@article{MUDOMBI:157508,
      recid = {157508},
      author = {MUDOMBI, GRACE},
      title = {Factors affecting perceptions and responsiveness to  climate variability induced hazards.},
      address = {2011-12},
      number = {634-2016-41487},
      pages = {126},
      year = {2011},
      abstract = {Smallholder farmers are heterogeneous in terms of resource  endowments, production orientation and access to markets.  An understanding of these factors and how they influence  local perceptions and responsiveness to climate variability  has potential to improve the livelihoods of smallholder  farmers. The objective of this study was to understand the  major factors that contribute to heterogeneity across  households and across sites and to understand how different  households respond to climate variability induced hazards.  Cross-sectional data was collected using a household  questionnaire from 300 randomly selected households from  Seke and Murewa districts in Zimbabwe but only 299  questionnaires were used for analysis. Principal component  analysis was used to identify uncorrelated factors. The  multinomial logit model was used to determine the influence  of household characteristics on farmers’ perceptions and  logit model was used to ascertain the influence of  socioeconomic factors and perceptions on responsiveness.  Findings showed that households that are heterogeneous in  religion; direct personal experiences; and access to  weather information have different perceptions to climate  variability induced hazards. Empirical results from  multinomial regression analysis showed that socioeconomic  factors such as distance to the market and access to credit  information have a significant influence on perceptions but  human capital-related and gender-related characteristics  have an insignificant influence on farmers’ perceptions.  Econometric investigation using logistic regression model  revealed that socioeconomic factors have an influence on  responsiveness but perceptions do not influence  responsiveness; this could be so because there are other  underlying factors related to adaptive capacity which are  limiting farmers in responding to hazards. The overall  conclusion is that differences in access to markets and  credit result in heterogeneity in farmers’ perceptions. In  terms of policy implications this means that improvement of  access to markets and credit is very crucial to improve  farmers’ responsiveness to climate variability induced  hazards.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/157508},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.157508},
}