018). The researchers asked the same types of questions during the second round of field research, and perceptions of the foremost climate-driven agricultural problems again center on inconsistent and insufficient water supply for crops.…”