Determinants of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies adoption by smallholder food crop farmers in Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Free State

Abstract

Climate change is already influencing agricultural production and distribution and heightening farming risks. Over the last decade, the sector has been subject to drastic economic and social evolutions contributing to the climate variability change in the agricultural sector. Smallholder farmers, especially from developing countries (South Africa), have been recognised as the most vulnerable to climate hazards due to the prevalence of low adaptive measures. Addressing climate change’s effects on agriculture is an exceptional challenge. Policymakers have presented Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) as an alternative strategy to enhance agricultural productivity, which will help improve food security and reduce poverty, especially in developing countries. However, the adoption and diffusion of CSA have been slow. Therefore, this paper aims to assess the determinants of (CSA) technologies adoption by smallholder food crop farmers in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Free State. The study used a cross-sectional research design to collect data using structured questionnaires. Stratified random sampling collected data from 120 smallholder food crop farmers. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression were employed for the analysis. The study findings show that using and adopting CSA by smallholder farmers enhanced agricultural productivity. The majority (66%) of the sampled food crop farmers fell in the category of users of CSA practices. The study found that farmers’ knowledge influenced their use and adoption of CSA technologies and farmers’ available financial support. Lack of financial support, knowledge and inadequate farm inputs and training were the challenges limiting smallholder farmers from using CSA. The paper recommends that to ensure a smooth transition to climate-sensitive agricultural practices, development actors must strongly support the inculcation of indigenous knowledge of modern agricultural technologies for easy use by farmers. It also recommends that policymakers develop and implement more elaborate capacity-building programs at the local level to influence farmers’ attitudes towards pro-environmental behaviour.