Responding to Crop Failure: Understanding Farmers’ Coping Strategies in Southern Malawi

Jeanne Y. Coulibaly, Glwadys A. Gbetibouo, Godfrey Kundhlande, Gudeta W. Sileshi and Tracy L. Beedy
Additional contact information
Jeanne Y. Coulibaly: World Agroforestry Center, United Nations Avenue Gigiri, P.O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Glwadys A. Gbetibouo: Center on Food Security and the Environment, University of Stanford, Energy and Environment Building, MC 4205, 473 via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Godfrey Kundhlande: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Programme, Chitedze Agricultural Research Station, P.O. Box 30798, Lilongwe 3, Malawi
Gudeta W. Sileshi: Box 5600 Lukanga Road, Kalundu, Lusaka, Zambia
Tracy L. Beedy: Utica Street, Plainview, TX 79072, USA

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Malawi is a country in southern Africa facing high climate variability and many agricultural challenges. This paper examines farmers’ coping strategies for crop failure and the determinants of their choices using household level data from rural southern Malawi. The results highlight that farmers are not responding directly to climate variability, but to crop failure, which is influenced by climate stress, as well as other constraints, such as poor soil fertility and lack of agricultural inputs and technologies. The coping strategies adopted by households are mostly ex-post measures, including engaging in casual labor, small businesses and the sale of forest products. The main determinants of the adoption of these coping options are education, gender of the head of household, soil fertility and frequency of crop failure. This study concludes by recommending, among other things, that policies for the more efficient communication of climate change threats should emphasize the risk of crop failure. Furthermore, initiatives to assist households to better cope with climate change should take into consideration the local context of decision-making which is shaped by multiple stressors.

Keywords: climate variability; coping strategies; multiple stressors; crop failure; agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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