Adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices and their impact on household nutrition of smallholder farmers in Uganda

Abstract

This research was initiated to investigate gender disparities in the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices and the impact on household nutrition of smallholder farmers, using Uganda as a case study. A multi-stage, mixed method data collection approach was adopted. One hundred and fifty-six copies of a questionnaire were administered. Data collected were used to determine the level of CSA adoption by male and female farmers, the preferred CSA practices, challenges/barriers to adoption of CSA practices as well as impact on food and nutrition security. Findings indicated high level awareness of CSA practices among farmers as well as a low adoption rate among female and male farmers. The most widely adopted practices were row planting (95.24% women and 95.45% men) and intercropping (93.65% women and 84.85% men) with little disparities in adoption level among male and female farmers. It was revealed that none of the CSA practices was properly implemented. Thus, impact on productivity, income generation as well as food and nutrition security is still low. Knowledge deficiency, technical know-how, poor education, unreliable weather information and lack of adequate factors of production (land, labour and capital) were observed as the major reasons for low adoption and poor implementation among farmers. To upscale CSA effective institutions and sustained policy, support should be put in place to build the capacity of farmers. Strong and enabling local environment should be established to support strong and innovative rural institutions. CSA technologies should be brought within the reach of farmers, taking into consideration their perceptions and socio-economic factors, and effective extension services and up-to-date information on climate change and CSA technologies provided.Interventions should be gender smart and gender considerations should be taken into account right from conception of any programme to full development.

Keywords: Climate change, Climate variability, Climate-smart agriculture