CLIMATE INFORMATION PATHWAYS AND FARMERS’ ADAPTIVE CAPACITY: INSIGHTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

Access to meaningful climate information is required to meet the adaptation demands of Africa’s smallholder farmers. However, there is inadequate evidence to demonstrate how access to climate information impacts farmers’ adaptive capacity (measured in this study as the number of adaptation strategies adopted). Using cross-sectional data obtained from farming households in South Africa, the study used multivariate probit and an endogenous Poisson treatment effect models to make three significant contributions: 1) explore the determinants of farmers’ choice of climate information pathways, 2) identify the drivers of the intensity of adaptation strategies, and 3) analyze the impact of access to climate information on farmers’ adaptive capacity. The findings indicated that the key sources of information pathways: television, radio, agricultural extension agents and farmer-to-farmer extension services are complementary. Thus, the choice of an information pathway is conditioned on other sources. The results further showed that some socioeconomic characteristics have a significant influence on both climate information access and farmers’ adaptive capacity. After controlling for observed and unobserved differences in household characteristics, access to climate information was predicted to have a significant and positive impact on farmers’ adaptive capacity, with farmers who had access to climate information using three more adaptation strategies than they would have used otherwise. As a result, the study suggests that rural agricultural information systems be established in order to ensure that useful and appropriate information is both accessible and useable, hence improving farmers’ adaptive capacity. Diversifying farming households’ income to include nonfarm employment may become increasingly significant as a way of mitigating climate risks and strengthening overall resilience.