Partner Institute: 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Fort Hare
Project lead:
About the project: Climate change impacts undermine human development progress and the achievement of SDGs in many African countries. In response, many local people, including smallholder farmers, are adapting and building resilience to climate change through their agency and local assets complemented by governments and development agencies’ interventions. For example, smallholder rural farmers in O.R Tambo District Municipality are transforming from traditional crop production and animal husbandry practices into Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). CSA is an approach that involves implementation of different locally relevant and embedded crop and livestock farming knowledge and practices designed to adapt and build resilience to climate impacts. It is evidence-based practice that seeks to transform and reorient agricultural production systems and food value chains so that they support sustainable development and ensure food security under climate change (FAO, 2019; Aggarwal, et al, 2018).
Three objectives are demarcated for achieving this CSA aim: (1) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity to support equitable increases in incomes, food security and development (2) adapting
and building resilience to climate change from the farm to national levels and (3) developing opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture compared with past trends (Lipper et al. 2014:1069). This research will explore the levels of CSA knowledge smallholder farmers in O.R Tambo and Raymond Mhlaba municipalities. Based on this appraisal, any inadequacies or knowledge gaps to be identified in their CSA knowledge and practices will form the basis for codesigning (with farmers) an evidence based locally relevant smallholder farmers’ practice manual (citizen science) for use in community social learning and curriculum innovation supporting extension training in the
Eastern Cape. The project will contribute to the climate action theme.
This research is aligned to the COP objectives on policy, science and practice (climate action theme) because it will investigate smallholder farmers’ CSA knowledge, farming practices, technologies as well as the extent to which these are sustainable and efficient adaptation strategies that build household and community resilience to climate change impacts. Further, the extent to which CSA is promoting or augmenting socially equitable local development within a changing climate context will be explored.
Put differently, is CSA initiating or enhancing the achievement of equitable and sustainable local agro-based economic, social and physical improvements for smallholder farmers regardless of socio-economic status, gender, age or physical ability. Answers to all these research questions will provide empirical evidence about which innovative CSA practices, technologies and services work in the selected study sites. This evidence will inform agricultural practice as it will serve as an empirical basis for co-designing (with farmers) a locally relevant CSA manual which will then be used for conducting farmer training and capacity development on climate smart and sustainable agricultural strategies. In addition, knowledge to be generated will also feed into the teaching and learning curriculum at the Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute and the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Fort Hare.
The first phase of the research process will involve reviewing relevant peer reviewed publications and applicable grey literature. The second phase will involve primary data collection among the study population which shall be purposively sampled smallholder farmers and key informants from Matyeni Agricultural Co-operative (in O.R Tambo District Municipality) and Imvotho Bubomi Learning Network (in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality). Data collection instruments will include interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. The third phase will be data analysis and production of the study report. From this report, knowledge gaps to be identified in farmer’s CSA knowledge and practices will form the basis of citizen science wherein a locally contextual smallholder farmers’ practice manual will be co-designed with farmers. This manual will be a tool for community social learning, i.e., training and capacity building of smallholder farmers. Further, knowledge in the study report will be shared with researcher colleagues at Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute and the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Fort Hare for possible inclusion in their teaching and learning curriculum. Other research outputs will include peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, policy briefs and discussion/debate pieces which will be widely shared in academic, policy and open access platforms. One group of smallholder farmers and one learning network will be partners in this research. The smallholder farmers partner will be Matyeni Agricultural Co-operative (in O.R Tambo District Municipality) which currently cultivates over 500 hectares of maize, cabbage, carrots, beans, pumpkins and spinach. These farmers are also into cattle, sheep and poultry production. Most of their CSA technical and financial support has been provided by the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform and Eastern Cape Development Corporation. Imvotho Bubomi Learning Network (in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality) will be the second partner. This learning network is a platform that facilitates knowledge sharing on a variety of sustainable agro-ecological farming and livelihood strategies. The main implementing partners of the network include the local Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute, 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Fort Hare, Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Nkonkobe Economic Development Agency and Dohne Agriculture Developmental Institute.
Two learning materials will be produced. The first one will be a locally relevant CSA farming manual which will contain knowledge and guidelines of sustainable crop production and animal husbandry for smallholder farmers adapting to and building resilience to climate change impacts. This manual will be used for training and capacity development of smallholder farmers. The second output will CSA subject matter which will be shared with lecturers in a local agriculture training institute (Fort Cox ATI) for inclusion in their teaching and learning curriculum for agriculture extension officers. Links will also be made with the SARChI Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems research into curriculum innovation for CSA in Agricultural Colleges to amplify and scale this work further into Agricultural Colleges in South Africa. Wits Universities GCI programme on youth action for climate change will also feed into this research as one of the critical areas for agricultural development is more expansive involvement of the youth, hence also the emphasis on working with local agricultural colleges and learning networks, including youth co-operatives which are emerging in the rural Eastern Cape areas as one of the strategies for expanding youth participation in climate action.
Prof Philani Moyo is Director of the Fort Hare Institute for Social and Economic Research (FHISER) at the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Fort Hare. He holds a PhD in Social Sciences (Politics and International Studies) (老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Leeds, UK), an MA in Human and Sustainable Development (老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Leeds, UK), another MA in Social Policy and Development Studies (老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Fort Hare, South Africa) and a BA Honours (老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Zimbabwe).
Professor Moyo brings sociology, rural development and development studies expertise to the CoP. Working as Director of the Fort Hare Institute of Social and Economic Research, with a strong focus on rural responsiveness to climate change, Prof Moyo will undertake research to inform the theme on climate action in the Eastern Cape districts of OR Tambo and Raymond Mhlaba. He will focus on farmers' knowledge of climate smart agriculture, and will use this to inform development of training tools and materials for scaling CSA into agricultural college curricula, where the next generation of extension workers are being trained.
Last Modified: Mon, 04 Oct 2021 14:55:40 SAST