Adaptation to climate change and other stressors among commercial and small-scale South African farmers
Adaptation to climate change and other stressors among commercial and small-scale South African farmers
复制标题
南非商业和小规模农民对气候变化和其他压力的适应
DOI：
10.1007/s10113-012-0323-4
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发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
M. Warburton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Wilk;L. Andersson;M. Warburton
南非的商业和小规模农民面临着许多挑战。我们对夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省图克拉盆地上游的 44 名农民进行了采访，以确定这两个群体面临的共同和具体挑战，以及应对气候和其他压力因素影响的适应性策略。这项工作是与当地利益相关者合作的一个更大的参与性项目的一部分，旨在制定应对气候变异和变化的当地适应计划。尽管许多挑战与气候变异和变化、薄弱的农业政策、有限的政府支持和盗窃有关，这对于两个农业社区来说都是常见的，但它们的适应能力却截然不同。由于难以为改良种子品种和农具的高投入成本融资、获得水土保持知识和农业技术的机会有限以及长期规划的习惯有限，小规模农户更加脆弱。除了与温度和干旱相关的挑战外，小规模农民还担心水土流失、水涝和牲畜疾病，商业农民已经针对这些挑战制定了有效的适应战略。阻碍商业农民制定未来规划的主要障碍是政府缺乏明确的指示，例如在发放水许可证和土地改革方面。要使农业社区获得可持续生计，就需要实施应对共同和具体挑战并加强商业和小规模农民适应能力的战略。已确定的前进方向包括农业社区内部和之间的知识转移、明确的政府指令和有针对性的适合当地的金融计划。
Commercial and small-scale farmers in South Africa are exposed to many challenges. Interviews with 44 farmers in the upper Thukela basin, KwaZulu-Natal, were conducted to identify common and specific challenges for the two groups and adaptive strategies for dealing with the effects of climate and other stressors. This work was conducted as part of a larger participatory project with local stakeholders to develop a local adaptation plan for coping with climate variability and change. Although many challenges related to exposure to climate variability and change, weak agricultural policies, limited governmental support, and theft were common to both farming communities, their adaptive capacities were vastly different. Small-scale farmers were more vulnerable due to difficulties to finance the high input costs of improved seed varieties and implements, limited access to knowledge and agricultural techniques for water and soil conservation and limited customs of long-term planning. In addition to temperature and drought-related challenges, small-scale farmers were concerned about soil erosion, water logging and livestock diseases, challenges for which the commercial farmers already had efficient adaptation strategies in place. The major obstacle hindering commercial farmers with future planning was the lack of clear directives from the government, for example, with regard to issuing of water licences and land reform. Enabling agricultural communities to procure sustainable livelihoods requires implementation of strategies that address the common and specific challenges and strengthen the adaptive capacity of both commercial and small-scale farmers. Identified ways forward include knowledge transfer within and across farming communities, clear governmental directives and targeted locally adapted finance programmes.