14 pgs., The provision of farm management decision support and advisory services to insure climate resilient agricultural production systems, especially for subsistence farmers, depends on data on such producers. The main objective of the paper was to generate such data by comparing the status quo regarding dryland, subsistence grain farmers’ perceptions of climate variability, their adaptation strategies and crop productivity. Using a survey questionnaire, the comparison was made across time (2014 and 2017) in selected municipalities of Limpopo province. The findings across time and aggregated for all the different local municipalities investigated were similar regarding respondents’ perceptions of climate variability, adaptation strategies used and crop productivity. The perceptions revealed that respondents were aware of the reality of climate variability and its negative effects on their crop and livestock production, Agricultural productivity amongst extension and non-extension recipients was low, with minimal differences. These findings auger well for the development of common strategies to improve the effectiveness of the support for farm management including climate variability that is provided by the public agricultural extension service to the group of producers in this study to reduce the negative effects of climate variability on their crop productivity. This will eventually help to improve their food security.
Byrnes , Kerry J. (author), Moran, Michael J. (author), Picha, David H. (author), and Smith, Cecil N. (author)
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1990-05-01
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: KerryByrnes3 Document Number: D09147
Notes:
Kerry J. Byrnes Collection, The United States Agency for International Development Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean Office of Development Resources, Rural Development Division.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 93 Document Number: C06992
Notes:
AGRICOLA IND 90047157; Paper presented at the 1988 Winter Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, December 13-16, 1988, Chicago, IL., St. Joseph, MI: American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1988. 36 p. (Microfiche Collection fiche no. 88-1606), A key to the adoption of spatially variable or site specific farming methods will be the ability to examine and analyze information. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computerized systems designed to manage mapped data. A survey of microcomputer based GIS was performed. Nineteen GIS systems were summarized. (original)
12 pages, Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is adversely affected by climate variability and change due to the dependence of its economies and livelihoods primarily on rain-fed agriculture. Agro-advisories boost informed decision-making as well as planning of farm activities. The purpose of this study was to characterize the pathways through which farmers receive usable location-specific agro-advisories as well as to evaluate the effect of the socio-economic environment in the access to such information. Data was collected from 400 randomly selected households in lower eastern Kenya in a cross-sectional survey. Multivariate probit regression was used to determine the factors influencing the choice of pathways used in accessing climate change adaptation information. Household socio-economic characteristics that were found to be significant in explaining access to disseminated agro-advisories include phone and radio ownership, level of education, marital status, and farm size among others. Based on these findings a conclusion is made that the socio-economic environment within which information is disseminated is vital in determining those who access information and probably act on it. Additionally, pathways found to be complementary or substitutable give information providers new insights on the channels to use in information dissemination. The study recommends that these factors be considered in efforts geared towards promoting agro-advisory preparation and dissemination to improve adaptation to climate variability and change in dryland areas.
