Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa

Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa
Author: Cyndi Spindell Berck
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2018-03-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1351369504

A changing climate is likely to have a drastic impact on crop yields in Africa. The purpose of this book is to document the effects of climate change on agriculture in Africa and to discuss strategies for adaptation to hotter weather and less predictable rainfall. These strategies include promoting opportunities for farmers to adopt technologies that produce optimal results in terms of crop yield and income under local agro-ecological and socioeconomic conditions. The focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, an area that is already affected by changing patterns of heat and rainfall. Because of the high prevalence of subsistence farming, food insecurity, and extreme poverty in this region, there is a great need for practical adaptation strategies. The book includes empirical research in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and other Sub-Saharan countries, and the conclusion summarizes policy-relevant findings from the chapters. It is aimed at advanced students, researchers, extension and development practitioners, and officials of government agencies, NGOs, and funding agencies. It also will provide supplementary reading for courses in environment and development and in agricultural economics.

The Economic Impact of Climate Change on Kenyan Crop Agriculture: A Ricardian Approach

The Economic Impact of Climate Change on Kenyan Crop Agriculture: A Ricardian Approach
Author: Jane Kabubo-Mariara
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper measures the economic impact of climate on crops in Kenya. The analysis is based on cross-sectional climate, hydrological, soil, and household level data for a sample of 816 households, and uses a seasonal Ricardian model. Estimated marginal impacts of climate variables suggest that global warming is harmful for agricultural productivity and that changes in temperature are much more important than changes in precipitation. This result is confirmed by the predicted impact of various climate change scenarios on agriculture. The results further confirm that the temperature component of global warming is much more important than precipitation. The authors analyze farmers' perceptions of climate variations and their adaptation to these, and also constraints on adaptation mechanisms. The results suggest that farmers in Kenya are aware of short-term climate change, that most of them have noticed an increase in temperatures, and that some have taken adaptive measures.

A Ricardian Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change on African Cropland

A Ricardian Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change on African Cropland
Author: Pradeep Kurukulasuriya
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 62
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN:

This study examines the impact of climate change on cropland in Africa. It is based on a survey of more than 9,000 farmers in 11 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The study uses a Ricardian cross-sectional approach in which net revenue is regressed on climate, water flow, soil, and economic variables. The results show that net revenues fall as precipitation falls or as temperatures warm across all the surveyed farms. In addition to examining all farms together, the study examined dryland and irrigated farms separately. Dryland farms are especially climate sensitive. Irrigated farms have a positive immediate response to warming because they are located in relatively cool parts of Africa. The study also examined some simple climate scenarios to see how Africa would respond to climate change. These uniform scenarios assume that only one aspect of climate changes and the change is uniform across all of Africa. In addition, the study examined three climate change scenarios from Atmospheric Oceanic General Circulation Models. These scenarios predicted changes in climate in each country over time. Not all countries are equally vulnerable to climate change. First, the climate scenarios predict different temperature and precipitation changes in each country. Second, it is also important whether a country is already hot and dry. Third, the extent to which farms are irrigated is also important.

African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation

African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation
Author: Nicholas Oguge
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 2822
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030451062

This open access book discusses current thinking and presents the main issues and challenges associated with climate change in Africa. It introduces evidences from studies and projects which show how climate change adaptation is being - and may continue to be successfully implemented in African countries. Thanks to its scope and wide range of themes surrounding climate change, the ambition is that this book will be a lead publication on the topic, which may be regularly updated and hence capture further works. Climate change is a major global challenge. However, some geographical regions are more severly affected than others. One of these regions is the African continent. Due to a combination of unfavourable socio-economic and meteorological conditions, African countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. The recently released IPCC special report "Global Warming of 1.5o C" outlines the fact that keeping global warming by the level of 1.5o C is possible, but also suggested that an increase by 2o C could lead to crises with crops (agriculture fed by rain could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020) and livestock production, could damage water supplies and pose an additonal threat to coastal areas. The 5th Assessment Report produced by IPCC predicts that wheat may disappear from Africa by 2080, and that maize— a staple—will fall significantly in southern Africa. Also, arid and semi-arid lands are likely to increase by up to 8%, with severe ramifications for livelihoods, poverty eradication and meeting the SDGs. Pursuing appropriate adaptation strategies is thus vital, in order to address the current and future challenges posed by a changing climate. It is against this background that the "African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation" is being published. It contains papers prepared by scholars, representatives from social movements, practitioners and members of governmental agencies, undertaking research and/or executing climate change projects in Africa, and working with communities across the African continent. Encompassing over 100 contribtions from across Africa, it is the most comprehensive publication on climate change adaptation in Africa ever produced.

Shock Waves

Shock Waves
Author: Stephane Hallegatte
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2015-11-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464806748

Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.

Irrigation and agricultural transformation in Ethiopia

Irrigation and agricultural transformation in Ethiopia
Author: Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2023-01-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Climate change forecasts for Ethiopia predict higher temperature and rainfall and increased variability in rainfall with periodic severe droughts and floods. The increased weather variability threatens the extent of Ethiopia’s agricultural transformation unless it is supported with improved agricultural water management such as irrigation to make smallholder farming resilient to adverse weather events. This study analyzes the role of irrigation on agricultural transformation in Ethiopia by systematically comparing households with irrigated and non-irrigated plots on key agricultural transformation and welfare indictors (i.e., intensification, commercialization, and consumption expenditures). The study used a representative data from the four main agriculturally important regions of the country and employed an endogenous switching regression approach that addresses potential biases from placement of irrigation schemes and the self-selection of farmers to adopt irrigation on their plots. This approach allows for counterfactual analysis on the effect of irrigation if it is adopted on plots or in households without current irrigation as well as the counterfactual realizations of outcome variables if irrigated plots were not irrigated or irrigating households were relying only on rainfed agriculture. The main results show a positive and significant effects of irrigation on intensification, commercialization, and household welfare. Specifically, the results show that farm households with irrigated plots (i) use more fertilizer and agrochemicals, (ii) sell sizable shares of their harvest, and (iii) spend more on food and non-food expenditures. The counterfactual analysis on what would have been the effect of irrigation on currently non-irrigated plots indicate a stronger result across our outcome indicators which further suggest the importance of expanding irrigation in accelerating agricultural transformation and welfare improvement in Ethiopia.

Managing Risk in Agriculture

Managing Risk in Agriculture
Author: Ashok K. Mishra
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2023-10-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1800622260

The book addresses and documents farmers' risks in developing and emerging economies. It draws lessons from experimental economics on measuring risk preferences, attitudes, gender differences in managing risks, and risk management strategies in countries across Africa and Asia. It argues policy makers, especially in emerging economies, need a better understanding of farmers' attitudes toward risk and choices of risk management strategies when designing policies to support production agriculture. The book includes chapters on three themes: understanding risk attitudes and preferences; using experimental economics to measure risk, preferences, and risk management strategies; and understanding climate change, risk, and risk management. The book critically examines the currently held beliefs about risk preference, attitudes, and empirical estimation of risk management strategies, emphasizing developing and emerging economies (DEE). This book is ideal for students and researchers in universities and research organizations who conduct applied research on public policy, community development, and rural development, and will also be of interest to policy-makers in those fields.

Economic Tools and Methods for the Analysis of Global Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food Security

Economic Tools and Methods for the Analysis of Global Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food Security
Author: Sonia Quiroga
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2019-01-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 331999462X

This book compiles examples of the most widely used tools in agricultural economics that have been developed and used to analyze the impact of global change in agricultural activity. The research papers on this topic are plenty but lack the methodology. The content of this book can be used by research students exploring additional methods in agricultural economics.

Climate Smart Agriculture

Climate Smart Agriculture
Author: Leslie Lipper
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 629
Release: 2017-10-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319611941

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license. The book uses an economic lens to identify the main features of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), its likely impact, and the challenges associated with its implementation. Drawing upon theory and concepts from agricultural development, institutional, and resource economics, this book expands and formalizes the conceptual foundations of CSA. Focusing on the adaptation/resilience dimension of CSA, the text embraces a mixture of conceptual analyses, including theory, empirical and policy analysis, and case studies, to look at adaptation and resilience through three possible avenues: ex-ante reduction of vulnerability, increasing adaptive capacity, and ex-post risk coping. The book is divided into three sections. The first section provides conceptual framing, giving an overview of the CSA concept and grounding it in core economic principles. The second section is devoted to a set of case studies illustrating the economic basis of CSA in terms of reducing vulnerability, increasing adaptive capacity and ex-post risk coping. The final section addresses policy issues related to climate change. Providing information on this new and important field in an approachable way, this book helps make sense of CSA and fills intellectual and policy gaps by defining the concept and placing it within an economic decision-making framework. This book will be of interest to agricultural, environmental, and natural resource economists, development economists, and scholars of development studies, climate change, and agriculture. It will also appeal to policy-makers, development practitioners, and members of governmental and non-governmental organizations interested in agriculture, food security and climate change.

Climate-Induced Innovation

Climate-Induced Innovation
Author: Manuela Coromaldi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2022-09-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3031013301

This book investigates the role of climate-induced innovation and climate change mitigation technologies in reducing the negative impact of climate change. Through original case studies and analysis, frameworks to both reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and respond to the impacts of a changing climate are explored. Particular attention is given to biotechnology patents and innovations for small farm agriculture. This book aims to provide new insight into the relationship between climate change and innovation, highlighting the problems and opportunities posed by the transition to an environmentally sustainable society. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in environmental and innovation economics.