Files
Details
Title
Helping Small-Holder Farmers Deal with Climate Change
Author(s)
Kelemu, Segenet
Issue Date
2008
Publication Type
Conference Paper/ Presentation
DOI and Other Identifiers
10.22004/ag.econ.124519
Record Identifier
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/124519
PURL Identifier
http://purl.umn.edu/124519
Language
English
Total Pages
8
Note
Agriculture is a major activity and land use across
the developing world; it is vulnerable to changes
in climatic conditions. Climate change affects
agricultural systems and production in various
ways, for example by changing agro-ecological
conditions. Changes in the pattern and amount of
precipitation, as well as temperature, can directly
affect the suitability of cultivable land for
agricultural production, food supplies and food
utilisation. Climate change can affect food
security, depending on the region and the socioeconomic
status of the country involved. The
poorest and food-insecure regions such as sub-
Saharan Africa are expected to be most
vulnerable to climate change. Overall, the
adversities of climate change will
disproportionately affect the small-holder poor
who largely depend on agriculture and who have
limited resources to cope with or adapt to climate
change. More than 85% of the world’s land-users
are classified as small-holders, with farm sizes of
less than 2 ha. The impacts of high temperature,
variability in precipitation patterns, and events
such as severe and frequent drought and floods
will most likely enhance production risks for these
farmers, further widening the gap between the rich
and the poor. Adverse impacts of climate change
on the poor may be reduced through appropriate
policies such as investment in infrastructure,
adoption of sustainable agricultural and natural
resource management practices, and advanced
technologies that can generate climate-resilient
crop varieties and better-adapted livestock
breeds. Examples of some of these advanced
technologies are described in this account.