Fissha Asmare, Hailemariam Teklewold and Alemu Mekonnen
This study aims to examine the effect of crop diversification (CD), as a climate change adaptation strategy, on farm household’s welfare in terms of farm income and demand for…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of crop diversification (CD), as a climate change adaptation strategy, on farm household’s welfare in terms of farm income and demand for labor. It explores whether adoption of CD is a win-win strategy on household income and demand for on-farm labor. It also examines the determinants of rural household’s net farm income and family labor demand.
Design/methodology/approach
A household-plot level data were collected in 2015 from 929 rural farm households and 4,778 plots in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. The data comprise farm and household characteristics accompanied by geo-referenced climate data such as long-term average temperature and amount and variability of growing season rainfall. The authors estimate an endogenous switching regression model to measure the effect of CD on the farm household’s welfare, using net farm income and household labor demand as a welfare indicator.
Findings
The results indicate heterogeneous effects of climate variables on farm income between adopters and non-adopters of CD. The study also confirms the win-win effect of adoption of CD with a positive and significant effect on farm income and a reduction in demand for on-farm labor. The results suggest that adoption of CD helps improve the well-being of farm households and build a resilient agricultural system.
Research limitations/implications
As the study used a cross-sectional data, it is limited to show the time effect of practicing CD on the household’s welfare.
Originality/value
First, the authors investigate, to their knowledge for the first time, the existence of synergy or tradeoff in the effect of CD on two dimensions of rural households’ welfare (net farm income and labor demand). Second, they investigate the heterogeneous effect of climate change adaptation strategies on the farm household’s welfare between adopters and non-adopters. This is unlike previous studies that consider climate change adaptation strategies as having a homogeneous effect. However, this approach is inappropriate since the effect of adaptation strategies is different for adopters and non-adopters.
Details
Keywords
Over 10 percent of rural poor in Nepal are still using animal dung cake as the major cooking fuel, reducing the availability of plant nutrients or increasing the need for chemical…
Abstract
Purpose
Over 10 percent of rural poor in Nepal are still using animal dung cake as the major cooking fuel, reducing the availability of plant nutrients or increasing the need for chemical fertilizers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of dung fuel use on demand for chemical fertilizers and explore factors affecting the household decisions to use dung fuel.
Design/methodology/approach
The data are generated from survey of 331 households using either dung fuel or biogas, randomly selected from Kapilvastu district in Nepal. Test of mean differences and ordinary least square are used for finding the effect of dung fuel use on demand for chemical fertilizers. Probit regression is used to explore the factors affecting use of dung cake fuel by rural people.
Findings
The study quantified that burning animal dung for fuel increases the demand for chemical fertilizers by 32.35 kg per household for just maintaining the crop yield at the level of non‐burning households. At the national level, this accounts to 26,551 tons of chemical fertilizers costing NPR 687 million per year. The amount, however, does not include the health costs and drudgery of the households and pollution and green house gas emission costs to the society. The study finds income, education and ethnicity as the major factors affecting the dung cake use and recommends some policy measures to reduce it.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted in a district with survey of a sample of households as a case study, and most probably cannot be generalized at the national or international levels. The sample includes the households using dung cake fuel and biogas exclusively. Other households using both the fuels and some other fuels are excluded in the study.
Practical implications
The findings are useful for policy makers working in agriculture and household energy for designing appropriate policy necessary for increasing agriculture policies and household energy technology (such a biogas) adoption.
Social implications
The recommendations help in understanding the costs of dung burning at the household and national level. The understanding helps in increasing farm productivity and saving health of the residents.
Originality/value
The study is original in its design, data and findings. It will help the policy makers and the rural poor.
Details
Keywords
Getasew Daru Tariku and Sinkie Alemu Kebede
The purpose of this paper is to assess the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and its implication on improving the farming household food security status, their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and its implication on improving the farming household food security status, their resilience and livelihood risk management of farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
This systematic review has followed procedures to accomplish the review, including literature searches, screening studies, data extraction, synthesis and presentation of the data.
Findings
Based on the result of the review, the determinants of CSA adoption can be categorized into five categories, including demographic factors (age, sex, family size, dependency ratio, education), economic factors (land size, household income, livestock ownership), institutional factors (extension services, training access, credit services, farm input, market distance), environmental factors (agroecology, change in precipitation, slope of land) and social factors (cooperatives membership, farmers perception). The result also shows that applying CSA practices has an indispensable role on increasing productivity, food security, income, building resilient livelihoods, minimizing production risk and alleviating poverty. This concluded CSA practice has a multidimensional role in the livelihood of agrarian population like Ethiopia, yet its adoption was constrained by several factors.
Originality/value
This review mainly emphasizes on the most commonly practiced CSA strategies that are examined by different scholars.