Climate Change and Economic Development

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    Climate Resilience Through Dual-Purpose Crops for Small-Scale Dairy Farming in Benin
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2022-10) Montcho, Marthe
    In response to livestock feed constraints, farmers are increasingly exploring new options to improve the productivity and efficiency of their crop-livestock enterprises (Snapp et al, 2018). One such option is dual-purpose crops, which has a high potential to simultaneously improving grain yields and livestock feed availability and quality (Erenstein, et al, 2013; Hassan et al, 2015). A promising method of enhancing crop and livestock productivity is increasing the availability and quality of cereal residues as livestock feed (Amede et al., 2009; Alkemade et al., 2012). Dual-purpose crops provide food and income to households, while crop residues are an essential fodder source for livestock (Tarawali et al, 2011; Salmon et al, 2018).Compared to grain-only crops, dual-purpose crops help to significantly improve the profitability, environmental sustainability, and resilience of the whole farm system (Tarawali et al, 2011). It is recognized that dual-purpose crops have positive effects on nutrition and adaptation to climate change. However, policy recommendations do not consider climate variability across the country and the tolerance of each dual-purpose crops to the various climate regions. This policy brief aims to share evidence for dissemination of appropriate use of dual-purpose crops on dairy farms across the various climate regions of Benin.
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    Climate change impact on Meteorological hazards in the Volta River Basin, West Africa
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2022-10) Limantol, Andrew Manoba; Larbi, Isaac; Dotse, Sam-Quarcoo
    Climate change has increasingly become a serious threat to meteorological hazards such as drought and flood. The slightest changes in temperature and rainfall patterns could have asignificant implication on economic activities in many countries around the world.InWestAfrica,theVolta riverbasin(Fig 1)is an important transboundary basinin the regionsharedby six ripariancountries (i.e.Burkina Faso, Togo,Benin,Côted’Ivoire, Niger and Ghana). These countries over the last few decades have been affected by increased intense rainfall events and long dry spells which often resulted in floods and droughts, causing many losses and damages. This makes the basin with a population of over 24 million vulnerable to the impact of climate change and extreme events. In the basin, experiences in the past have shown that there are occasional erratic rainfall periods that characterize the three zones (Ndehedehe et al.2017).Previous studies in Ghana indicate that climate extremes such as floods have resulted in drastic reduction in the national out put of maize(6.3%)and rice(9.3%)(Stutley,2010).This is problematic as it has serious implications on household food security, as a result ofthe rising prices of food commodities (Wossenetal.,2018), thereby affecting the attainment of sustainable development.However,only handful of studies (e.g.Aziz,2015;Larbietal2018;Okafor et al. 2021) on changes in climate and extremes under different climate scenarios over the basin exists. In order to address this gap, this study aims to contribute to the basic. understanding of climate change, its impact on meteorological hazards and make policy recommendations that will contribute to achieving Sustainable Development in the Volta basin, West Africa. Specifically, to: (i) analyze the changes in rainfall and temperature under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios (SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5) for the period 1985-2014 relative to 2021-2050 period over the Volta basin; and (ii) assess the spatio-temporal changes in meteorological extreme indices at the Basin between two periods (i.e. 1985-2014 and 2021-2050). Information derived from this research is useful for planning and designing climate change adaptation measures to achieve Sustainable Development at the Basin.
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    Climate Variability, Temporal Migration and Welfare Among Agricultural Households in Tanzania
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2022-10) Chegere, Martin J.; Mrosso, Theresia L.
    Climate change risks poses threat to productivity and human welfare especially those living in climatic prone areas and those whose livelihood depends on agriculture activities. More than 80 percent of rural households in Tanzania are employed in the agricultural sector. Their incomes are vulnerable to climate change due to the adverse impact of climate variabilities on the sector. Already several mechanisms are employed by households to insure themselves against climatic risks, including agriculture diversification, income diversification, and social networks.Still no guarantee of which mechanism is best especially for agricultural households in developing countries like Tanzania. Among other mechanisms temporal migration strategies has been linked as strategy to cope with impacts of climate change but this channel has not been intensively researched on which motivates this brief’s objective. Most of mechanisms adopted by households may work better in the cases of individual risks, while most are less efficientifrisks are covariant and affect everyone in an area. Spatial diversification, such as internal migration, has been employed to ensure against covariant risks like climate risk. Temporal internal migration may guarantee vulnerable households by supplementing income from remittances, extended business networks, or benefits from returning migrants who have acquired capital and skills.However, benefits only materialize if migrants remain in contact with their sending household.
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    Anthropogenic Land Use Change and Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2022-10) Tione, Sarah
    Agricultural production and productivity (crop and livestock) is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) at the cost high carbon footprint. Emissions of greenhouse gases is mainly from land use changes, food and feed production and manure management. This double burden is slowing down development efforts, particularly in SSA. Agricultural policy has been promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices especially among smallholder farmers. Although there is compelling evidence on the impact of CSA technologies on agricultural productivity,their uptake in low-income is still lowand considered unsatisfactory (Makate, 2019). Hence, empirical gap exists in context-specific studies, particularly, on intertemporal and spatial anthropogenic changes of land use related to CSA household decisions to inform policy. We considered a basket of CSA practices, including soil erosion control variables like terraces, control bunds (stones, earth or sandbags/gibbons),tree belt, water harvesting bunds and drainage ditches; Use of organic manure; Irrigation farming by diverting streams, hand and treadle pumps, motor or gravity-fed; land preparation techniques that include box ridges, zero tillage, pit planting, ripping and minimum tillage. Data is from LSMS and FAOSTAT.
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    Understanding Gender Differences on the Choices of a Portfolio of Climate-smart Agricultural Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2022-10) Teklewold, Hailemariam
    Managing climatic risks and ensuring gender equality are critical to achieving sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In this regard, the uptake of a portfolio of farm level Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA) practices (such as cropping system diversification, soil and water conservation, reduced tillage, organic fertilizer, irrigation, etc.) becomes increasingly important to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity of farm households. CSA practices comprise interventions that aim to sustainably increase productivity, build adaptive capacity and reduce green-house gas emissions through diverse sets of soil, water and crop husbandry practices. We consider a set of the CSA practices that can be categorized into three broad categories: yield-increasing, risk protection, and resource conservation strategy sets. The issue of gender inequality in the adoption of CSA technologies, among others, has long been an important subject in most developing countries. Despite women’s important roles in the farming systems, women farmers may not have the same influence as their men counterparts on farming decisions regarding changing agricultural practices. Gender differences in agricultural technology adoption may be observed for a number of reasons including women’s lower initial endowments, bargaining power, access to financial resources, or institutional services. Differences in men’s and women’s responsibilities, priorities, and access to productive resources and institutional services at the community and household levels are crucial to describe the gender gap in agricultural investment.