CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURE, ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE: Insights from local farmers in South-East Zimbabwe

Abstract

Farmers in semi-arid rural areas of Southern Africa struggle to adapt to climate change. Extreme weather events such as drought, heat and flooding result in poor crop harvests and high livestock mortality and eventual food insecurity for resource-poor communities. The chapter investigates the impacts of climate-change, adaptation and coping measures used by farmers in a semi-arid area of Zimbabwe, where farmers seem unprepared to deal with climatic change. A qualitative research approach is used to collect data through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Data were analysed using content analysis. The results show that climate change impacts experienced include persistent droughts, high temperatures, long dry spells, crop failure, and increasing and new crop pests. Impact on livestock includes increased livestock diseases and deaths. Results also show that farmers rely mostly on traditional knowledge to adapt and cope with climatic impacts. The chapter concludes that a full toolbox of climate mitigation strategies needs to be deployed for farmers to be resilient to climate change. These could include climate-smart crop variety selection, conservation agricultural practices and integrated innovation interventions including innovations based on local knowledge.