Commercialisation pathways and climate change: the case of smallholder farmers in semi-arid Tanzania
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Date
2021-12
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Agricultural Policy Research in Africa
Abstract
The semi-arid drylands of central Tanzania have been characterised by low and erratic rainfall coupled with high evapotranspiration. Up until now, farmers of these local dryland farming systems have been able to cope with these climate conditions. However, climate change has led to new weather patterns that overwhelm traditional dryland farming practices and re-shape farmers’ commercialisation pathways. This paper explored the pathways in which smallholder farmers in Singida region in Tanzania engage with markets and commercialise in the face of climate change. The paper is based on the study that was carried out during 2020, covering three case study villages in Singida region of semi-arid central Tanzania. The paper also examined how farm-level decisions on commercial crops and the commercialisation pathways they are part of, affect current and future resilience to climate change. Climate resilient commercialisation of smallholder dryland agriculture remains the centrepiece of inclusive sustainable development.This study was conducted using the qualitative Participatory Vulnerability Analysis (PVA) toolkit (Ulrichs et al., 2015). The qualitative tools used included village mapping, transect walks, climate trends and timelines, a seasonality calendar, individual life course histories, farm-sector structural changes and institutional mapping. These qualitative results were complemented by quantitative results from the APRA household survey that was conducted in the same region in 2018 (APRA, 2019). Farmer’s commercialisation of the crop sub-sector was measured as the ratio of sales and the value of production of all crops. The analysis also generated an index measuring vulnerability of agricultural enterprises varying in the level of riskiness and returns across different sources of production risks – seasonal droughts, dry spells, floods, and pests and diseases.
Description
Working Paper
Keywords
Commercialisation pathways, Climate change