Your search found 2 records
1 Lalani, B.; Dorward, P.; Holloway, G.; Wauters, E. 2016. Smallholder farmers' motivations for using conservation agriculture and the roles of yield, labour and soil fertility in decision making. Agricultural Systems, 146:80-90. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2016.04.002]
Farming systems ; Conservation agriculture ; Agricultural practices ; Smallholders ; Farmers attitudes ; Soil fertility ; Yield increases ; Labour ; Decision making ; Psychological factors ; Human behavior ; Adaptation ; Motivation ; Models ; Socioeconomic environment / Africa South of Sahara / Mozambique / Cabo Delgado
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047845)
(0.50 MB)
Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted as an agro-ecological approach to sustainable production intensification. Despite numerous initiatives promoting CA across Sub-Saharan Africa there have been low rates of adoption. Furthermore, there has been strong debate concerning the ability of CA to provide benefits to smallholder farmers regarding yield, labour, soil quality and weeding, particularly where farmers are unable to access external inputs such as herbicides. This research finds evidence that CA, using no external inputs, is most attractive among the very poor and that farmers are driven primarily by strong motivational factors in the key areas of current contention, namely yield, labour, soil quality and weeding time benefits. This study is the first to incorporate a quantitative socio-psychological model to understand factors driving adoption of CA. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), it explores farmers' intention to use CA (within the next 12 months) in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique where CA has been promoted for almost a decade. The study site provides a rich population from which to examine farmers' decision making in using CA. Regression estimates show that the TPB provides a valid model of explaining farmers' intention to use CA accounting for 80% of the variation in intention. Farmers' attitude is found to be the strongest predictor of intention. This is mediated through key cognitive drivers present that influence farmers' attitude such as increased yields, reduction in labour, improvement in soil quality and reduction in weeds. Subjective norm (i.e. social pressure from referents) and perceived behavioural control also significantly influenced farmers' intention. Furthermore, path analysis identifies farmers that are members of a Farmer Field School or participants of other organisations (e.g. savings group, seed multiplication group or a specific crop/livestock association) have a significantly stronger positive attitude towards CA with the poorest the most likely users and the cohort that find it the easiest to use. This study provides improved understanding relevant to many developing countries, of smallholder farmers' adoption dynamics related to CA, and of how farmers may approach this and other ‘new’ management systems.
2 Clarkson, G.; Dorward, P.; Poskitt, S.; Stern, R. D.; Nyirongo, D.; Fara, K.; Gathenya, J. M.; Staub, C. G.; Trotman, A.; Nsengiyumva, G.; Torgbor, F.; Giraldo, D. 2022. Stimulating small-scale farmer innovation and adaptation with Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA): lessons from successful implementation in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and South Asia. Climate Services, 26:100298. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2022.100298]
Climate services ; Participatory approaches ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Innovation ; Empowerment ; Climate variability ; Climate change ; Decision making ; Livelihoods ; Institutions ; Agricultural extension ; Farming systems ; Households ; Rain ; Food security ; Livestock ; Sustainability ; Case studies / Africa / Latin America / Caribbean / South Asia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051111)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405880722000164/pdfft?md5=24758ca57f0beb4146e44b2c92352489&pid=1-s2.0-S2405880722000164-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051111.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051111.pdf
(2.83 MB) (2.83 MB)
How to cope with climate variability and adapt to climate change are key challenges for smallholder farmers globally. In low-income countries, farmers have typically received little, if any locally relevant weather or climate information. Although climate services have contributed to increased availability and accessibility of climate information, this has rarely achieved the desired impacts for farmers’ decision-making, adaptation and resilience to climate variability and change. This has been attributed to a lack of engagement with intended users of climate information and a top-down approach to development and delivery of climate services that fails to adequately consider and account for farmers’ context-specific requirements. Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) is an approach that was developed to support and empower farmers in their decision-making processes. More than 200,000 farmers have been trained in 23 countries and this paper presents evidence from evaluations in 7 countries including that most (87%; n = 4,299) have made beneficial changes in their crops, livestock and/or livelihood enterprises. The approach has strengthened key institutions that support farmers through deliberative scoping, tailoring, and capacity-building activities with extension and meteorological services. It has been well received by those that use it and is being integrated into policy and training curricula. Key reasons for the success of the approach include the importance of supporting farmers as decision makers and empowering them to relate relatively complex weather and climate information to their own contexts. Key considerations for the future include ensuring sustainability and further scaling as well as maintaining quality.
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