15 pages, A significant emphasis on scaling up food security efforts is needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030. Scaling up sustainable intensification efforts for Cambodian smallholder farmers is key since they face greater exposure to the uncertainties of climate change, globalizing markets, and rural-to-urban migration. One way to increase the effectiveness of efforts and the scaling up of sustainable intensification technologies is through improving access to information about production and marketing technologies. This study aimed to identify sources of information about sustainable technologies available to smallholders and barriers that may be preventing adoption. Information was gathered from a household survey to document the sources of agricultural information for smallholders in Northwest Cambodia. This research suggests Cambodian smallholders are receiving agricultural extension services, however, the overall quality and effectiveness of these messages are unknown, since NGOs with competing foci are the primary provider of extension information. Smallholders face significant barriers that prevent the adoption of sustainable technologies and participation in markets, such as low price for goods, poor product quality, lack of time, and concerns for safety. Future endeavors to strengthen the price of goods and alleviate market-related challenges would likely result in increased smallholder income and food availability.
6 pages, Background: An effort was made by the Ethiopian government to increase the level of technical efficiency of farmers across the country. However, due to climate change, smallholder farmers were facing challenges to increase technical efficiency in crop production. Adaptation to climate change is crucial to uphold and increase food crop productivity. This study analysis the impact of climate change adaptation and policy issues on food crop production efficiency in Kellem Wollega, Ethiopia.
Methods: The data was gathered from 400 randomly selected food crop smallholder farmers. The Cobb-Douglas production function was used by including the climate change adaptation measures as explanatory variables in technical inefficiency. Simulation was made to adaption measures that can be influenced by the policy variables to see their impact on the level of technical efficiency.
Result: The finding show that the use of adaptive practices (multiple crop type, improved crop varieties, adjusting planting dates and irrigation) had a significant and positive effect on technical efficiency whereas land fragmentation reduces efficiency level. Regarding simulation of policy variables the result show that the mean technical efficiency would increase with rising level of improved crop varieties, adjusting planting dates and irrigation practices. The results of the simulation of land fragmentation climate change adaptation variables show that the mean technical efficiency declines as a result of land fragmentation. Empirical results reveal that with appropriate policy intervention (climate change adaptation measures) the technical efficiency level of food crop farmers can be enhanced.
31 pages, Imaginaries of empty, verdant lands have long motivated agricultural frontier expansion. Today, climate change, food insecurity, and economic promise are invigorating new agricultural frontiers across the circumpolar north. In this article, I draw on extensive archival and ethnographic evidence to analyze mid-twentieth-century and recent twenty-first-century narratives of agricultural development in the Northwest Territories, Canada. I argue that the early frontier imaginary is relatively intact in its present lifecycle. It is not simply climactic forces that are driving an emergent northern agricultural frontier, but rather the more diffuse and structural forces of capitalism, governmental power, settler colonialism, and resistance to those forces. I also show how social, political, and infrastructural limits continue to impede agricultural development in the Northwest Territories and discuss how smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities differently situate agricultural production within their local food systems. This paper contributes to critical debates in frontiers and northern agriculture literature by foregrounding the contested space between the state-driven and dominant public narratives underpinning frontier imaginaries, and the social, cultural, and material realities that constrain them on a Northwest Territories agricultural frontier.
16 pages, The importance of smallholder farming is increasingly recognized in rural areas where increased crop productivity and market participation can effectively improve their dietary diversity and nutrition quality. However, rural households are still faced with severe food insecurity and malnutrition. The study sought to assess the role of smallholder farming in crop productivity and market access on rural household dietary diversity. The secondary data were collected using a quantitative research method, and 1520 participants were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The descriptive results showed that cereals were the most (98%) consumed food group, while vegetables and fruits were the least consumed food groups, at 37% and 23%, respectively. The results from the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) showed that 57% of smallholder farmers consumed highly diverse diets (more or equal to six food groups), whereas 25% and 18% of smallholder farmers consumed medium dietary diversity (four to five food groups) and low diverse diets (less or equal to three food groups), respectively. The findings from the Conditional Mixed Process (CMP) and Poisson endogenous treatment effect models showed that household size, ownership of livestock, wealth index, and involvement in crop production positively influenced household dietary diversity. On the other hand, output and access to market information showed a negative effect. Social grants had contradicting effects: they had a negative impact on the HDDS received from crop productivity while they had a positive effect on the HDDS from market participation. Providing different ways smallholder farmers can use their funds effectively can help improve household dietary diversity and nutrition quality. The study recommended that more workshops and training be conducted that cover all the sustainable production systems that smallholder farmers can undertake to produce different food groups. These will raise awareness among smallholder farmers about the requirements for balanced diets for food and nutrition security.
21 pages, Climate change continues to impact the livelihoods of smallholder farmers due to low adaptive capacity. In South Africa, the challenge is exacerbated by water scarcity and shortened crop-growing seasons. Climate-smart irrigation innovative technologies (CSIT) enhance smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change. However, there is still a limited level of effective adoption and usage of these technologies in smallholder communities. This study investigated the barriers affecting the adoption of CSIT in rural areas of the Vhembe and Capricorn districts in Limpopo Province, South Africa. We explored the farmers’ socioeconomic factors extracted from farmers’ perceptions of CSIT-specific attributes. A multi-stage randomized sampling technique was used to select 100 smallholder farmers (SHF). Data analyzed by descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency distribution are presented in graphs and tables. According to the findings, insufficient communication channels, a lack of financial availability, unstable land tenure systems, and insufficient training are the main obstacles to implementing CSIT. There is a need for policy and decision-makers to improve the communication channels for disseminating agro-meteorological information to the intended beneficiaries.
10 pages, Sustainable livestock farming practices have the potential to improve productivity and high income, reduce greenhouse gases, and improve household food security. Despite previous efforts to disseminate these technologies, the rate of adoption has remained very low in Ethiopia. In this study, we investigate the determinants of adoption and the impact of improved dairy farming practices (IDFP), which include improved breed, improved feed, and improved feeding conditions, on household food security in the central highland of Ethiopia.
20 pages, Smallholder agriculture is one of the imperative segments in the South African economy and it remains the imperative sector for livelihood generation. Farmers use mass media to access information needed for agricultural purposes to enhance agricultural practice and profitability. This study investigates the socio-economic drivers of using mass media for agricultural purposes by smallholder farmers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study applied a descriptive survey research design to interview 200 smallholder farmers using a semi-structured survey. Data engendered were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Logistic regression model. The investigation outcome displays that 80% of the smallholder farmers currently use mass media for agricultural purposes. The study concludes that socioeconomic factors influence the use of mass media for agricultural purposes by smallholder farmers. Therefore, the study recommends the government to train farmers on the use of mass media usage and subsidize farmers so that they can purchase these modern technology tools.
24 pages, Alternative food networks (AFN) are argued to provide platforms to re-socialize and re-spacealize food, establish and contribute to democratic participation in local food chains, and foster producer–consumer relations and trust. As one of the most recent examples of AFN, Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) have gained notable traction in attempting to redefine consumer-producer relations in the organic value chain. The participation of stakeholders, such as consumers, has been a key element theoretically differentiating PGS from other organic verification systems. While research on farmer participation in PGS is attracting interest, consumer participation is still widely overlooked. Using a mixed methods approach, this paper describes five PGS markets in Mexico, Chile and Bolivia. A survey was conducted with consumers in the PGS markets to explore their awareness of the PGS, how consumers participate in the PGS, and their level of trust in the respective PGS and its certified products. Results showed a low level of awareness of PGS among market consumers, few participation possibilities, and minimal consumer participation overall. Nevertheless, trust in organic quality was generally high. Consumers primarily relied on the direct relationship with producers and the PGS market itself as sources of trust. These results provide novel insight into PGS consumer-market interactions, and contribute to discussions concerning social embeddedness, awareness and participation within AFN.
16 pages, Zimbabwe’s agro-ecological regions IV and V lie in low rainfall areas and food security is a perennial concern. Vertical coordination strategies and market institutions provide hope for building farmer resilience in regions affected by climate change in Zimbabwe. This study focused on four districts (Binga, Chiredzi, Hwange, Matobo) which are in regions IV and V. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 281 respondents. Probit and Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the determinants. Results show that contract farmers allocated more than 3 hectares to small grains agricultural enterprise. The research established that long distances to markets, access to credit, extension services and affiliation to farming groups are some critical determinants which influence market participation and yields sold.
Alomia-Hinojosa,Victoria (author), Groot, CJ (author), Andersson, Jens (author), Speelman, Erika (author), McDonald, Andrew (author), and Tittonnell, Pablo (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2022-06-02
Published:
United States: Wiley Online
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12562
13 pages, Intensified livestock production is considered as a promising pathway for smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, this pathway may entail prohibitive investment requirements of labour, capital or trade-offs at farm level that preclude sustainable intensification. We used fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) to assess farmers' perceptions of changes in the farm household system resulting from adding livestock to their mixed farms. Farmers identified trade-offs between the increased income and farmyard manure production versus increases in labour requirements for fodder imports. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis performed on the FCMs showed that an increase in milk market demand could have strong positive effects on livestock production and income. We conclude that FCM is a good tool to rapidly identify trade-offs and analyse perceptions of farmers which revealed that although they consider intensification a promising strategy, the perceived deepening of labour constraints and increasing dependency on fodder import makes a concurrent (sustainable) intensification of these farm systems unlikely.
