Determinants of Livestock Smallholder Farmer's Choice of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Globally, climate change is a major challenge facing farmers. This phenomenon threatens the sustainability of smallholder farmers in rural communities who depend solely on agriculture. Farmers are known to take suitable steps to adapt when they observe change and adjust their farming practices to cope with climate change. However, livestock farmers' response to climate change is very low due to insufficient scientific and context-based evidence. Hence, this paper sought to investigate the determinants of livestock small-scale farmers' choices and adaptive strategies in response to the effects of climate change in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. The study used a cross-sectional research design to collect data from 220 livestock farmers using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study used multinomial logistic regression to analyse the data. Empirical results reveal that access to weather forecasts and extension services, farmers' perception of climate change, level of education, age of the household head, distance to input markets, member of farm organisation, income from livestock sales, and livestock holding affect livestock farming decision for climate change adaptation. Therefore, the study recommends that the government improve farmers' access to accurate and timely agro-meteorological forecasts, capacity building, and technical support for income diversification through improved provision of agricultural extension services.