Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi

The objective of this project is to examine adaptation strategies of smallholders in the Chingale district of Malawi to climate change impact, as well as to the implications of introducing the Integration of Aquaculture into Diversified Food production Systems (IADFS). The central approach of this r...

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Autores principales: Krywkow, J., Kam, Suan Pheng, Hoanh, Chu Thai, Chijere, A.D.G.
Formato: Conference Paper
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/38326
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author Krywkow, J.
Kam, Suan Pheng
Hoanh, Chu Thai
Chijere, A.D.G.
author_browse Chijere, A.D.G.
Hoanh, Chu Thai
Kam, Suan Pheng
Krywkow, J.
author_facet Krywkow, J.
Kam, Suan Pheng
Hoanh, Chu Thai
Chijere, A.D.G.
author_sort Krywkow, J.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The objective of this project is to examine adaptation strategies of smallholders in the Chingale district of Malawi to climate change impact, as well as to the implications of introducing the Integration of Aquaculture into Diversified Food production Systems (IADFS). The central approach of this research is combining an agent-based model (ABM) representing farmers with various types of production systems with a water resources model (WRM). Whereas the WRM relies on historical time series data of rainfall/runoff and a set of climate change scenarios, the ABM builds upon recent household and village-size surveys in combination with population census and GIS data. However, knowledge that feeds into the decision rules for the model can only come from the farmers in an interactive way. For this reason a knowledge elicitation workshop was conducted where farmers simulated their main farming activities on a monthly basis. As the primary driver for decision making, water availability was employed. Water availability was simulated to change on a monthly base during both a year with adequate water availability and a year with insufficient water availability. The most relevant production systems were examined during four workshop sessions: rain-fed farms (RF), canal irrigation farms (IR), farmers in the low-lying areas with high ground water tables and adapted cultivation methods (Dimba) and integrated agriculture-aquaculture farms (IAA). This simulation workshop resulted in a variety of insights such as: a diversity of individual (drought) coping strategies such as postponing sowing activities, reducing land devoted to crops, or reducing irrigation. Furthermore, the assumption that rain-fed farms are most sensitive to droughts was confirmed, whereas groundwater-fed farmers demonstrate the lowest sensitivity. The resulting decision rules will be validated with farmers and experts of the regional farm systems in a later phase of the project.
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spelling CGSpace383262025-03-11T09:50:20Z Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi Krywkow, J. Kam, Suan Pheng Hoanh, Chu Thai Chijere, A.D.G. water availability smallholders climate change gis aquaculture food production crop production farmers rainfed farming catchment areas models organizations The objective of this project is to examine adaptation strategies of smallholders in the Chingale district of Malawi to climate change impact, as well as to the implications of introducing the Integration of Aquaculture into Diversified Food production Systems (IADFS). The central approach of this research is combining an agent-based model (ABM) representing farmers with various types of production systems with a water resources model (WRM). Whereas the WRM relies on historical time series data of rainfall/runoff and a set of climate change scenarios, the ABM builds upon recent household and village-size surveys in combination with population census and GIS data. However, knowledge that feeds into the decision rules for the model can only come from the farmers in an interactive way. For this reason a knowledge elicitation workshop was conducted where farmers simulated their main farming activities on a monthly basis. As the primary driver for decision making, water availability was employed. Water availability was simulated to change on a monthly base during both a year with adequate water availability and a year with insufficient water availability. The most relevant production systems were examined during four workshop sessions: rain-fed farms (RF), canal irrigation farms (IR), farmers in the low-lying areas with high ground water tables and adapted cultivation methods (Dimba) and integrated agriculture-aquaculture farms (IAA). This simulation workshop resulted in a variety of insights such as: a diversity of individual (drought) coping strategies such as postponing sowing activities, reducing land devoted to crops, or reducing irrigation. Furthermore, the assumption that rain-fed farms are most sensitive to droughts was confirmed, whereas groundwater-fed farmers demonstrate the lowest sensitivity. The resulting decision rules will be validated with farmers and experts of the regional farm systems in a later phase of the project. 2012 2014-06-13T11:41:22Z 2014-06-13T11:41:22Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/38326 en Open Access Krywkow, J.; Kam, S. P.; Hoanh, Chu Thai; Chijere, A. D. G. 2012. Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi. In R. Seppelt; A. A. Voinov; S. Lange; D. Bankamp (Eds.). Managing resources of a limited planet: proceedings of the International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software (iEMSs), Sixth Biennial Meeting, Leipzig, Germany, 1 - 5 July 2012. Leipzig, Germany: International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs). 8p.
spellingShingle water availability
smallholders
climate change
gis
aquaculture
food production
crop production
farmers
rainfed farming
catchment areas
models
organizations
Krywkow, J.
Kam, Suan Pheng
Hoanh, Chu Thai
Chijere, A.D.G.
Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi
title Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi
title_full Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi
title_fullStr Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi
title_short Eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in Chingale, southern Malawi
title_sort eliciting farming decisions of smallholders in response to water availability conditions in chingale southern malawi
topic water availability
smallholders
climate change
gis
aquaculture
food production
crop production
farmers
rainfed farming
catchment areas
models
organizations
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/38326
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