Livelihoods on the Edge without a Safety Net: The Case of Smallholder Crop Farming in North-Central Namibia

Abstract

Semi-arid Namibia is marginal for agricultural production. Low soil fertility combined with low and variable rainfall restrict the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who often struggle to produce enough food. Although historically, communities have adopted a number of coping mechanisms, climate change threatens to further reduce agricultural production. There are many additional options available to smallholder farmers to adapt to climate change, but they are not necessarily adopting these measures despite having noticed increasing temperatures and declining rainfall. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in three villages in Onesi constituency to examine what agricultural practices smallholder crop farmers use, perception of changes in their yields, their perspective on future yields and whether they are planning on changing their agricultural practices. The results suggest that to sustain the livelihoods of rural communities in north-central Namibia, support is needed from local and regional authorities, as well as traditional and religious leaders to assist with enhancing access to information, enabling information sharing on adaptation options, and increasing awareness on climate change, its impacts and what can be done about it. In addition to this, implementation of the adaptation action also requires demonstration sites and building capacity to enable the development of self-help groups.

Editorial for Special Issue: “Livelihood and Landscape Change in Africa: Future Trajectories for Improved Well-Being under a Changing Climate”

“…There is a need to harmonize local responses with external support to build on what is appropriate and works locally. This was emphasized in several articles including Pas [13], Spear and Chappel [20], and Scheba [12].…”

“…Further, Östberg et al [19] highlight the role of local entrepreneurs and community initiatives in creating the opportunity for 'change from within' as important factors in stimulating the local economy and improving opportunities for livelihood security in their study in Tanzania. Conversely, Spear and Chappel [20] argue that a lack of such enterprise and resourcefulness is hindering livelihood security and adaptation in communities in Northern Namibia. Östberg and colleagues [19] contend that there is a need for further research to distinguish between the role of exogenous factors (e.g., policy, infrastructure) and endogenous factors (e.g., attitudes to wealth and work) in contributing to transforming livelihoods.…”

Interrogating ‘effectiveness’ in climate change adaptation: 11 guiding principles for adaptation research and practice

“…Wellbeing: Drought interventions aim to address material wellbeing through access to improved information, seeds and equipment and social grants for support during drought. For many, small wellbeing improvements have occurred, but drought continues to have a negative impact of psycho-social wellbeing (Spear & Chappel, 2018;.…”

“…Equity and justice: Ethnic groups, as well as female-and male-headed households, within the constituency have differing experiences in benefiting from the drought policy -those who are minorities or not as well connected to traditional authorities and government agencies are less able to access drought interventions and support as easily (Spear & Chappel, 2018).…”

“Are They Aware, and Why?” Bayesian Analysis of Predictors of Smallholder Farmers’ Awareness of Climate Change and Its Risks to Agriculture

“…Taken together, it follows that there is a growing body of research investigating the impacts of climate change adaptation strategies in Zambia and across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Examples of such studies include [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. However, the limited capacity of smallholder farmers to adapt to climate change in Zambia [4,25] in part contributes to the low adoption rates of climate change adaptation measures [19,21].…”