Abstract/Summary

Smallholder farmers dominate Sub-Saharan African (SSA) agriculture which serves as a mainstay to their respective countries’ economies. Of the smallholder farmers in the SSA, females constitute a larger proportion in provision of labour force in smallholder farming system. Hence, gender issues at every stage of production activities are crucial. Smallholder farmers’ agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa is largely characterised by subsistence farming and production under unfavourable conditions, such as low and erratic rainfall and poor soils that exacerbate non-climate stressors. As a result of unfavourable conditions, yields of key crops and livestock health are reduced, directly or indirectly affecting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. It is widely conceded that farmers’ perceptions of the changing climate influence the way they take action to counteract risks and/or exploit the opportunities induced by the changing climate. In smallholder farming, climate change actions include decisions on the use of adaptation strategies, and changes in production activities. Considering that the barriers to adaptation to climate change are prevalent across multiple actors, including individuals, groups and institutions, there are variations on who makes decisions on coping and adaptation strategies in smallholder farming. Such actions help build the resilience of farmers to the impacts of the changing climate. However, in Malawi, where smallholder farmers are heavily affected by the impacts of climate variability and change, quantitative evidence of the relationship between perception, decision making and direct involvement in bean production activities, and farmers’ resilience to the changing climate in smallholder farming, is scant. The main objective of this study was to understand farmers’ resilience to the changing climate based on their perceptions, decision-making and involvement in bean production activities, including gender and the extent to which this relationship contributes to food self-sufficiency, security and income in smallholder farming in Malawi. The research was conducted in four districts: Dedza in the central region, and Chikwawa, Nsanje and Zomba in the southern region of Malawi. The study employed a multi-stage sampling technique to select Extension Planning Areas (EPAs), sections, villages and households where cross-sectional data was collected from 356 farm households. In addition, a purposive sampling procedure was used to select study subjects for focus group discussions (FGDs), trend analysis, and pair-wise ranking. Econometric analysis suggests that farmers’ experience in bean farming, group membership, literacy levels, gender, and land holding size are among the factors influencing farmers’ perceptions of the changing climate. Similarly, age of household head, and large acreage reduces the level of effects of droughts or dry spells, and severity of pests and diseases respectively on bean production in smallholder farming. These results suggest that older farmers, who are more experienced, have learnt how to respond to climatic shocks, and that smallholder farmers are at higher risk of biotic stresses, i.e., pest and diseases. The study also examined decision-making and direct involvement in bean production activities in smallholder farming in the face of climate variability and change. Empirical results suggest that there is an overlap in some of the factors that influence decision-making and direct involvement in bean production activities. Decision-making on bean farming activities that attract more physical effort are normally made by household heads in both male and female-headed households. However, males dominate the participation in decision-making on bean farming activities than females. Furthermore, decisions on critical bean farming activities are made by household heads with dominance by males. By contrast, direct involvement in performing bean farming activities is not significant for many activities, however, females dominate some bean activities and are significant. This suggests dominance in provision of labour force by females, and lack of participation in decision making in bean farming. Other findings are that age has a negative relationship with (access to basic services) ABS and stability (S), and a positive relationship with adaptive capacity (AC). Further, group membership has a negative influence on ABS and IFA, and a positive relationship with AC and S. Literacy influences ABS, AC, and S positively, and income and food access (IFA) negatively. This result implies that age, group membership, and literacy are crucial factors influencing resilience in smallholder farming. The results also revealed differing resilience across the study districts of Dedza, Chikwawa, Nsanje, and Zomba. These results suggest that policy interventions aimed at addressing vulnerabilities as they emerge in particular geographical locations need to be supported.