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Abstract
Climate-smart agricultural technologies (CSATs) are important for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. Therefore, it is crucial for farmers to have access to sustainable CSATs to cope with climate change. While coffee is an important commercial crop in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), farmers suffer from coffee fluctuation in production attributed to climate variability. Accordingly, various coffee-related CSATs, notably coffee cultivars, manure and intercropping have been introduced in Kalehe Territory of the DRC to build climate resilience and adapt to changing environmental conditions. However, coffee cultivars are not widely used. This study fitted a two-step Heckman model to correct for selection bias on a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of 442 smallholder coffee farmers to examine the drivers of CSATs uptake in Kalehe Territory. The model results showed that family labour, non-farm income, access to credit and extension services, and residing in Butumba Village were the major factors influencing the decision of coffee farmers to use CSATs. The results revealed that manure and new coffee cultivars, manure and intercropping combined with manure had the potential to be substitutes for each other. The study recommends that policy makers and other stakeholders in CSATs support the dissemination of CSATs, especially coffee cultivars, to facilitate access. There is need to promote extension services so that the combination of intercropping and manure can help to increase coffee farmers’ welfare. The government should support farmers’ use of CSATs through either the subsidization of coffee cultivars or the provision of cheap agricultural credit.
REVIEWING EDITOR:
Acknowledgements
I want to convey my sincere thankfulness to God for providing me with direction and strength during the entire writing process for this paper. I sincerely thank the DAAD for supporting this research. My heartfelt gratitude to my supervisors for their recommendations and remarks, which significantly raised the quality of this work. I want to express my gratitude to all of the teachers at the University of Nairobi’s Department of Agricultural Economics for introducing me to the nuances of agricultural economics. I also like to thank Prof. Jonathan Nzuma for his continuing spiritual support and interest in the development of my research. Thank you to everyone who helped with the data collection effort in the DRC’s Kalehe Territory, including the enumerators and coffee producers.
Declarations
Author contribution statement
Florence Bwiza: Conceived, analyzed and interpreted the data; wrote the paper.
Patrick Irungu; John Mburu; Alisher Mirzabaev: Conceived; analyzed and interpreted the data.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
Data will be made available on request.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Florence Bwiza
Florence Bwiza a PhD student in Agricultural Economics at the University of Nairobi, holds a bilingual master’s degree from the Nouveau Programme de Troisième Cycle Interuniversitaire en Afrique (NPTCI) initiated by Bill Gates. She serves as a Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Goma, specializing in Agricultural Economics and Financial Management. Her research focuses on adoption, food security, impact analysis, and duration analysis, showcasing a dedication to advancing agricultural knowledge and socio-economic understanding.
Patrick Irungu
Patrick Irungu is a lecturer at University of Nairobi and my first supervisor.
John Mburu
John Mburu is is a lecturer at University of Nairobi and my second supervisor.
Alisher Mirzabaev
Alisher Mirzabaev is a lecturer at university of Bonn and my third supervisor.