Climate change awareness and adaptation strategies by smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Agricultural production, food, nutrition and income security of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are threatened by extreme weather events, such as increased frequency of mid-season dry spells and increased temperatures. Their impacts are exacerbated by the prevalence of sandy soils, characterized by limited water and nutrient retention capacity leading to low crop productivity. In this study, we aimed at assessing farmers' awareness of extreme weather events, identify adaptation strategies and evaluate maize yield from different soil fertility and water management practices. A household survey including 245 smallholder farmers in Marange, Zimbabwe was carried out. The results revealed that farmers were aware of and had experienced extreme weather events. Among adaptation strategies used were soil water-harvesting, use of improved varieties, mulching and planting trees. Maize yield remains significantly low, averaging 0.62 t ha⁻¹ among farmers using some forms of soil fertility and water management strategies. To further understand the reason for low maize yields and improve climate change related adaptation strategies, more research is needed to quantify and confirm management practices applied by farmers, such as fertilizer use and rates, water and nutrient management, use of improved varieties as well as socio-economic factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Extreme weather
• maize
• soil and water management

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the farmers for providing information during data collection and local collaborators for assisting with a smooth data collection process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Swedish Research Council VR’s call on Sustainability and Resilience Vetenskapsrådet [grant number 2018-05790] through the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU) and technical partners Bindura University of Science Education and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

Notes on contributors

Sandra Makaita Madamombe

Sandra Makaita Madamombe holds MSc in Soil and Environmental Management from the University of Zimbabwe. She is currently working on a PhD in Crop Production Science with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences with particular focus on soil and water management and climate -mart technologies for crop production in semi-arid areas; food security and smallholder farming systems.

Stanley Karanja Ng’ang’a

Stanley Karanja Ng'ang'a is an agricultural development economist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture. He holds a PhD in Development Economics from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He has extensive international contributions in economics of climate change, cost-benefit analysis, and the scale-up of sustainable, climate-smart agricultural practices. Currently, he leads research on cost-benefit analysis for climate-smart agricultural practices, impact evaluation, and mobilizes resources for research projects at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT.

Ingrid Öborn

Ingrid Öborn is professor of Agricultural Cropping Systems at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and a Senior Research Fellow at World Agroforestry (ICRAF). She holds a PhD in Soil Science from SLU. She has remarkable experience in interdisciplinary international research focusing on sustainable intensification, diversification of farming systems, ecosystem services, agroforestry and nutrient cycling.

George Nyamadzawo

George Nyamadzawo is a professor of Soil Science and Environmental Science, Department of Environmental Science, Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe. He has experience in field rainwater harvesting techniques, crop intensification, small grain and legume production in semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe; sustainable utilization of seasonal wetlands in smallholder farming areas of Zimbabwe. His research focus on climate change adaptation, promoting marginalised crops through their cultivation, use and value chains.

Ngonidzashe Chirinda

Ngonidzashe Chirinda is a climate change mitigation scientist and a professor in Sustainable Tropical Agriculture at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco. He holds a PhD in Climate Change and Agroecology from the University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, uptake, monitoring and modelling; identifying and evaluating climate change mitigation options; and assessing environmental policy implications.

Job Kihara

Job Kihara is an expert in soil health with particular interests in soil micronutrients and integrated soil fertility management in smallholder farmer contexts of sub-Saharan Africa, developing decision support tools for site-specific nutrient management. He is the Principal Scientist on soil and water management at the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture and co-lead of Excellence in Agronomy Initiative at the CGIAR.

Libère Nkurunziza

Libère Nkurunziza is an agro-ecologist researcher and an associate professor in Agricultural Cropping Systems at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His research work emphasizes improvement and evaluation of agriculture production systems to meet the socio-ecological requirements. His current research focuses on crop nutrient management, water productivity, socio-economic and climate change and adaptation.