Farmers' responses to climate variability and change in southern Africa – is it coping or adaptation?

Vincent, Katharine; Cull, Tracy; Chanika, D.; Hamazakaza, Petan; Joubert, A. M.; Macome, Eulalia; Mutonhodza-Davies, Charity

doi:10.1080/17565529.2013.821052

Cited by 55 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Boyd, Cornforth, Lamb, Tarhule, Lele, & Brouder, 2013;Dixon, Stringer, & Challinor, 2014;Hammill, Harvey, & Echeverria, 2013). However, under climate change, looking backwards alone will not provide sufficient insight to guide robust future climate-resilient planning (Vincent et al, 2013;Wise et al, 2014). This finding indicates a lack of understanding of what a multi-year forecast is and the mechanism through which it is generated (i.e.…”

Section: Capacity Building Of Decision Makers Around the Opportunitiementioning

confidence: 62%

Identifying climate services needs for national planning: insights from Malawi

et al. 2015

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The importance of climate services, i.e. providing targeted, tailored, and timely weather and climate information, has gained momentum, but requires improved understanding of user needs. This article identifies the opportunities and barriers to the use of climate services for planning in Malawi, to identify the types of information that can better inform future adaptation decisions in sub-Saharan Africa. From policy analysis, stakeholder interviews, and a national workshop utilizing serious games, it is determined that only 5-10 day and seasonal forecasts are currently being used in government decision making. Impediments to greater integration of climate services include spatial and temporal scale, accessibility, timing, credibility and the mismatch in timeframes between planning cycles (1-5 years) and climate projections (over 20 years). Information that could more usefully inform planning decisions includes rainfall distribution within a season, forecasts with 2-3 week lead times, likely timing and location of extreme events in the short term (1 -5 years), and projections (e.g. rainfall and temperature change) in the medium term (6 -20 years). Development of a national set of scenarios would also make climate information more accessible to decision makers, and capacity building around such scenarios would enable its improved use in short-to medium-term planning. Improved climate science and its integration with impact models offer exciting opportunities for integrated climate-resilient planning across sub-Saharan Africa. Accrual of positive impacts requires enhanced national capacity to interpret climate information and implement communication strategies across sectors. Policy relevanceFor climate services to achieve their goal of improving adaptation decision making, it is necessary to understand the decision making process and how and when various types of weather and climate information can be incorporated. Through a case study of public sector planning in Malawi, this article highlights relevant planning and policy-making processes. The current use of weather and climate information and needs, over various timescales -sub-annual to short term (1-5 years) to medium term (6 -20 years) -is outlined. If climate scientists working with boundary organizations are able to address these issues in a more targeted, sector-facing manner they will improve the uptake of climate services and the likelihood of climate-resilient decisions across sub-Saharan Africa.

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Section: Capacity Building Of Decision Makers Around the Opportunitiementioning

confidence: 62%

Identifying climate services needs for national planning: insights from Malawi

et al. 2015

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“…These These are adaptive measures which, combined with women´s autonomous initiatives -irrigation and changing planting times-cf. Vincent et al, 2013), adverted food insecurity (Agrawala and Carraro, 2010). These are critical findings considering the lack of studies on the connection between microcredit, women´s empowerment and adaptive capacity (Agrawala and Carraro, 2010), the need to further investigate the positive outcomes of microfinance (Hermes and Lensink 2011), the minimal amount of credit that women farmers receive in Africa and the ongoing relevance of a women-only approach within gender mainstreaming (Ransom and Bain, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Credit plus” microcredit schemes: a key to women's adaptive capacity

Caretta

2014

Climate and Development

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PreprintThis is the submitted version of a paper published in Climate and Development.Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Caretta, M. (2014) "Credit plus" microcredit schemes: a key to women's adaptive capacity. Groups received training in small business administration and agroforestry which produced positive outcomes or a virtuous spiral in their families' economy, wellbeing and in their intra-household bargaining power. In agroforestry and new farming practices group training enhanced the women´s set of planned adaptation strategies. In a context where formal financial institutions are still reluctant in providing credit to subsistence farmers, this case study shows the beneficial effects that credit would generate for women´s adaptive capacity.

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“…Similarly, Ellis (1998) defined coping strategies as measures taken in response to a decline in normal sources of food for survival. To cope with changes, farmers usually make use of assets to respond to a food shortage crisis (Adams, Cekan, & Sauerborn, 1998;Vincent et al, 2013). Several studies have highlighted specific climate-related coping strategies including temporary migration, receiving food aid and selling of household assets (e.g.…”

Section: Diverse Meanings: Coping or Adaptation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Smallholder farmers in the Great Ruaha River sub-Basin of Tanzania: coping or adapting to rainfall variability?

Pauline

Vogel

Grab

et al. 2016

Climate and Development

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Climate change and variability are pervasive contemporary realities in Africa. In this paper, we investigate climate stressors (i.e. rainfall patterns and drought) that have occurred in the Great Ruaha River sub-Basin (GRRB), Tanzania. By making use of a mixed-methods approach, including both quantitative and qualitative data collection, we demonstrate that changes in rainfall pattern experienced by rural farmers in the GRRB have increased since the 1990s, as have limiting factors constraining sustainable response options. By interrogating data from focus group discussions with smallholder farmers, household questionnaire surveys, and records from government institutions, we show that sustainable livelihoods in this area are also being compromised by non-climatic stresses such as a lack of coordinated crop markets and poor access to loans, inadequate weather forecast information, and poor irrigation infrastructure and varying climate. As a consequence of climatic stresses, resources utilization, diversification of farming methods, and broader structural and development concerns, smallholder farmers have responded with corresponding changes in coping and adaptation strategies. Smallholder farmers are more frequently resorting to shorter term coping strategies rather than longer term adaptation, and are thus still heavily reliant on social, economic, and policy support to improve both their shorter term coping and longer term adaptive capacity.

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Farmers' responses to climate variability and change in southern Africa – is it coping or adaptation?

Cited by 55 publications

References 54 publications

Identifying climate services needs for national planning: insights from Malawi

Identifying climate services needs for national planning: insights from Malawi

“Credit plus” microcredit schemes: a key to women's adaptive capacity

Smallholder farmers in the Great Ruaha River sub-Basin of Tanzania: coping or adapting to rainfall variability?

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