Author:
Mdiya L.,Aliber M.,Ngarava S.,Bontsa N.V.,Zhou L.
Abstract
The study assessed the impact of extension services on the use of climate change coping strategies for livestock farmers in Raymond Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study utilised a cross-sectional survey design with 82 livestock farmers obtained through a purposive sampling method. The study used Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to analyse the data. Most respondents were single females aged 63, with average household sizes of 6, and had primary education, mostly keeping small stock. Climate change was mainly witnessed through changes in rainfall, with 80% of respondents indicating that it is caused by deforestation. The results suggest that access to extension services impacted the extensive utilisation of climate change coping strategies that decreased the livestock numbers at the 10% statistical level. Access to extension appears to limit the available options as coping strategies for climate change resulted in decreased livestock numbers. In conclusion, access to extension has negatively affected the use of various climate change-induced coping strategies for reduced livestock numbers, with no effect on the other coping strategies. Recommendations include retraining extension officers on various climate change coping strategies they can impart to livestock farmers. Also, agricultural climate policy should focus on creating awareness and increasing access to extension services among livestock farmers on climate risk coping strategies to mitigate the impact on rural livestock farmers.
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Subject
Social Sciences (miscellaneous),Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Reference19 articles.
1. AGBAMU, J.U., 2002. Agricultural research-extension farmer linkages in Japan: Policy issues for sustainable agricultural development in developing countries. J. Soc. Policy. Issues., 1: 252-263.
2. ATSBEHA, A.T. & GEBRE, G.G., 2021, Factors affecting women access to agricultural extension services: Evidence from poultry producer women's in Northwestern Tigray, Ethiopia. Cogent Soc. Sci., 7: 1975413.
3. BAHTA, Y.T., 2020. Smallholder livestock farmers coping and adaptation strategies to agricultural drought. AIMS Agric. Food., 5(4): 964-982.
4. BONIS-PROFUMO, G., DO ROSARIO PEREIRA, D., BRIMBLECOMBE, J. & STACEY, N., 2022. Gender relations in livestock production and animal-source food acquisition and consumption among smallholders in rural Timor-Leste: A mixed-methods exploration. J. Rural Stud., 89: 222-234.
5. CHARI, M.M., 2018. Assessing the vulnerability of resource-poor households to disasters associated with climate variability using remote sensing and GIS techniques in the Nkonkobe Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Master's thesis, University of Fort Hare.