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Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetCropping systems diversification to enhance productivity and adaptation to climate change in Zambia
BRINGING TOGETHER EVIDENCE AND POLICY INSIGHTS
2019Also available in:
No results found.Spatial disconnect between cropping system diversification and climate risk. In Zambia, farmers residing in areas with low and medium rainfall risk are more likely to adopt diversified systems than farmers in areas with lower rainfall and greater rainfall variability. Lack of diversification in high risk regions poses a significant threat to livelihood resilience in those regions. Diverse cropping systems improve productivity and resilience. Increased level of diversification is associated to more stable crop income, when compared to maize monocropping. However, farmers facing land fragmentation, weakness of private input and output markets and uncertainty from the public policies are less likely to adopt these systems. Strengthen investment in the private input and output markets. Competitive input and output markets is an important driver of diversification in Zambia. Identifying policy options to improve private market conditions, such as improved predictability of agricultural trade policy and promoting stable macro-economic conditions, can help support Zambia’s diversification objectives. Secure land tenure and land access. Farmers adopting cropping systems of three or more crops hold, on average, 2 hectares of land more than farmers adopting two-crop or monocropping systems in the same areas. Land policies that support farmers’ access to land, now and in the future, is a critical element of crop diversification. -
Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetCropping systems diversification to enhance productivity and adaptation to climate change in Malawi 2019
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No results found.Widespread maize monocropping in Malawi exposes farmers to significant livelihood risk in the context of increasing climate variability. 36 percent of rural households grow maize in monocrop. These farmers are often poor and land constrained, and experience low levels of productivity and high production volatility. The effects of crop diversification on farm productivity and income volatility in Malawi varies across cropping systems. Maize in combination with legumes is the only cropping system in Malawi that is significantly associated with an increase in productivity and a reduction in crop income volatility. Contrary to expectations, cropping systems with 3 or more crops do not significantly reduce crop income volatility relative to maize monocropping. Market weaknesses for many non-maize crops in Malawi limit the benefits from diversification. Higher volatility in prices of many non-maize crop is a disincentive to the adoption of diversified systems and pushes farmers toward monocropping. Household constraints are a key barrier to adopting more diverse cropping systems. Sufficient household assets, particularly land, enable households to overcome the investment and risk costs associated with crop diversification. Coordination between private and public investments are required to improve the incentives for diversification in Malawi. A coordinated effort to strengthening input and output markets for non-maize crops, combined with public support to overcome household-level resource constraints to diversification (including public works programmes, input subsidies, and cash transfers) is necessary to promote widespread crop diversification. -
Book (series)Cropping system diversification in Eastern and Southern Africa: Identifying policy options to enhance productivity and build resilience 2018
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No results found.Crop diversification is an important policy objective to promote climate change adaptation, yet the drivers and impacts of crop diversification vary considerably depending on the specific combinations of crops a farmer grows. This paper examines adoption determinants of seven different cropping systems in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, and the impact of their adoption on maize productivity and income volatility – using a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model. These cropping systems consist in different combinations of four categories of crops: dominate staple (maize), alternative staples, legumes, and cash-crops. The study finds that relative to maize mono-cropping systems, the vast majority of systems have either neutral or positive effects on maize productivity, and either reduce or have neutral effects on crop income volatility. In particular, cropping systems that include legumes produce better outcome in most cases than those that feature cash crops. From a policy perspective, three recurrent determinants of diversification are found. First, private sector output market access is an important driver of diversification out of maize mono-cropping. Policies crowding in private output market actors can help to promote a wide range of more diverse cropping systems. Second, proximity to public marketing board buying depots discourages the adoption of more diverse cropping systems. Therefore, reforms to these institutions must be part of any diversification strategy. Finally, in all countries and for all systems, land size is a key determinant of adopting more diverse systems. Thus, land policy is an integral element of any boarder diversification strategy.
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