Adaptation to drought in arid and semi-arid environments: Case of the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Adaptation to drought in arid and semi-arid environments: Case of the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe | |
| Creator | Mavhura, Emmanuel Manatsa, Desmond Mushore, Terence | |
| Description | Small-scale rain-fed agriculture is the main livelihood in arid to semi-arid regions of subSaharan Africa. The area is characterised by erratic rainfall and frequent droughts, making the capacity for coping with temporal water shortages essential for smallholder farmers. Focusing on the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, this study investigates the impact of drought on food security and the strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with drought. We used meteorological data and interviews to examine the rainfall variability in the study area and the drought-coping mechanisms employed by smallholder famers respectively. The results show that there are various strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with the impact of drought. These strategies include drought-tolerant crop production, crop variety diversification, purchasing cereals through asset sales, non-governmental organisations’ food aid and gathering wild fruit. However, consecutive droughts have resulted in high food insecurity and depletion of household assets during droughts. Smallholder farmers in the valley have also resorted to a number of measures taken before, during and after the drought. Still, these strategies are not robust enough to cope with this uncertainty | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2015-03-11 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/jamba.v7i1.144 | |
| Source | Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies; Vol 7, No 1 (2015); 7 pages 2072-845X 1996-1421 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/144/295
https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/144/296
https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/144/297
https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/144/291
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