Socio-demographic Context of Resilience for Adaptation to Climate Change and Implication for Agricultural Extension in Buffelspruit, South Africa

Abstract

The study examined the socio-demographic characteristics of smallholder farmers’ and resilience strategies for adaptation to climate  change in Buffelspruit, South Africa. The objectives of the study were to determine local resilience strategies used by farmers and  examine adoption behaviour in the use of local resilience strategies for mitigating climate change. The study was conducted in  Buffelspruit community. A total number of 306 participants were selected randomly for this study. Structured and semi-structured  questionnaires were used for data collection. The adoption behaviour of the farmers in the use of local resilience strategies was analysed  using the logit model. Crop rotation, crop diversification and the adjustment of planting dates were the resilience strategies used by  farmers. The result from the logit analysis reveals that gender (p = 0.047), level of education (p = 0.16), employment (p = 0.043), farm skills  (p = 0.058), extension services (p = 0.011) and farm size (p = 0.022) influenced the adoption of climate resilient strategies in the  study area. Extension education must move beyond technical training to enhance farmers’ abilities for planning, problem solving, critical  thinking and leadership skills to work with multiple stakeholders. Extension must be proactive with capacity development in climate   change education.