Factors determining the adoption of strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with climate variability in the eastern Free State, South Africa

cg.authorship.typesNot CGIAR developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationAgricultural Research Council, South Africaen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Limpopoen
cg.contributor.donorEuropean Unionen
cg.coverage.countrySouth Africa
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ZA
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Africa
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10090410en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn2077-0472en
cg.issue9en
cg.journalAgricultureen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.ilriFOOD SYSTEMSen
cg.subject.impactAreaClimate adaptation and mitigation
cg.subject.sdgSDG 2 - Zero hungeren
cg.subject.sdgSDG 13 - Climate actionen
cg.volume10en
dc.contributor.authorMyeni, L.en
dc.contributor.authorMoeletsi, M.E.en
dc.date.accessioned2021-12-23T08:43:33Zen
dc.date.available2021-12-23T08:43:33Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/117014
dc.titleFactors determining the adoption of strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with climate variability in the eastern Free State, South Africaen
dcterms.abstractThis study was undertaken to understand the smallholder farmer’s perception of the effects of climate variability, their adaptation strategies to cope with climate variability and factors determining the adoption of their adaptation strategies in the eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Adaptation strategies were grouped into two categories, i.e., traditional adaptation strategies and scientific adaptation strategies. Traditional adaptation strategies consisted of practices that require minimal technical expertise and less external inputs such as changing from crops to livestock, crop diversification, increasing land under production, changing crop type and water harvesting. Scientific adaptation strategies consisted of practices that require additional external inputs, labour, and some level of technical expertise such as changing crop variety, improving soil fertility and soil conservation. Data were collected from 391 smallholder farmers using a structured household questionnaire and were verified through focus group discussion meetings with key informants. Data were analysed using the descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and a binary logistic model. Results indicated that the majority of smallholder farmers perceived that climate change had triggered food-related impacts in the study area and had adopted at least one adaptation strategy. This study showed that awareness and knowledge were the key factors that determined the adoption of traditional adaptation strategies in the study area. The adoption of scientific adaptation strategies was additionally determined by the availability of external financial investments. It is recommended that the promotion of traditional practices should focus on raising awareness of climate change and adaptation strategies while the promotion of scientific practices additionally requires the provision and accessibility of financial institutional support and incentives.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceAcademicsen
dcterms.audienceCGIARen
dcterms.audienceDevelopment Practitionersen
dcterms.audienceDonorsen
dcterms.audienceFarmersen
dcterms.audienceNGOsen
dcterms.audiencePolicy Makersen
dcterms.audienceScientistsen
dcterms.available2020-09-16
dcterms.bibliographicCitationMyeni, L. and Moeletsi, M.E. 2020. Factors determining the adoption of strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with climate variability in the eastern Free State, South Africa. Agriculture 10(9):410.en
dcterms.issued2020-09-16
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherMDPIen
dcterms.subjectclimate changeen
dcterms.subjectcropsen
dcterms.subjectfarmersen
dcterms.subjectsmallholdersen
dcterms.subjectfood scienceen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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