Journal
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Volume 13, Issue 3, Pages 521-535Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s10113-012-0391-5
Keywords
Buffer capacity; Resilience; Climate change; Adaptation; Conservation agriculture; Kenya; Africa
Categories
Funding
- German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
- Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
- SNSF Ambizione Grant
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Building resilience to climate change in agricultural production can ensure the functioning of agricultural-based livelihoods and reduce their vulnerability to climate change impacts. This paper thus explores how buffer capacity, a characteristic feature of resilience, can be conceptualised and used for assessing the resilience of smallholder agriculture to climate change. It uses the case of conservation agriculture farmers in a Kenyan region and examines how their practices contribute to buffer capacity. Surveys were used to collect data from 41 purposely selected conservation agriculture farmers in the Laikipia region of Kenya. Besides descriptive statistics, factor analysis was used to identify the key dimensions that characterise buffer capacity in the study context. The cluster of practices characterising buffer capacity in conservation agriculture include soil protection, adapted crops, intensification/irrigation, mechanisation and livelihood diversification. Various conservation practices increase buffer capacity, evaluated by farmers in economic, social, ecological and other dimensions. Through conservation agriculture, most farmers improved their productivity and incomes despite drought, improved their environment and social relations. Better-off farmers also reduced their need for labour, but this resulted in lesser income-earning opportunities for the poorer farmers, thus reducing the buffer capacity and resilience of the latter.
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