Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC)

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Browsing Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC) by Subject "Climate change"

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    Adaptation to climate change and impact on smallholder farmers' food security in South Africa
    (MDPI, 2022) Ogundeji, Abiodun A.
    If not adequately managed, climate change is predicted to have a large negative impact on smallholder subsistence farmers, posing a significant danger to household food security. However, the role of adaptive techniques used by farming households to reduce these negative effects and, as a result, their food insecurity status has not been sufficiently evaluated. This study explores the factors that influence smallholder farmers’ adoption of climate change adaptation measures, as well as their impact on household food security. Using an endogenous treatment-effect ordered probit model, agricultural households’ food security status is likely to significantly improve when they employ measures to adapt to adverse climatic conditions. The empirical findings also show that the gender makeup of the household, age, tropical livestock unit, and access to climatic information improve the likelihood of smallholder farmers adopting climate change adaptation measures. Based on the findings, this study advocates that governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) support smallholder farmers’ Indigenous adaptation options with various institutional, regulatory, and technological assistance, with a particular emphasis on female-headed households.
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    Livelihood vulnerability to the changing climate: the experiences of smallholder farming households in the Free State Province, South Africa
    (Elsevier, 2023) Okolie, Collins C.; Danso-Abbeam, Gideon; Ogundeji, Abiodun A.
    As a result of climatically regulated water sources, smallholder farming households in South Africa are severely impacted by climate change. Using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index, we assessed the vulnerability of smallholder farming households to climate change in Thaba Nchu, Mangaung District of the Free State Province of South Africa. Primary data from 301 smallholder farming households were collected and augmented with secondary data on temperature and rainfall from 2010 to 2020. The study found that farming households in Central Thaba Nchu are more vulnerable than those in North and South Thaba Nchu in terms of adaptive capacity: social network, livelihoods strategies, and socio-demographic structure. The Central Thaba Nchu were likewise more vulnerable to water resources than the Northern and Southern Thaba Nchu. However, Northern Thaba Nchu is more exposed and sensitive to health-related difficulties than Central and Southern Thaba Nchu. The study recommends that non-government and government institutions in the province should employ a pragmatic method to evaluate vulnerability using climate service information while prioritizing vulnerable households for adaptation support to improve adaptive capacity and resilience. The findings also imply that weather forecasters, in partnership with agricultural extension agents, must provide farmers with timely and adequate climate information reports to prepare them for climatic shocks. Moreover, it is important to deliver climate service information that is genuine, significant, and reliable.
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    Smallholder farmers’ coping and adaptation strategies to climate change: evidence from a bibliometric analysis
    (Elsevier, 2024) Okolie, Collins C.; Ogunleye, Oluwasola T.; Danso-Abbeam, Gideon; Ogundeji, Abiodun A.; Restás, Ágoston
    Climate change threatens smallholder farmers' productivity, revenue generation, and increases household food insecurity. Thus, adaptation and coping strategies are paramount for smallholder farming households to mitigate these impacts of climate change. This study used a bibliometric analysis to examine smallholder farmers’ coping and adaptation strategies to climate change (SFCA-SCC) research trends from 2010 to 2022. A total of 1635 papers were analysed from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases to characterize the field and observe research trends. The articles from these databases demonstrate an upward trend in publications (54–300) over the period under study, signifying the importance of research on adaptation and coping strategies of climate change. The research findings showed that majority of studies originated from institutions in industrialized countries, while very few did so from emerging economies. According to the findings, smallholder farmers have embraced a range of adaptation and coping mechanisms to mitigate the impacts of climate change, such as altering planting schedules, and diversifying crop varieties among others. It is imperative for African researchers and institutions to engage in more research aimed at developing strategies to mitigate the risks posed by climate change.
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    Understanding resilience pathways to climate change in a changing rangeland environment amongst pastoral societies of Afar Region, Ethiopia
    (University of the Free State, 2017) Fenta, Muluken Mekuyie; Jordaan, Andries; Melka, Yoseph
    Change in climate and climate extremes are increasingly being acknowledged as a vital challenge to pastoral production systems. The resilience of pastoral households to climate-induced shocks depends on the knowledge, skills of households and assets. The present study was conducted in the Southern Afar region in Ethiopia to understand the resilience of pastoralists to climate change and variability in a changing rangeland environment. This study used the Mann-Kendall statistical test, the Sen’s slope estimator test and the Standardised Precipitation Index to analyse the trends of climate change and variability and the annual and seasonal anomalies of rainfall, and assess the severity of droughts in the study area. A household questionnaire survey and focus group discussion were employed to collect primary data at household level. A total of 250 pastoral households were sampled using stratified random sampling. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis and linear regression, as well as Tobit models. In addition, satellite image analysis and field observation were used to analyse the land-use/land-cover changes in the Southern Afar region. The results indicated a significant declining and increasing trend of Sugum (spring) season and Karma (summer) season rainfall, respectively in the study area. However, significant trend was not observed for long-term annual rainfall. The coefficient of variation of seasonal rainfall ranged from 25.2 to 42.7, indicating the strong variability of rainfall among the seasons. Precipitation Concentration Index values also indicated a strong, irregular distribution of rainfall in the study area which was more irregular in the Gewane than in the Amibara district. Analysis of the Standardised Precipitation Index indicated that the total percentage of dry years (negative anomalies of rainfall) ranged from 53.3% (at Amibara) to 43.3% (at Gewane), implying more drought periods in the Amibara than the Gewane district for the observation periods. However, the percentages of extreme drought years were from 6.7% (at Amibara) to 10% (at Gewane). The research has confirmed a significant increasing trend of monthly, seasonal and annual temperatures for the period 1983–2014. The results also indicated that the mean annual temperature of the Southern Afar has increased by 0.67 °C dec–1which is almost twice the national increase. Due to the unreliability and erratic nature of rainfall and recurrent droughts in the region, pasture and water availability became scarce and livestock assets and productivity reduced to a high degree, the income and asset ownership of households declined and the market price of livestock decreased, while the price of grain food increased. Due to deepening of poverty in the Southern Afar region, the informal safety net/mutual support system was eroded and individualism was increased. Furthermore, the pastoral households pursued different strategies to adapt/cope with climate-induced shocks and stresses. The most important strategies deployed by the local people included mixing livestock–crop farming, mobility, changing herd species composition and herd splitting, reduced consumption, remittance, cash-forwork, charcoal burning and firewood selling and food aid. The indigenous early warning system and mutual support among the extended families, neighbours and community were still significant to enhance the resilience of the pastoral households, though the indigenous early warning system was not integrated into the formal early warning system and the informal safety nets were eroded. The results further indicated that agro-pastoral households were more resilient than pastoral households to climate-induced shock. Furthermore, households in the Gewane district were more resilient than those in the Amibara district. In addition, female-headed households were less resilient than male-headed households. The findings further indicated that irrigation crop farming, livestock ownership, education level, per capita income, mobility and herd splitting, herd composition change, labour, remittance, food aid, access to credit, market and formal early warning information had a significant impact on the resilience of households to climate-induced shocks and stresses. The findings of the household vulnerability analysis indicated that 28.8%, 53.6% and 17.6% of pastoralists were highly vulnerable, moderately vulnerable and less vulnerable, respectively, to climate-induced shocks and stresses. The most important drivers that determine the vulnerability level of households were gender, age and marital status of the household, household size, educational level, extension services, farming experience, early warning information, livestock asset, irrigation farming, non-farm income, livestock mobility, radio ownership, distance to market and veterinary clinic, access to credit and agricultural inputs, the number of sick family members, the number of months with food shortages during the normal season of the year and number of dependents in the household. The results also indicated that substantial loss of grassland cover (64.5%), moderate decline of cultivated land (24%) and a dramatic increment of shrub and bushland cover (114.3%) occurred between 1985 and 2015. Consequently, access to rangeland resources and farmlands for pastoralists was highly restricted, putting the pastoral communities under increasing threat. The identified drivers of land use/cover changes in the order of decreasing influence were the invasion of Prosopis juliflora, climate change, and variability, government intervention, and population growth. If enhancing the resilience of pastoral households is the final aim, the government and other partner organisations should focus more on long-term strategic livelihood interventions than on emergency relief interventions by equipping the local people with the capability to manage and respond to climate-induced shocks and stresses in the early stage of the crisis. Furthermore, the decision makers should develop a policy for controlling P. juliflora and ensuring accessibility of the rangeland to grazing and strengthening of the customary institution for effective management of rangeland resources.