Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change

This paper demonstrates how crop diversification impacts on two outcomes of climate smart agriculture; increased productivity (legume and cereal crop productivity) and enhanced resilience (household income, food security, and nutrition) in rural Zimbabwe. Using data from over 500 smallholder farmers...

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Main Authors: Makate, Clifton, Wang, Rongchang, Makate, Marshall, Mango, Nelson
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/76278
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author Makate, Clifton
Wang, Rongchang
Makate, Marshall
Mango, Nelson
author_browse Makate, Clifton
Makate, Marshall
Mango, Nelson
Wang, Rongchang
author_facet Makate, Clifton
Wang, Rongchang
Makate, Marshall
Mango, Nelson
author_sort Makate, Clifton
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This paper demonstrates how crop diversification impacts on two outcomes of climate smart agriculture; increased productivity (legume and cereal crop productivity) and enhanced resilience (household income, food security, and nutrition) in rural Zimbabwe. Using data from over 500 smallholder farmers, we jointly estimate crop diversification and each of the outcome variables within a conditional (recursive) mixed process framework that corrects for selectivity bias arising due to the voluntary nature of crop diversification. We find that crop diversification depends on the land size, farming experience, asset wealth, location, access to agricultural extension services, information on output prices, low transportation costs and general information access. Our results also indicate that an increase in the rate of adoption improves crop productivity, income, food security and nutrition at household level. Overall, our results are indicative of the importance of crop diversification as a viable climate smart agriculture practice that significantly enhances crop productivity and consequently resilience in rural smallholder farming systems. We, therefore, recommend wider adoption of diversified cropping systems notably those currently less diversified for greater adaptation to the ever-changing climate.
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spelling CGSpace762782025-03-13T09:45:46Z Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change Makate, Clifton Wang, Rongchang Makate, Marshall Mango, Nelson climate-smart agriculture food security crop diversification livelihoods smallholders agricultura climáticamente inteligente seguridad alimentaria diversificación de cultivos medios de vida This paper demonstrates how crop diversification impacts on two outcomes of climate smart agriculture; increased productivity (legume and cereal crop productivity) and enhanced resilience (household income, food security, and nutrition) in rural Zimbabwe. Using data from over 500 smallholder farmers, we jointly estimate crop diversification and each of the outcome variables within a conditional (recursive) mixed process framework that corrects for selectivity bias arising due to the voluntary nature of crop diversification. We find that crop diversification depends on the land size, farming experience, asset wealth, location, access to agricultural extension services, information on output prices, low transportation costs and general information access. Our results also indicate that an increase in the rate of adoption improves crop productivity, income, food security and nutrition at household level. Overall, our results are indicative of the importance of crop diversification as a viable climate smart agriculture practice that significantly enhances crop productivity and consequently resilience in rural smallholder farming systems. We, therefore, recommend wider adoption of diversified cropping systems notably those currently less diversified for greater adaptation to the ever-changing climate. 2016-12 2016-07-26T22:09:31Z 2016-07-26T22:09:31Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/76278 en Open Access Springer Makate, Clifton; Wang, Rongchang; Makate, Marshall; Mango, Nelson. 2016. Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change. SpringerPlus . 5: 1135.
spellingShingle climate-smart agriculture
food security
crop diversification
livelihoods
smallholders
agricultura climáticamente inteligente
seguridad alimentaria
diversificación de cultivos
medios de vida
Makate, Clifton
Wang, Rongchang
Makate, Marshall
Mango, Nelson
Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change
title Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change
title_full Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change
title_fullStr Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change
title_full_unstemmed Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change
title_short Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change
title_sort crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in zimbabwe adaptive management for environmental change
topic climate-smart agriculture
food security
crop diversification
livelihoods
smallholders
agricultura climáticamente inteligente
seguridad alimentaria
diversificación de cultivos
medios de vida
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/76278
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AT wangrongchang cropdiversificationandlivelihoodsofsmallholderfarmersinzimbabweadaptivemanagementforenvironmentalchange
AT makatemarshall cropdiversificationandlivelihoodsofsmallholderfarmersinzimbabweadaptivemanagementforenvironmentalchange
AT mangonelson cropdiversificationandlivelihoodsofsmallholderfarmersinzimbabweadaptivemanagementforenvironmentalchange