Explaining the uncertainty: understanding small-scale farmers’ cultural beliefs and reasoning of drought causes in Gaza Province, Southern Mozambique

Abstract

This paper explores small-scale farmers' cultural beliefs about the causes of drought events and the reasoning behind their beliefs. Cultural beliefs vary across countries, regions, communities, and social groups; this paper takes the case of farmers from Gaza Province in southern Mozambique as its focus. Findings show that the farmers have a limited knowledge and understanding of the scientific explanation about drought. Thus, farmers' beliefs about the causes of drought are strongly based on the indigenous (the power of spirits) and Christian philosophies that attribute drought to supernatural forces, such as ancestors or God, and as a punishment for (some unknown) wrongdoings. Farmers have a distinct and under-explored repertoire of possible wrongdoings to justify the punishments driven by those cultural beliefs. Some of their reasoning is static, while some is mutable, and is based on their observation and perception of the negative, unexpected, or harmful recent or current events which happen in their surrounding environment, and which they believe could be avoided or prevented. Farmers' beliefs about drought causes, and their underlying reasoning for those beliefs, are what will primarily influence their perception of their own capacity to adapt, their motivation to respond, and their behavioral responses. Yet, their social groups exert a great influence on their choices of response. The paper concludes that more context-specific investigations into the socio-psychological nature of farmers' beliefs are required prior to interventions in order to better help farmers to respond to future drought risks.

Safe from what? Understanding environmental non-migration in Chilean Patagonia through ontological security and risk perceptions

“…This insight into ontological security draws on the socio-cultural theory to risk perception (coined by Douglas and Wildavsky 1983), which claims that communities, with their shared meanings and beliefs, create a context-specific view of the natural environment. This affects which sources of information on risks are trusted (Adger et al 2013;Salite 2019), how the generative mechanism behind environmental changes or natural hazards is interpreted (Ayeb-Karlsson et al 2019) and how people react to them (Harries 2017;Salite 2019).…”

“…Religion is strongly interlinked with the socio-cultural context, but it is often singled out in risk perception research as providing populations with explanatory mechanisms of natural hazards or environmental changes (Artur and Hilhorst 2012;Ayeb-Karlsson et al 2019;Salite 2019). As Wolf and Moser write, '(b)elief in a higher spiritual being plays an important role in determining whether people believe that human action can influence the climate' (Wolf and Moser 2011: 14), how this should be done and who is to be held responsible.…”

Exploring smallholders’ cultural beliefs and their implication for adaptation to climate change in North-Western Nigeria

“…For example, culture and belief systems play a significant role in influencing adaptation behaviours of susceptible populations (W. N. Adger et al, 2012;Artur & Hilhorst, 2012;Jones & Boyd, 2011;Salite & Poskitt, 2019). Cultural beliefs promoted by religion could result in maladaptation (W. N. Adger et al, 2009;Murphy et al, 2016) where farmers believe climate change is caused by God and when prayers are offered, their problems will be solved (Salite, 2019). According to Kirkpatrick (2005), prayer only serves to offer psychological relief in times of crises and may constrain practical adaptation.…”

“…Overcoming the notion of reliance on prayer could entail disruptive changes that will encompass altering deeply held value systems and structures thereby distorting existing ethnic, historical and cultural identities (W. N. Adger et al, 2009). However, cultural beliefs have also received recognition as key determinants of adaptation to disaster and risks, based on their influence on the attitude towards such hazards (Salite, 2019).…”

Religious and Cultural-Spiritual Attributions of Climate-Driven Changes on Food Production: A Case Study from North Malaita, Solomon Islands

“…Thus, farmers may continue to bear the negative impacts without attempting to fully address the effects or to enhance their capacity to cope with the effects they face because of ignorance or faith in God (Paltasingh and Goyari 2018). Salite (2019) also described a similar situation in which the losses of crops were explained by the biblical principle that the prosperity of crops comes from God. This has shaped farmers' behaviour to accept the negative impacts on the crops as the work of God.…”