Perception of agricultural drought resilience in South Africa: A case of smallholder livestock farmers

Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Perception of agricultural drought resilience in South Africa: A case of smallholder livestock farmers
 
Creator Bahta, Yonas T.
 
Subject Agricultural Drought; Resilience agricultural drought; government; resilience; smallholder livestock farmers; social networks.
Description Worldwide drought has significance and continues to pose long-lasting effects on the agricultural sector, including South Africa. The recurring drought is a major challenge to smallholder livestock farmers in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. This study assesses the perception of smallholder livestock farmers towards agricultural drought resilience. The study utilised a perception index score using primary data collected from 207 smallholder livestock farmers following a structured questionnaire survey and multistage sampling procedures. The study found that the average perception index of the role of social networks and government to enhance agricultural drought resilience was negative, which implied that their role in enhancing resilience towards agricultural drought was insufficient. However, the perception of smallholder livestock farmers on the role of social networks was lower than the role of government. This study recommends coordination and cooperation amongst all role players to reinforce strategies to enhance smallholder livestock farmers’ resilience. This includes coordinator amongst the local, provincial government, African Farmers’ Association of South Africa, extension officers, private sectors, monitoring agencies in terms of reliable early warning information and communication amongst decision-makers. Collaboration amongst government departments at the national and provincial levels should be strengthening to enhance farmer’s resilience. The collaboration includes the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries at the national level, Provincial Departments of Agriculture, National and Provincial Disaster Management Centres, South African Weather Service and Department of Water Affairs. Smallholder livestock farmers’ awareness of the significance of social networking and government participation should be promoted.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor National Research Foundation (NRF), Thuthuka funding instrument
Date 2021-06-22
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Index
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jamba.v13i1.984
 
Source Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies; Vol 13, No 1 (2021); 11 pages 1996-1421 2072-845X
 
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/984/1955 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/984/1956 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/984/1957 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/984/1958
 
Coverage South Africa South Africa survey
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Yonas T. Bahta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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