Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging andInnovative Climate Change Adaptation
Practices for Smallholder Farmers'
Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa
District, Southern Malawi
African Technology Policy Studies Network

WORKING PAPER SERIES | No. 63
Tennyson M Magombo
George Kanthiti
Grace Phiri
Mutisungirire Kachulu
Hilda Kabuli

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging andInnovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices
for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in
Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Tennyson M Magombo
George Kanthiti
Grace Phiri
Mutisungirire Kachulu

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, private sector actors andpolicy makers promoting the generation, dissemination, use andmastery of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) for African
development, environmental sustainability and global inclusion.
ATPS intends to achieve its mandate through research, capacity
building and training, science communication/dissemination andsensitization, participatory multi-stakeholder dialogue,knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy.
Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network
P O Box 10081, 00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya
2012

Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network

ISBN: 978-9966-030-30-6

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement

4

List of Acronyms

5

1.

Introduction

6

2.

Objectives

113.

Methodology

124.

Field Data & Analysis

23

5.

Conclusions & Policy Recommendations

42

References

45

Annexes

53

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 3

Acknowledgement
This study was conducted as part of the implementation of the African
Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012
funded by ATPS Donors including the Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (DGIS)
the Netherlands, Rockefeller Foundation, amongst others. The authors hereby
thank the ATPS for the financial and technical support during the implementationof the study. The Authors specially thank the ATPS Climate Sense Program
Director, Dr. Kevin Urama (ATPS); and the Program Coordinators including Prof.
Francis Mutua (ATPS Kenya); Dr. George Owusu Essegbey (ATPS Ghana), Prof.
Eric Eboh (ATPS Nigeria), Dr. Nicholas Ozor (ATPS), and Ms. Wairimu Mwangi(ATPS) for their technical support during the research process.
The authors are also very grateful to Mr. Emmanuel Mponda, and Mr. Peter Zimba
of Evangelical Lutheran Development Services (ELDS) for their technical andlogistical support towards the study. The authors cannot keep quite without being
grateful to Chawanangwa Munthali, Barbette Juwayeyi, Veronica Kuwela,
Thokozire Mvula (all BSc graduates from Bunda college of Agriculture of the
University of Malawi), who assisted the research team in collecting good quality
data from farm families. Many thanks should also go to Department of Climate
Change and Meteorological Services for providing rainfall data for Chikhwawa,
which was used in the analysis. The list is too long of individuals andorganisations that were key in providing necessary information for the study;
authors are saying “THANK YOU” to you all for your cooperation and support.
Finally, authors extends their sincere gratitude to farm families and chiefs in
Chikhwawa district who cooperated with enumerators and provided thenecessary data that would take a long way in informing decision making
processes for total transformation of people's livelihoods in Chikhwawa district
and beyond.

4 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

List of Acronyms
CC&V
EPAs
ELDS
FAO
NGOs
GoM
IIA
INTs
IPCC
LPM
NAPA
NSO
V&A
UNFCC
UNCED
TA

Climate Change and Variability
Extension Planning Areas
Evangelical Lutheran Development Services
Food and Agriculture Organisation
Non-governmental Organisations
Government of Malawi
Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives
Insect Treated Bed Nets
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Linear Probability Model
National Adaptation Plan of Action
National Statistical Office
Variability and Adaptation
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
ChangeUnited Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment
Traditional Authority

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi|51. Introduction
1.1. Background information
Climate change and variability (CC&V) is increasingly emerging as one of themost serious global problems affecting many sectors of economic growth in theworld. The sectors widely affected by the impacts of climate-related hazards andcalamities include; agriculture, water, fisheries, forestry and other land-use,
wildlife, energy, industrial processes and product use, waste management,
human health, and the sustainable livelihoods of both rural and urban
communities (Lema M.A and Majule A.E. 2009 and Bie et.al., 2008). Climatechange and variability is considered as one of the most serious threats tosustainable development with adverse impacts on food security, economic
activities and physical infrastructure (Lema M.A and Majule A.E., 2009 and IPCC,
2007). The impacts are so rampant in Africa, which is considered to be one of themost vulnerable regions to climate change in the world.
Africa is subject to widespread poverty, recurrent droughts, hostile climates,
unsustainable technologies, and over dependence on rain-fed agriculture (Lema
M.A and Majule A.E. 2009). As such, the majority of farming households in Africa
have struggled to sustain their livelihoods and this has been as a result of
numerous social, economical and environmental degradation problems whichhave been exacerbated by adverse impacts of climate change and climate
variability. Climate change and variability has created uncertainties intemperature patterns, intensities of received ultraviolet radiation, rainfall and wind
patterns. As a result, rural people in countries like Malawi whose main economic
activity is agriculture are faced with so many challenges in decision making withrespect to their agricultural activities (Bie et.al, 2008).

6 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Over the last few decades, Malawi has experienced extreme weather events,
ranging from droughts (1991/92) to floods (1996/97) and flash floods (2000/01).
During the 1996/97 crop season, when there were floods in the southern region,some parts of the northern region along the Karonga lakeshore plain experienced
drought conditions. These extreme weather events clearly show the large
temporal and spatial variations in the occurrence of climate-related disasters andcalamities. In the affected areas, these events have had irreversible anddamaging effects on crop and livestock production, especially the droughts that
occurred during the 1978/79, 1981/82, 1991/92 and 1993/94 crop growing
seasons.
Although temperature variations on the Medium Altitude Plateau are not large
enough to significantly reduce crop growth and development, relatively higher
temperatures (coupled with low and erratic rainfall) in the Shire Valley, and someareas along the lakeshore plain result into low crop yields of grain and biomass.
For instance in the 2009/10 agricultural season, the Lower Shire valley
experienced a long dry spell between the months of December and February andthis resulted in crop failure ending up with about 1.5 Million food insecure people
in the period between June 2010 and March 2011.
The Government of Malawi (GoM, 2006) indicated that the impacts of climatechange are likely to worsen with time as climate keeps on varying and becoming
more unpredictable. Predictive models suggest that climate change will havemost serious impacts in developing countries, faced with problems like flooding,drought and deforestation (Bie et.al, 2008 and IPCC, 2007). In Malawi, the change
in global climate is likely to bring serious consequences that will exacerbate thenumerous challenges the country is undergoing such as; poverty, HIV & AIDS
pandemic, declining soil fertility and over reliance on rain-fed subsistence
farming for sustainable livelihood. This therefore called for Malawi to develop
various adaptation strategies in order to cope with the additional challenge ofclimate change. Such strategies focus on managing risks, reducing vulnerability,
enhancing agricultural productivity, protecting the environment and ensuring
sustainable development under the changing climate.
With agriculture as the major economic sector in Malawi, Bie et.al. (2008) notedthat climate change impacts on the sector are likely to cause suffering on majorityof the population through food insecurity and destruction of livelihoods. Current
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi|7evidences indicate that changing rainfall patterns and higher temperatures areforcing farmers to shorten the growing season and switch to more expensive
hybrid crops as opposed to local varieties which have been favoured by most
local farmers due to their palatability. Frequent droughts and floods are eroding
assets and knowledge, leaving people more vulnerable to disaster. The mostvulnerable group of people to adverse impacts of climate change according to
GoM (2006) are women who bear most of the burden in activities such ascollection of water, firewood and ensuring daily access to food. The burden on
women has been exacerbated by the changing demographics due to impacts ofthe HIV & AIDS epidemic which has seen them taking up greater responsibilities
as sole heads of households and taking care of the sick and orphans.
Human health is another important sector affected by climate change and isdirectly linked to infant malnutrition and chronic ailments associated with malaria,
cholera and diarrhea as a result of droughts and floods (GoM, 2006). A report by
Action Aid (2006) also noted that climate change has resulted into an increase inmalaria and cholera incidences in the country. Malaria is expected to increase
and spread to previous cool zones as temperatures increase due to global
warming. The scenario in health sector is forcing women to spend more time
tending to the sick and less time of working in their fields hence affecting bothproduction and productivity (GoM, 2006).
1.2
Problem Statement
Prolonged dry spells or droughts and floods are a serious problem forsmallholder farmers in Malawi, because agriculture is their main livelihood
strategy. Food shortages and low income levels mean inability of farmers toactively participate in the day to day economic activities. Low income levels canalso be translated into lack of access to basic needs of life that are purchased withmoney. Farmers that have mainly been affected by this problem are those thathave land allocations in the Shire River Valley in Chikhwawa and Nsanje Districts.
In order to solve this problem the Government of Malawi in collaboration withother development partners has tried to assist farmers in the valley and eventhose in the highlands by sensitizing them on the impacts of climate change andby engaging farmers in the decision making processes in order to come up withappropriate solutions for reducing the negative impacts of climate change. Mostof the proposed solutions or strategies have assisted farmers to cope up with theeffects of climate change impacts and not necessarily to adapt to the impacts
8 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

themselves. However, some communities have used their indigenous knowledge
or technologies to adapt to climate change impacts even though thesetechnologies have not been documented so that they can be reinforced andscaled up to other communities. Thus, some research and development partners
are still asking a lot of questions around climate change adaptation practices.
Such questions include the following:>
What are the effective indigenous, emerging and innovative technologies
for climate change adaptation?
>
What are the individual and institutional behaviors towards climate change
adaptation measures?
>
What are the factors that affect adoption of various adaptation strategies?
>
What are the capacity building needs that can assist farming communities
to adapt to climate change impacts?
Understanding of the links among incidence of climate change impacts, effects,
indigenous, emerging and innovative adaptation technologies and livelihood
security in Malawi is very key if these questions are to be answered.
Lema M.A and Majule A.E. 2009, reported that Climate change is a global
phenomenon while adaptation is largely site-specific. This implies that climatechange adaptation strategies require site specific knowledge. According to IPCC,(2007) a clear understanding of what is happening at a community level is ofparamount importance in order to significantly impact on farmers who are bylarge the most climate-vulnerable group. Studies in various countries have shownhow farmers adapt to various impacts of climate change and variability. For
example, in Cameroon, Molua (2008) observed that Cameroon's agricultural
sector depend largely on the return of good rains and timely availability ofadequate inputs such that years of improved rainfall were associated withimproved agricultural output and vice versa. However, farmers in Cameroon are
not passively submitting to climate variation. It was revealed that farmer's main
strategy for reducing climate risks was to diversify production and livelihood
systems. In addition, other farmers acquire more livestock to cushion income,while others engage in various non-farm activities.
Overall, Molua (2008) concluded that with semi-extensive farming systems being
sensitive to small changes in climate, agricultural-dependent countries like
Cameroon are more likely to be vulnerable to these changes. Now the major
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi|9question is: what are the effective indigenous and emerging technologies andinnovations for climate change adaptation in Chikhwawa District in Southern
Malawi?
1.3
Justification
The Government of Malawi and other organizations have been undertaking
various interventions to mitigate the impacts of climate change and variability in
the Shire River valley but little has been done to build adaptive capacity ofsmallholder farmers in the area. However, it is believed that knowingly or
unknowingly farmers have been trying to adapt to climate change impacts
through different farming practices and technologies but these have not been
documented. There is need therefore to assess and affirm the incidence ofindigenous and innovative climate change adaptation practices or technologies
being applied by smallholder farmers, and understand the links among applied
climate change adaptation strategies, farming systems and livelihood security inthe study area. It is very important to document the indigenous and emerging
technologies and innovations for climate change adaptation and factors that
influence adoption of various adaptation strategies in order to come up withinterventions that can build up smallholder farmer's adaptive capacity andresilience to climate change impacts. The Interventions undertaken in the Lower
Shire River valley are not properly documented, they are poorly coordinated andexperiences are not shared among key stakeholders. This has hinderedmeaningful coordination of efforts and the identification and implementation ofeffective adaptation measures. The study will, therefore, assist in designing
capacity building programs for farming communities to adapt to climate change
impacts. This will contribute to designing programs that would enhance
behavioral change towards climate change adaptation measures at household,community and institutional level. The results of the study will also inform policy
makers with recommendations for building climate change adaptive capacity.
In order to better answer the research questions the study was designed in sucha way that two studies, pilot and main household survey, were conducted. The
pilot study was designed to collect qualitative data from communities and key
informants in Chikhwawa district. The results of the pilot study were used to
improve on the design of the main household survey which focused much oncollection of quantitative data.

10 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

2. Objectives
2.1
Overall Objective
The overall objective of the study was to assess the incidence of indigenous,
emerging and innovative climate change adaptation practices for improved
livelihood security in Southern Malawi, Chikhwawa District in particular.
2.2
Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of the study were:1.
to examine the awareness of climate change in the area;2.
to examine the nature of climate change impact in the study area;3.
to identify different practices that exacerbate the impact of climate change
in the area;4.
to determine factors affecting adoption of various adaptation strategies in
the area;5.
to identify, describe and document effective indigenous and emerging
technologies and innovations for climate change adaptation used by
farmers in the study area;
6.
to make policy recommendations for building smallholder farmers' climatechange adaptive capacity and resilience at household, community andnational levels in Malawi.

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 11

3. Methodology
3.1
Characteristics of the Study Area
The study took place in Chikhwawa District (Figure 1).The choice of Chikhwawa
district was facilitated by the following reasons:>
It falls within an area with frequent food shortages due to uncertainty ofrainfall with frequent dry spells and unpredictable floods.
>
The area provides an opportunity to study impacts associated with climatechange and variability on crop and livestock and;>
Chikhwawa is within the project area of Evangelical Lutheran Development
Services (ELDS), an NGO currently implementing a Danish Church Aid
funded climate change project.

Chikhwawa

Figure 1: Map of Malawi showing Chikhwawa district
12 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

For administrative convenience, the study focused on the following areas: SubTraditional Authority (S.T.A.) Ndakwera, Traditional Authority (T.A.) Katunga, T.A.
Mgabu, S.T.A. Masache, T.A. Mgowe and part of Paramount Chief Lundu.
Chikhwawa district lies on GPS coordinates of 16° 10′ 0″ South and 34° 45′ 0″ East
(Table 1). It is one of the 13 districts in the southern region of Malawi. The district isperked at an altitude of 112 metres above sea level (masl). The district is divided
into Extension Planning Areas (EPAs) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Security. According to NSO (2008) the total population of the district was about
438,895 people. In the month of January 2010 the total rainfall registered in
Chikhwawa district was 130.7mm and the total expected for the district in themonth of January was 326.7 mm. The minimum level of temperature in January2010 was 24.90C and the maximum was 39.10C.
3.1.2 Rainfall Pattern for Chikhwawa
Chikhwawa receives an annual rainfall of about 800mm which comes between
the months of July to June. Figure 2.0 below shows the seasonal distribution of
rainfall over Chikhwawa. However, the temporal distribution of the rainfall shows
significant variations from year to year as illustrated in the figure below.
1600
1400

Annual Rainfall (mm)

1200
1000
800
600
400

2008/09

2005/06

2002/03

1999/00

1996/97

1993/94

1990/91

1987/88

1984/85

1981/82

1978/79

1975/76

1972/73

1969/70

1966/67

1963/64

0.0

1960/61200

Figure 2: Annual Rainfall (mm) for Chikhwawa

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 13

It is so clear in Figure 2 above that between 1960 and 1984 rainfall pattern was
more stable than between 1985 and 2009 where the variations from the mean arequite large and the total annual rainfall proves to be increasing. Even though thetotal annual rainfall has been increasing in the period 1985 to 2009 as comparedto the period 1960 to 1984 the intra annual rainfall distribution has been quite
erratic with prolonged dry spells and floods. This clearly illustrates the incidenceof climate change impacts in Chikhwawa district. Figure 3 below also clearly
illustrates the rainfall variations or deviations from the mean and Figure 4
illustrates the mean monthly rainfall distribution for the period 1960-1984 ascompared to that of the period 1985-2009.

600
400
200
0.0
-200
-400

2008/09

2006/07

2004/05

2002/03

2000/01

1998/99

1996/97

1994/95

1992/93

1990/91

1988/89

1986/87

1984/85

1982/83

1980/81

1978/79

1976/77

1974/75

1972/73

1970/71

1968/69

1966/67

1964/65

1962/63-600
1960/61

Rainfall Deviations from the Mean (mm)800

Figure 3: Rainfall variations from the mean (mm)The big rainfall variations have been associated with floods and prolonged dry
spells hence negatively affecting the livelihoods of farm families in Chikhwawa
District and Shire River valley at large. Figure 4 below clearly illustrates themonthly rainfall distribution which proves to be associated with floods andprolonged dry spells in between 1985 and 2009.It is also very important tomention that maize is the main food crop in Chikhwawa district. Maize requires a
lot of water in the month of February when it is at flowering or grain filling stage.
The figure below shows some years where Chikhwawa district did not receive
adequate rainfall necessary for maize flowering and grain filling. For example in1991/92 season, Chikhwawa received about 8.4mm of rainfall in the month of
14 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
2008/09

2006/07

2004/05

2002/03

2000/01

1998/99

1996/97

1994/95

1992/93

1990/91

1988/89

1986/87

1984/85

1982/83

1980/81

1978/79

1976/77

1974/75

1972/73

1970/71

1968/69

1966/67

1964/65

1962/630
1960/61Monthly & Three Months Total
Rainfall Distribution (mm)February while in the months of December and January Chikhwawa received
57.7mm and 46.4mm of rainfall respectively. 19991/92 was the season that
Chikhwawa received the least amount of rainfall, while 2006/07 received the
maximum amount of rainfall of 832.7mm. However, in 2006/07 season in January
alone Chikhwawa received 515.7mm of rainfall, while in December and February
it received 150.2mm and 166.8mm respectively. It is therefore so clear that even if
the amount of rainfall seems to be increasing in Chikhwawa over years the
distribution has been so erratic and associated with floods and prolonged dry
spells.

Figure 4: Monthly and Three Months Total Rainfall Distribution
3.2
Sampling framework
The comprehensive sampling units for the study were:> Smallholder farmers in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi.
> Traditional Authorities where a climate change project is being implementedby ELDS.
> Group villages.
> Villages.
3.3
Sample size determination and Sampling procedure
The following formula was used in determining the sample size.)n = Z2(1 - p)p = 1.962(1 - p)p............................ (1)e2
0.052
Source: Edriss: 2002
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 15

Where> p denotes a proportion of smallholder farmers participating in a climatechange project by ELDS of the total number of farmers in Chikhwawa district.(p value)> z denotes, confidence level (z statistic)> e denotes Margin of error (e)According to the Chikhwawa district agricultural office, in Chikhwawa District
there are about 120,037 smallholder farm families.
Evangelical Lutheran Development Services (ELDS) targets about 55,904 farm
families and this gives a proportion (p) of about 0.47
This study uses 95% level of confidence thus (z=1.96, 2 tailed test); and will allow
a margin error of 5% (e=0.05). With this information then the sample size wascalculated as follows:)

n = 1.962(1- 0.47)0.47 = 382................................(2)0.052
Thus the formula gives a sample size of approximately 382 smallholder farmers.
Due to time and resources constraints the sample size of 300 smallholder farm
families was used. This accounts for about 78.5% of the calculated sample size.
3.3.1 Sampling Procedure
Probability sampling method was used. Here a multi stage sampling approach
where both cluster and systematic random sampling procedures were
employed.
1st Stage- Purposive Cluster Sampling
Chikhwawa district is divided into six (6) Agricultural Extension planning areas,
namely Mitolo, Livunzu, Dolo, Mbewe, Kalambo, and Mikalambo. An Extension
Planning Area (EPA) covers part, one or more Traditional Authorities. The EPAs
covered by ELDS were Dolo, Mbewe and Mikalango, and the Traditional
Authorities covered were Paramount Chief Lundu, Traditional Authorities Ngabu,
Ndakwera, Ngowe and Sub Traditional Authority Masache. The total number offarm families participating in the climate change project by ELDS being broken
16 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

down by TA was given by ELDS officers. The total number of villages being
targeted by ELDS in each TA was also given by ELDS officers. The sample size
was calculated and decided by the principal investigator that it should be 300.
The total number of villages to be interviewed was also decided by the principal
investigator that it should be 20. By using proportion sampling technique, thenumber of villages to be interviewed in each TA and the total number of farm
families to be interviewed were calculated as illustrated in the table below:
Table 1: Sampling structure
TA

Numberof farmers

SampleSample size
Proportion allocation

Number oftarget villagesby ELDS

SampleProportion

Samplednumber ofvillages

PC Lundu

240

0.02267

30.0191

1

Ngabu

5,556

0.5236157

71

0.4522

9

Ndakwera

2,293

0.216165

370.2357

5

Ngowe

1,352

0.127438

27

0.2357

3

STA Masache

1,171

0.110333

190.17202

Total

10,612

300

157

20

2nd Stage: Systematic Random Sampling of Villages
Since each TA had a sampled number of villages, a sampling fraction for each TA
was calculated and this was used to systematically random sample the villages tobe interviewed. Number of farmers to be interviewed in each of the sampled
village was proportionally allocated and farm families were randomly sampled.
Annex A provides names of the villages that were sampled in each TA and numberof farmers that were interviewed in each village.
3rd Stage: Random Sampling of farmers
Since each village had a total number of farmers different from the others, village
sample proportions were being computed using the village total number offarmers and the total number of farmers from all the sampled villages in a given
TA. These proportions were then used to compute the total number of farmers to
be sampled per village of which when added together would give a total sample
size allocated for each TA.

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 17

Having determined the total number of farmers to be sampled per village, farmers
were then randomly sampled in each village.
3.4
Tools Used
The survey used a structured household questionnaire and checklists for focus
group discussions and key informants interviews. This is clearly highlighted in
the summary of research methodology framework attached as Annex D.
3.5
Training of Enumerators and Questionnaire pre-testingSix (6) enumerators, out of which five (5) were fresh graduates from Bunda
College of Agriculture were hired for the survey. One enumerator was the ELDS
Project Coordinator based at Nchalo in Chikhwawa district. The enumerators
were thoroughly briefed on the research methodology framework and they werealso being trained on how to administer the questionnaire in vernacular language
in order to minimise errors.
The questionnaire was then pre-tested and appropriate changes were made.
Attached, as Annex E, is the edited pre-tested questionnaire which was used in
the survey.
3.6
Analytical Framework and Model specifications.
Consider a farmer or a decision maker who has been affected by climate change
and is able to compare two climate change adaptation alternatives a and b in the
choice set C using a preference indifference operator ³. Assume that this farmer
is rational and would like to maximize utility i.e. would like to be assured of his or
her livelihood security. Given a set of different climate change adaptation
measures, this farmer would opt for an alternative that would maximize his or her
utility i.e. that would ensure his or her livelihood security.
If ³, the decision maker either prefers a to b or is indifferent. The preferenceindifference operator is supposed to have the following properties:

1. Reflexivity: a ³ a ," aÎ C.

2. Transitivity: a ³ b and b ³ c Þ a ³ c , "a, b, c Î C .
3. Comparability:a ³ b or b ³ a , "a , b,Î C.
18 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Because the choice set C is finite the existence of an adaptation alternative which
is preferred to a farmer is guaranteed, that is$a* s.t a * ³ a , "a Î C.

(1)

More interestingly, and because of the three properties listed above, it can beshown that the existence of a function

U : C ® Â : a;U ( a)(2)Such thata ³ b Û U ( a) ³ U (b) , "a ,b,Î C .

(3)

is guaranteed. Therefore, the alternative a* defined in (1) may be identified as
a* = arg maxaÎC U (a )(4)Using the preference-indifference operator ³ to make a choice is equivalent toassigning a value, called utility, to each alternative, and selecting the alternative
a *associated with the highest utility.
The concept of utility associated with the alternatives plays an important role inthe context of discrete choice models. However, the assumptions of neoclassicaleconomic theory present strong limitations for practical applications. Indeed, thecomplexity of human behavior suggests that a choice model should explicitly
capture some level of uncertainty.
The exact source of uncertainty is an open question. Some models assume thatthe decision rules are intrinsically stochastic, and even a complete knowledge ofthe problem would not overcome the uncertainty. Others consider that thedecision rules are deterministic, and motivate the uncertainty from theimpossibility of the analyst to observe and capture all dimensions of the problem,
due to its high complexity. Anderson et al. (1992) compare this debate with theone between Einstein and Bohr, about the uncertainty principle in theoreticalphysics. Bohr argued for the intrinsic stochasticity of nature and Einstein claimed
that ``God does not play dice''.
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 19

3.6.1 The Luce Model
An important characteristic of models dealing with uncertainty is that, instead ofidentifying one alternative as the chosen option, they assign to each alternative aprobability to be chosen.
Luce (1959) proposed the choice axiom to characterize a choice probability law.
The choice axiom can be stated as follows:
Denoting Pc(a) the probability of choosing a in the choice set C, and Pc(s) the
probability of choosing one element of the subset S within C, the two following
properties hold for any choice set U, C and S, such that SÍCÍUÍ.
1. If an alternative CÎa is dominated, that is if there exists bÎC such that b isalways preferred to a or, equivalently, P{a,b}(a) then removing a from C does not
modify the probability of any other alternative to be chosen, that is

P c S = Pc \ a S \ a(5)

2. If no alternative is dominated, that is if 0pP{a,b}(a)p1for all a,bÎC, then the choiceprobability is independent from the sequence of decisions, that is

Pc(a ) = Pc( S ) Ps(a )(6)

3.6.2 Random Utility Models
Random utility models assume, as neoclassical economic theory, that thedecision-maker has a perfect discrimination capability. In this context, however,
the analyst is supposed to have incomplete information and, therefore,
uncertainty must be taken into account. Manski (1997) identified four different
sources of uncertainty: unobserved alternative attributes, unobserved individual
attributes (called “unobserved taste variations” by Manski, 1997), measurement
errors and proxy, or instrumental variables.
The utility is modeled as a random variable in order to reflect this uncertainty.
More specifically, the utility that individual i is associating with alternative a isgiven by

Uai = V ai + e ia

(7)

20 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

iiwhere Va is the deterministic part of the utility, and ea is the stochastic part,
capturing the uncertainty. Similarly to the neoclassical economic theory, thealternative with the highest utility is supposed to be chosen. Therefore, theprobability that alternative a is chosen by decision-maker i within choice set C iséù
P ic (a )= P êU ai = maxU bi ú
ë
û
bÎC

(8)

3.6.3 The Logit Model
The logit model is derived from the assumption that the error terms of the utility
functions are independent and identically Gumbel distributed. These models
were first introduced in the context of binary choice models, where the logistic
distribution is used to derive the probability. Their generalization to more than twoalternatives is referred to as multinomial logit models.

3.7

Objective 4.0: Determining factors affecting adoption of various
adaptation strategies by smallholder farmers in the study area
Consider a farm family which is affected by climate change and has a set ofdifferent adaptation measures. We assume that each farmer faces a set of
discrete, mutually exclusive choices of adaptation measures amidst risks anduncertainties. These measures are assumed to be dependent on a number ofclimate attributes, socioeconomic characteristics and other factors X. Let iA be arandom variable representing the adaptation measure chosen by any farm family.
According to Greene, (2003) the MNL model for adaptation choice specifies therelationship between the probability of choosing option and the set of
explanatory variables X as follows:b' xProb ( Ai = j ) =

e ji
b' x

j

åk = 0 e j i, j = 0,1,2.... j(1)

where bj is a vector of coefficients on each of the independent variables X.
Equation (1) can be normalized to remove indeterminacy in the model byassuming that b0=0 and the probabilities can be estimated as:b'x

Prob ( Ai = j ) =

e ji
j

b'x

1 + åk =0 e j i, j = 0,2.... j , b 0 =0(2)

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 21

Estimating equation (2) yields the J log-odds ratiosæP öln çç ij ÷÷ = xi' (b j - b k )= xi' b k , if k = 0
è Pik ø(3)

The dependent variable is therefore the log of one alternative relative to the basealternative.
According to Greene (2003), the MNL coefficients are difficult to interpret, andassociating the with the jth outcome is tempting and misleading. To interpret theeffects of explanatory variables on the probabilities, marginal effects are usuallyderived as follows:

dj =

j
é
ù
æ
ö
= Pj ê b j - å Pk b k ú = Pj ç b j - b ÷
¶xi
è
ø
k =0
ë
û

¶Pj

(4)

The marginal effects measure the expected change in probability of a particular
choice being made with respect to a unit change in an explanatory variable(Long, 1997; Greene, 2000). The signs of the marginal effects and respective
coefficients may be different, as the former depend on the sign and magnitude of
all other coefficients.

22 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

4. Field Data & Analysis
4.1
Household General Information
Under this section general household characteristics are being described. The
table blow illustrates the characteristics of the sampled households in
Chikhwawa district.
Table 2: Data illustrating household characteristics
Variable

Obs

Mean

Std. Dev.

Min

Max

Age of hh head300

41.96667

15.01901

18

86

Education of hh head1300

5.473333

3.9447640

16Household Size

300

6

3

1

15

Farming experience of hh head300

18.37333

14.37996

1

68

Value of hh assets 2300

75,301.11

237,020.2

03,141,200

Land Holding size3300

3.66382.260337015.5Months hh had own maize in 2009

139

4.115108

3.005018012Months hh had no own maize, 2009

139

7.884892

3.005018012Month5 maize was harvested in 2009

139

4.273381

1.832895

2

11Months hh had own sorghum in 2009

236

4.008475

4.008475012Months hh had no own sorghum, 2009

236

7.991525

2.902667

012Month5 sorghum was harvested, 2009

236

3.805085

0.8481115

2

8

Distance to market4300

3.809667

2.774431

013

Total Annual Income

300

5,204.65

90,392.73

01,000,000

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 23

Table 2 key
Number of Years spent in school.
2
Value of household assets and total annual income is in Malawi Kwacha and the exchange rate is US$1:Mk152
3
Land holding size is in acres, 1 acre=0.4hectare
4
Distance is measured in Kilometres
5
Average month maize or sorghum was harvested (4.0 or 3.8 ≈4=April)
1

4.2 Normality Test and Frequency Distribution of the General
Household Variables
This section attempts to illustrate if the general household variables werenormally distributed or not and affirm if the data collected and the conclusions
drawn could or could not be reliable, unbiased and robust.
With reference to Annex B, age of household head was proved to be normally
distributed. This implies that the variance of the sample size was almost zero.
However, it is clear from the distribution that majority of the sampled households
had household heads falling between the ages 20 and 46 years.
It was also found that education level of household head was normally distributed(Annex B). However, it is also clear that majority of household heads that spentzero (0) years and those that spent 8years in school had the highest density. Thisis a true reflection of literacy levels in rural areas in Malawi. Most people in rural
areas do not go to school due to various social, cultural and economical factors.
Those that at least went to school drops at primary school highest level (Standard8) and very few proceed to secondary schools. It is also clear from the distributionthat for those that proceed for secondary education, majority drops at year two
and year 4 of secondary education and very few proceed for tertiary education.
The sample size for the study reflects this distribution and this implies that the
sample size was indeed not biased and could provide robust results andconclusions.
Similarly, the household size for the sampled households was normally
distributed (Annex B). Majority of households indicated to have a household size
between 5, 6 or 7. Further, the farming experience of household head which is thenumber of years a household has been farming was normally distributed startingfrom 4 years of experience. This makes sense because farming is a main
livelihood in rural areas in Malawi, and all the households that were sampled werefarm families with a minimum of 4 years and a maximum of 68years farming
24 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

experience. However, the distribution appears to be skewed because majority
with farming experience from 4 to 16 years had bigger frequency densities.
In annex B, it is also clear that there was a positive relationship between value ofhousehold assets and annual incomes of sampled households. The frequency
distributions for both exhibits positive skewness with majority of households(about 97%) having a total value of assets between zero and US$3,289.47, with acorresponding annual income between 0 and US$1,644.74. The remaining 3%
exhibited having assets valuing between US$3,289.47 and US$19,736.84 with acorresponding annual income between US$1,644.74 and US$6,578.95. It istherefore so clear that majority of households in Chikhwawa district gets less than
US$1.00 per day, thus they are far much below the poverty line.
Results showed that land holding size was almost normally distributed among thesampled households with a mean of 3.7acres (approx. 1.5 Hectares) per farm
family (Annex B). However, majority of farm families exhibited to have landholding sizes between 1acre (0.4 HA) and 4acres (1.6HA).
The number of months during which households did not have maize in 2009 in
Chikhwawa district were almost normally distributed with a mean ofapproximately 8 months without maize (Annex B). Very few households (5.04%)
indicated to have had maize throughout the year. About 20.14% of households
indicated that they run short of own maize for 11 months and only 1.44% indicatedto have had no maize throughout the year. This however, implies that majority(94.06%) of households in Chikhwawa run short of maize (an important foodcrop) before next harvest in 2009.
It was also revealed that, on average, majority of households that grew maize in2008/9 season harvested their maize in the month of April. Since households in
Chikhwawa indicated that they run short of own maize for an average period of 8months it implies that households have own maize for 4 months (April-July) andbetween August to March they run short of own maize. Thus between the monthsof August and March farm families have to look for alternative food crops for theirsurvival.
The study also revealed that in the 2008/09 season, 30.84%, 67.76% and 1.40% of
farm families in the study area did use local maize seed, hybrid maize seed andIncidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 25

both local and hybrid maize seed respectively. It is interesting to note thatmajority (about 69.16%) of households in Chikhwawa district used hybrid seed.
Table 3.0 below provides reasons for farmers' choice of local or hybrid maize
varieties. It is clear from the table that 23.36% indicated that lack of money topurchase hybrid seed was their main reason why they chose and planted local
maize variety during the 2008/09 season. On the other hand 35.51%, 13.55% and11.68% of farm families indicated to have chosen to use hybrid maize varieties
because of their early maturing, drought tolerant and high yielding attributes,
respectively. Thus it is clear that about 50% of farm families used early maturing
and drought tolerant maize varieties, in order to adapt to climate change impacts
since only 11.68% of farmers indicated to have used improved varieties becauseof their high yielding attribute. This implies that maize variety diversification is oneof the climate change adaptation strategies that smallholder farmers use in
Chikhwawa district. Thus, improving access to early maturing and droughttolerant hybrid maize seed could assist more smallholder farmers in Chikhwawa
district to adapt to climate change impacts such as prolonged dry spells or
droughts.
Table 3: Percentage of farm families that chose maize varieties
and reasons for their choice
Reason for Choice of Maize Variety
Choice of
Maize
Variety

None

Local

Drought

Lack ofmoney
to buyimproved
seed

High

Early
Maturing

Total

Tolerant

4.21

0.93

2.34

23.36

0.00

30.84

Hybrid

6.07

35.51

13.55

0.93

11.68

67.76

Both

0.47

0.47

0.47

0.00

0.00

1.40

10.75

36.92

16.36

24.30

11.6 8100.00

Yielding

26 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

The number of months households did not have sorghum in 2009 in Chikhwawa
district was almost normally distributed with a mean of approximately 8 months
without sorghum (Annex B). Very few households (3.39%) indicated to havesorghum throughout the year while about 14.83%, 18.22%,19.92%,15.68% ofhouseholds indicated to have run short of own sorghum for 8,9,10 and 11 months
respectively. Only 1.27% indicated to have no sorghum throughout the year. This
however, implies that majority (98.73%) of households in Chikhwawa run shortof sorghum (a second important food crop after maize) before next harvest in2009.
It was also revealed that on average majority of households that grew maize in2008/9 season harvested their sorghum in the month of April. Since households
in Chikhwawa indicated that they run short of own sorghum for an average periodof 8 months it implies that households have own sorghum for 4 months (AprilJuly) and between August to March they run short of own sorghum. Thus
between the months of August and March farm families have to look foralternative food crops for their survival.
The study also revealed that in the 2008/09 season, 53.97%, 42.06% and 3.97% offarm families in the study area used local sorghum seed, hybrid sorghum seed
and both local and hybrid sorghum seed, respectively. It is interesting to note thatmajority (about 57.94%) of households in Chikhwawa district used local seed.
Table 4.0 below provides reasons for farmers' choice of local or hybrid sorghum
varieties. It is clear from the table that 19.05% , 9.52% and 5.56% indicated thatthey had chosen to plant local sorghum varieties during the 2008/09 season
because they were early maturing drought tolerant and high yielding,respectively. Farm families that indicated to have chosen hybrid sorghum
because of early maturing, drought tolerant and high yielding attributes were
23.81%, 10.71% and 3.17% respectively. Thus it is clear that about 66.67% of farm
families used early maturing and drought tolerant sorghum varieties, in order toadapt to climate change impacts since only 8.73% of farmers indicated to haveused improved varieties because of their high yielding attribute. This implies thatsorghum variety diversification is one of the climate change adaptation strategies
that smallholder farmers use in Chikhwawa district. Thus, improving access toearly maturing and drought tolerant sorghum seed could assist more smallholder
farmers in Chikhwawa district to adapt to climate change impacts such as
prolonged dry spells or droughts.
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 27

Table 4: Percentage of farm families that chose Sorghum
Varieties and Reasons for their Choice
Reason for Choice of Sorghum Variety
Drought
TolerantLackof money
to buyimproved
seed

High
Yielding

Total

9.52

9.13

5.56

53.97

23.81

10.71

0.40

3.17

42.06

0.40

2.38

1.19

0.00

0.00

3.97

15.08

45.24

21.43

9.52

8.73

100.00

Choice ofSorghum
Variety

None

Local

10.71

19.05

Hybrid

3.97

Both

Early
Maturing

It was also learnt that there are over fifteen (15) sorghum varieties that farmers use
in Chikhwawa district and most farmers are not able to differentiate between local
and hybrid varieties. This is also being reflected in Table 4.0 above where almost
similar percentages of farmers indicated to have chosen local or hybrid sorghum
varieties because they were early maturing and drought tolerant. Unlike formaize, only 9.13% of farm families indicated to have chosen to use local sorghum
varieties due to lack of money to purchase hybrid sorghum varieties. This implies
that money is not a constraint to majority of farmers to have access to hybridsorghum varieties in Chikhwawa district. Perhaps the major constraint could beavailability of clean and certified hybrid sorghum varieties.
From Table 5.0 and Figure 5.0 below it is so apparent that majority ( 91%) ofhouseholds indicated to have good access to inputs and outputs markets. Only
9% indicated to have poor access to inputs and output markets.
Table 5: Access to inputs and outputs markets
Frequency

Percentage

Cumulative

Poor access

27

9.00

9.00

Good access

273

91.00

100.00Total

300

100.0028 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Poor AccessGood AccessFigure 5: Access to inputs and outputs markets
From Table 6 and Figure 6 below it is evident that majority (92.67%) of households
in Chikhwawa district do have good access to agricultural extension services.
Only 7.33% of households indicated to have poor access to agricultural extension
services.
Table 6: Access to agricultural Extension Service
Frequency

Percentage

Cumulative

Poor access

22

7.33

7.33

Good access

278

92.67

100.00

Total

300

100

Poor AccessGood AccessFigure 6: Access to Agricultural Extension Services
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 29

From Table 7 and Figure 7 below it is so clear that majority (81.33%) ofhouseholds indicated to be male headed. Only 18.67% indicated to be female
headed.
Table 7: Frequency Distribution of Gender of household head
Frequency

Percentage

Cumulative
18.67

Female headed

56

18.67

Male headed

244

81.33

Total

300

100

Female Headed
Male Headed

Figure 7: Gender of Household Head.
4.3
Knowledge and Awareness of Climate Change and Variability Issues
From Table 8.0 and Figure 8.0 below it is so clear that majority of households(94.33%) indicated to be aware and have some knowledge about climate change
and variability issues. This implies that climate change and variability issues arereal and smallholder farmers are aware about them. However, it is still important to
conduct a detailed Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) analysis in order todevelop information and communication strategy with an aim of addressing
climate change and variability issues.

30 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Table 8: Knowledge and awareness of Climate Change andvariability Issues
Frequency

Percentage

Cumulative

Fully aware

128

42.67

42.67

Aware

155

51.67

94.33

Not aware

17

5.67

100.00

Total

300

100

180
160
140
120
100

Frequency

80
60
40
20
0
Fully Aware

Aware

Not Aware

Figure 8: Knowledge and awareness of climate change andvariability issues
4.4
Nature of climate change impact in the study area
Under this section farmers' experience of different climate change impacts suchas floods, droughts, erratic rainfall or prolonged dry spells are discussed. It isclear, in Figure 9.0 below, that majority (70.33%) of households indicated to havenot experienced floods in the past 10 years in Chikhwawa district). Among thosethat indicated to have experienced floods, 21%, and 1.67% indicated to haveexperienced it once and 10 times respectively during the past 10 years.

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 31

90
80
70
60
50

Percent

40
30
20
10

Experienced
10 Times

Experienced
9 Times

Experienced
8 Times

Experienced
5 Times

Experienced
4 Times

Experienced
3 Times

Experienced
Twice

Experienced
Once

No
Experience0

Figure 9: Percentage of Households that Experienced Floods inthe past 10 years
From Figure 10 below, it is so apparent that a small percentage of households(13.33%) indicated to have not experienced drought during the past 10 years.
This implies that majority (86.67%) of households experienced drought during
the past 10 years. Out of 86.67% of households 43%, 30.33% and 4.67%
indicated to have experienced it once, twice and 10 times respectively during
the past 10 years.
90
80
70
60
50

Percent

40
30
20
10

Experienced
10 Times

Experienced
9 Times

Experienced
8 Times

Experienced
5 Times

Experienced
4 Times

Experienced
3 Times

Experienced
Twice

Experienced
Once

No
Experience0

Figure 10: Percentage of Households that Experienced droughtin the Past 10 years.
32 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

It is very clear from Figure 11 below that majority (47.67%) of households in
Chikhwawa district did not experience erratic rainfall during the past ten tears.
Among households that did experience erratic rainfall 24.67%, and 14.00%
indicated to have experienced it during the past 10 years.
90
80
70
60
50

Percent

40
30
20
10

Experienced
10 Times

Experienced
9 Times

Experienced
8 Times

Experienced
5 Times

Experienced
4 Times

Experienced
3 Times

Experienced
Twice

Experienced
Once

No
Experience0

Figure 11: Percentage of Households that Experienced Erratic
Rainfall in the past 10 years
In Figure 12.0 below illustrate percentage of households that experienced erratic
rainfall in the past 10 years by sampled Traditional Authorities. It is therefore veryclear that majority (66.67%) of households that did not experience erratic rainfall in
the past 10 years were from Paramount Chief Lundu area. Among those thatexperienced erratic rainfall once in the past 10 years 46.67% were from Traditional
Authority Masache, and among those that experienced it 10 times majority (25%)
were from Traditional Authority Ngabu.

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 33

90
80
70
60
50

Ngabu

40

MasacheNdakwere

30

Lundu

20

Ngowe
10

Chikwawa
Experienced
10 Times

Experienced
9 Times

Experienced
8 Times

Experienced
7 Times

Experienced
6 Times

Experienced
5 Times

Experienced
4 Times

Experienced
3 Times

Experienced
Twice

Experienced
Once

No
Experience0

Figure 12: Percentage of households that experienced erratic
rains in the past 10 years by Traditional Authority
4.5

Farming Practices that Exacerbate the Impact of Climate
Change in the Study Area
It is so clear from Table 9.0 and Figure 13.0 below that careless cutting down oftrees, cultivating along the river banks and continuous cropping are some of the
farming practices that exacerbate the impacts of climate change in the study
area.
Majority of households (47.67%) indicated that careless cutting down of trees is
one of the practice in the area that exacerbate climate change impacts. About
20.33% and 15.33% of households indicated that cultivating along river banks
and continuous cropping are some of the farming practices in the area thatexacerbate climate change impacts.

34 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Table 9: Farming practices that exacerbate impacts of climatechange by percentage of households practicing
Farming Practice

Percentage ofhouseholds practicing

Monocropping

7.00

Continuous cropping

15.33

Cultivating along the river banks

20.33

Careless cutting down of trees

47.67

Cultivating on steep slopes

9.00

Overgrazing

2.67

Burning crop residues

2.67

Do not practice Soil and Water conservation methods

5.33

90
80
70
60
50

Percentage ofHouseholds
Practicing

40
30
20

Do Not Practice
Soil & Water
Coservation

Burning Crop
Residues

Overgrazing

Cultivating on
Steep Slopes

Careless Cutting
Down TreesContinous
Cropping

Monocropping0

Cutivating AlongRiver Banks

10

Figure 13: Percentage of Households Practicing Farming
Practices that Exacerbate Climate Change Impacts.

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 35

Continuous cropping degrades the soil structure and fertility and cultivation
along river banks results in soil erosion and river siltation. Careless cutting downof trees results in increased amounts of carbon dioxide emitted in theatmosphere and increased rain water runoff which causes soil erosion. Carbon
dioxide is one of the green house gases that is considered to be one of the driversof climate change. . Measures that can be put in place in order to reverse or
reduce these malpractices would significantly contribute to climate change
impacts mitigation and adaptation in the study area.
4.6

Effective indigenous, emerging and innovativetechnologies for climate change adaptation in the study
area
Figure 14.0 below illustrates identified indigenous, emerging and innovative
adaptation practices against percentage of households that practice either
one or combination of two or more.

450
400
350
300
250

Practice200

No Practice

150

Total

100
50

Apply
Organic
ManureNon-farm
IncomeGenerating
Activities

Crop
Diversification

Mixed Crop
& Livestock
Farming
SystemPercentage

Frequency

Percentage

Frequency

Percentage

Frequency

Percentage

Frequency

Percentage

Frequency

Percentage0

Small Scale
Irrigation
Farming

Figure 14: Percentages and frequencies of households
practicing adaptation technologies

36 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

It is apparent that a relatively smaller percentage (27.67%) of households
indicated to have switched to non farm income generating activities for theirsurvival. This implies that agriculture is the main livelihood security strategy in the
study area and any agriculture related adaptation practice is of paramountimportance and needs to be promoted if farm families are to build resilienceagainst climate change impacts for their sustainable livelihoods. However, thereis need to understand further the type of non farm income generating
activities(IGAs) that 27.67% of farm families in Chikhwawa district indicated tohave been engaged on. It is possible that some of the IGAs could exacerbate theimpacts of climate change.
Crop diversification proves to be a major climate change adaptation strategy
since about 84% of households indicated to have been practicing it. Anothermajor strategy following crop diversification was eating nyika (a wild tuber plant)scientifically known as Nymphaea petersiana. About 56.67% of households
indicated to have been eating nyika when they run short of maize, sorghum andother food crops. Households fetch nyika from Shire river, but those households
that stay far away from the Shire river buy nyika from the local market near to theircommunities. Nyika is a wild plant and it is not yet recognized as a domestic crop
but yet it is the plant that has proved to be used as food crop by most households
in Chikhwawa in hard times when they have run short of staple food crops.
Domesticating nyika and recognizing it as one of the food crops in Chikhwawa
and the Shire valley at large can help in building farmers' adaptive capacity andresilience against climate change impacts. About 53%, 43.33% and 42.33% ofhouseholds indicated to have been applying organic manure to their gardens,
practice mixed crop and livestock farming, and small scale irrigation,
respectively, as climate change adaptation strategies.
4.7

Different combinations of indigenous climate change
adaptation strategies practiced by households in the
study area.
From Table 10.0 below the different indigenous climate change adaptation
strategies have been outlined. It is so clear that six adaptation strategies wereidentified in the study area and they have been listed below against thepercentage of households that indicated that they have been practicing thestrategies. The commonly practiced strategies as indicated by the percentage ofhouseholds practicing are: 1) Crop diversification (84.00%), 2) Eating nyika (aIncidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 37

wild tuber plant),(56.67%), 3) Applying organic manure(53.00%), 4) Mixed cropand /stock farming(43.00%), and 5) Small scale irrigation(42.33%). It is so clearthat very few households (27.67%) switch to or practice non-farm income
generating activities. This implies that agriculture is the main livelihood security
strategy in the study area.
Table 10: Identified Indigenous climate change Adaptation
Strategies by percentage of households practicing
I.D

Adaptation strategy

Percentage of households practicing

1

Crop diversification

84.00

2

Eating Nyika( a wild tuber plant)

56.67

3

Apply organic manure to fields

53.00

4

Mixed crop and L/stock farming

43.33

5

Small scale irrigation

42.33

6

Nonfarm income generating activities

27.67

Sample size

300

It was observed that some households practiced only one adaptation strategy
but majority indicated to have been practicing more than one strategies. Table
18.0 in annex C illustrates the different combinations of the strategies practiced
by households against the percentage of households.
Households practicing one or more of the five major identified climate change
adaptation strategies were believed to be generally adapting to climate change
impacts for their livelihood security. In order to identify the factors affecting
adoption of different sets of adaptation strategies by a household, a multinomial
logit model was run by using all the 29 different combinations of adaptation
strategies against the different household characteristics. The table below
outlines the combinations of adaptation strategies which proved to besignificantly affected by one or more household characteristics. Only household
characteristics that were significant at 99%, 95% and 90% confidence intervals
were recorded.

38 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

4.8

Factors affecting adoption of various adaptation
strategies in the study area
It is so clear from Table 11 below that total annual income of the household has anegative effect on the odds ratio that a household would adopt crop
diversification (p=0.019) and a combination of crop diversification and use oforganic manure (p=0.097). This implies that as income of a household
decreases the likelihood that the household would practice crop diversification
and / or a combination of crop diversification and application of organic manuregoes up. This makes sense because households with lower income levels tend to
be more risk averse as such they practice crop diversification as a risk mitigation
strategy. Households with lower income levels also find it difficult to purchaseinorganic fertilisers as such they opt for organic manure application.
Number of months without maize proved to have a positive effect on the odds
ratio that a household would adopt crop diversification (p=0.065) and a
combination of small scale irrigation and crop diversification (P=0.05) as climatechange adaptation strategies.
The multinomial logit model also revealed that household size has a positiveeffect on the odd ratio that a household would adopt use of organic manure as aclimate change adaptation strategy (p=0.049). Similarly, access to agriculturalextension services proved to have a positive effect on the odds ratio that ahousehold would adopt application of organic manure to agricultural fields(P=0.000) a combination of small scale irrigation and crop diversification(P=0.0000) and a combination of crop diversification and mixed crop and L/stock
farming (p=0000).
It is also so vivid from the multinomial logit model that market access by ahousehold proved to have a positive effect on the odds ratio that a household eat
nyika during hard times when a household had run short of staple and other foodcrops(p=0.099). Age of household head proved to have a positive effect on theodds ratio that a household would adopt a combination of crop diversification anduse of organic manure (p=0.074).

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 39

Table 11: Multinomial Logit Model Results
Adapt

Coefficient

Std errorz -statistic

p-value

Total annual income**-0.0000197

0.00000837

-2.35

0.019

Months without maize***

0.3560102

0.1927071

1.85

0.065

Household size**

0.5190821

0.2639669

1.97

0.049

Access to Agri.Ext. Services*

20.92597

2.586447

8.09

0.000

Distance to the market***-0.7034511

0.4261017

-1.65

0.099

Access to Agri.Ext. Services*

20.20517

2.220309

9.1

0.000

Age of household head**

0.0567859

0.0279975

2.03

0.043

Household size**

0.3104329

0.1549108

2

0.045

Total annual income*-0.0000284

0.00000836

-3.4

0.001

Months without sorghum***

0.2531914

0.1468817

1.72

0.085

Age of household head***0.0450584

0.0272918

1.65

0.099

Total annual income**-0.0000274

0.00000944

-2.9

0.004

-0.0000204

0.00000804

-2.54

0.011

Months without sorghum **0.408793

0.155529

2.63

0.009

Months without maize***

0.3418234

0.2013342

1.7

0.09

0.3811462

0.1939771

1.96

0.049

19.711

1.74751

11.28

0.000

0.3683448

0.1944356

1.89

0.058

Practice Crop diversification

Use Organic Manure

Eat Nyika (a wild tuber plant)

All minus small scale Irrigation

All minus SSI and Mixed crop &L/stock

All minus mixed crop&L/stock and nyika
Total annual income**

All minus eating nyika
Land holding size**
Crop diversification& Eating Nyika
Access to Agri. Ext Services*
All minus organic manure application
Months without maize***

40 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

All practices
Total annual income**-0.000012

0.00000473

-2.53

0.011

Months without sorghum **0.2830155

0.1440495

1.96

0.049

Access to Agri. Ext Services*

19.85107

1.640641

12.1

0.000

19.14529

2.243486

8.53

0.000

19.10234

1.701527

11.23

0.000

0.0536928
0.0000108

0.0300059

0.074

0.00000649

1.79
1.66

0.097

Months without sorghum ***0.3053045

0.17948

1.7

0.089

Months without maize***0.4013618

0.2095466

1.92

0.055

Access to Agri. Ext. services*

19.45085

2.476866

7.85

0.000

Months without sorghum***

0.2564516

0.1537832

1.67

0.095

Months without maize***0.3296346

0.1967897

1.68

0.094

0.4734196

0.2307704

2.05

0.04

Total annual income**-0.0000249

0.0000104

-2.4

0.016

Months without maize**

0.4208783

0.1919804

2.19

0.028

Landholding size***

0.3669732

0.1893859

1.94

0.053

Months with maize***

0.357373

0.194466

1.84

0.066

Distance to market***0.2534015

0.1525592

1.66

0.097

Access to Agri. Ext. Services*

19.3434345

1.663863

11.63

0.000

Crop diversification and Mixed crop&L/stock
Access to agri. Ext. services*
All minus SSI& eating nyika
Access to agri.ext. services*
Crop diversification & organic manure application
Age of household head***
Total annual income***
SSI and crop diversification

All minus SSI & organic manure application

Small scale Irrigation & Eating nyika
Months without maize**All minus mixed crop& L/stock farming

All minusmixed crop
&L/stock andOrganic manure application* 99% confidence interval**95% confidence interval, *** 90% confidence interval

Note: The base outcome that was used was that the household did not adapt to climate change as being reflected in a household not practicing any of the farming
related adaptation strategies (none=0).
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 41

5. Conclusions & Policy
Recommendations
In conclusion, it was so clear from the analysis of the data that:In the past ten years, households in the study area have been affected by climatechange impacts such as floods, droughts and erratic rainfall. These impacts
have in turn negatively affected farm families' livelihoods which are mainly basedon agriculture.
Careless cutting down of trees, cultivating along the river banks and continuous
cropping are some of the farming practices that exacerbate the impacts ofclimate change among farmers in the study area.
Crop diversification, eating a wild tuber plant called nyika, applying organic
manure to agriculture fields, mixed crop and livestock farming; small scale
irrigation and nonfarm income generating activities were identified to be theindigenous climate change adaptation strategies being adopted by households
in the study area. It was observed that a small percentage of households,
practices nonfarm income generating activities, which implies that agriculture,
are the main livelihood security strategy in the study area. The five agricultural
related adaptation strategies were therefore prioritized to be effective indigenous
climate change adaptation strategies in the study area.
The study also revealed that maize and sorghum variety diversification is one of
the climate change adaptation strategies that smallholder farmers use in
Chikhwawa district. Thus, improving access to early maturing and droughttolerant maize and sorghum seed could assist more smallholder farmers in
42 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Chikhwawa district to adapt to climate change impacts such as prolonged dry
spells or droughts.
It was observed that households practice one, two, three or all the identified
adaptation strategies. Factors that affect adoption of different combinations ofclimate change adaptation strategies were identified. The household
characteristics that proved to be significantly affecting households to adapt toclimate change impacts in the study area being reflected in a household
practicing one or more adaptation strategies are:- household size, landholding
size, total annual household income level, access to inputs and output market,
months household had no maize or sorghum, and access to agriculturalextension services.
It is therefore recommended that:the identified indigenous climate change adaptation strategies namely: Crop andcrop variety diversification, eating a wild tuber plant called nyika, applying
organic manure to agriculture fields, mixed crop and livestock farming, small
scale irrigation should be promoted by the government, the donor community as
well as by the civil society organisations if farm families in the study area and otherareas in Malawi are to build adaptive capacity or resilience against climatechange impacts.
Since it was observed and it has empirically been proven that majority ofhouseholds in Chikhwawa eat a wild tuber plant called nyika (Nymphea
petersiana) as a food insecurity coping mechanism, it is recommended that thereis need to conduct an action research on domestication of nyika and find ways on
how to improve its productivity at the farm level. A study on assessing or
understanding the nutrition content and different utilization options of nyika canalso be conducted.
There is need to intensively promote afforestation programs in Chikhwawa andMalawi at large and conduct intensive civic education programs aimed atsensitizing communities on the danger of careless cutting down of trees,
cultivating along river banks and continuous cropping in order to influence
behavior change towards climate change impacts mitigation and adaptation at
individual , community and national levels.
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 43

The government of Malawi through Ministry of Agriculture and Food security
should improve on the agricultural extension services delivery system anddevelop messages that aim a promoting adoption on climate change adaptation
strategies being identified at individual community and national levels. Access toagricultural extension services proved to be one of the important factors that
influences household to adopt climate change adaptation strategies.
Innovative collective action institutional set ups can be explored so that they
assist in reinforcing adoption of good farming practices and influence communaland household's behavioral change in favor of climate change impacts mitigation
and adaptation

44 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

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Annex A:
List of Sampled villages and sampled number of households pervillage.
I.D

Name of Village

Number of respondents

Sample size Percent

1

Chimphambala

20

6.67

2

Nkache1243Mwantoma

11

3.67

4

Nota

10

3.33

5

Chingondo

22

7.33

6

Laza

9

3

7

Chaima12

48Nsangwe27

99Tsabeta

15

5

10

Amoni

12

4

11

Ntopola

18

6

12

Joni

20

6.67

13

Ndakulidwa

7

2.33

14

Mchacha18

615

Msonthe

16

5.33

16

Mangulenje

9

3

17

Mvula

13

4.33

18

Thimba12

4

19

Mwamunammodzi

10

3.33

20

Diloni15

521

Kampani

12

4

Total

300

100

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 53

Annex B:
List of Referred Figures

FigureB-1: Frequency distribution of Age of household head

FigureB-2: Frequency distribution of Education level ofhousehold head

54 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Figure B-3: Frequency distribution of household size

FigureB-4: Frequency distribution of Farming experience ofhousehold head
Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 55

FigureB-5: Frequency distribution of value of household assets

FigureB-6: Frequency distribution of total annual income

56 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

FigureB-7: Frequency distribution of landholding size

FigureB-8: Frequency distribution of months household had
no maize

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 57

FigureB-9: Frequency distribution of months household had
no sorghum

58 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 59

130

300

No Practice

Total

100

43.33
300

141

159

170

Practice

100

47.00

53.00

Frequency Percentage

Frequency Percentage

56.67

Apply Organic
ManureEat Nyika (a wild
water tuber plant)

300

217

83

Frequency

100

72.33

27.67

Percentage

Nonfarm income
generating activities

300

48

252

100

16.00

84.00

Frequency Percentage

Crop diversification

300

170

130

Frequency

100

56.67

43.33

Percentage

Mixed crop andlivestock farming
system

300

173

127

Frequency

100

57.67

42.33

Percentage

Small Scale
Irrigation farming

TableC-1: Identified indigenous, emerging and innovative technologies for climate change
adaptation by frequency and percentage of households that do practice the technologies

Annex C
List of Referred Tables

TableC-2: Logit model of small scale irrigation practice againsthousehold characteristics

TableC-3: Logit model of crop diversification practice againsthousehold characteristics

60 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

TableC-4: Logit model of use of organic manure againsthousehold characteristics

TableC-5: Logit model of eating nyika practice againsthousehold characteristics

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 61

TableC-6: Logit model of eating nyika practice againsthousehold characteristics

Table C-7 note: Practice all means a household practices all the five identified strategies as
indicated in Table 18.0. This excludes non farm income generating activities being practiced bya small percentage of households. Even though households that switched off from farming to
non farm income generating activities are considered adapting to climate change, in this study
they are considered not to be adapting to climate change in the farming sector.
62 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

Table C-7: Different combinations of indigenous climate change
adaptation strategies by percentage of households practising
I.D Adaptation strategy

Percentage

Cumulative0

None (Non farm income generating activities)

6.00

6.00

1

Small Scale irrigation

0.67

6.67

2

Crop diversification

8.00

14.67

3

Mixed Crop and L/stock farming

1.00

15.67

4

Apply Organic Manure

1.33

17.00

5

Eat nyika

1.67

18.67

6

Practice all except Small scale irrigation

8.67

27.33

7

Practice all except Small scale irrigation and mixed crop& L/stock farming

8.00

35.33

8

practice all except mixed crop&L/stock farming and eating nyika

5.33

40.67

9

Practice all except eating nyika

3.33

44.00

10

crop diversification and eating nyika

4.00

48.00

11

Practice all except applying organic manure

5.67

53.67

12

Practice all five identified strategies

7.67

61.33

13

Practice all except applying organic manure and eating nyika

2.33

63.67

14

Practice all except crop diversification and mixed crop&L/stock farming

1.00

64.67

15

Practice all except crop diversification and applying organic manure

0.33

65.00

16

Practice all except small scale irrigation and Crop diversification

0.33

65.33

17

Small Scale irrigation and applying organic manure

0.33

65.67

18

mixed Crop and L/stock farming and eating nyika

1.00

66.67

19

Crop diversification and mixed crop& L/stock farming

2.00

68.67

20

Practice all except small scale irrigation and eating nyika

5.33

74.00

21

Crop diversification and applying organic manure

5.00

79.00

22

Small Scale irrigation and crop diversification

2.33

81.33

23

Practice all except small scale irrigation and applying organic manure

5.00

86.33

24

Small scale irrigation and mixed crop & L/stock farming

0.33

86.67

25

Small scale irrigation and eating nyika

1.33

88.00

26

Practice all except mixed crop&L/stock farming and applying organic manure

6.00

94.00

27

Practice all except mixed crop&L/stock farming

5.33

99.33

28

Apply Organic Manure and eating nyika

0.33

99.67

29

Practice all except crop diversification

0.33

100.00Total

100.00Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 63

TableC-8: Percentage of households that experienced floods inthe past 10 years
Percent

Cum.

70.33

70.33

Experienced once

21

91.33

Experienced twice

4

95.33

Experienced 3 times

0.67

96

Experienced 4 times

0.67

96.67

Experienced 5 times

1

97.67

Experienced 8 times

0.33

98

Experienced 9 times

0.33

98.33

Experienced 10 times

1.67

100

Total

100

No experience

TableC-9: Percentage of Households that experienced droughtin the past 10years
Percent

Cum.

13.33

13.33

Experienced once

43

56.33

Experienced twice

30.33

86.67

Experienced 3 times

5.33

92

Experienced 4 times

1

93

Experienced 5 times

295

Experienced 8 times

0.33

95.33

Experienced 10 times

4.67

100

Total

100

No experience64 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

TableC-10: Percentage of households that experienced erratic
rains in the past 10 years by Traditional Authority
Percent

Cum.

No Experience

47.67

47.67

Experienced Once

24.67

72.33

Experienced twice

7

79.33

Experienced 3 times

3

82.33

Experienced 4 times

0.33

82.67

Experienced 5 times

1.67

84.33

Experienced 6 times

0.33

84.67

Experienced 7 times

0.33

85

Experienced 8 times

0.67

85.67

experienced 9 times

0.33

86

Experienced 10 times

14

100

TableC-11: Percentage of households that experienced erratic
rains in the past 10 years by Traditional Authority
Frequency ofoccurence

Traditional Authority
Ngabu

MasacheNdakwera

Lundu

Ngowe

Chikhwawa

No experience

42.65

36.67

60.66

66.67

48.33

50.99

Experienced once

16.91

46.67

22.95

0.00

36.67

24.64

Experienced twice

6.62

6.67

8.20

0.00

6.67

5.63

Experienced 3 times

3.68

3.33

1.64

0.00

3.33

2.40

Experienced 4 times

0.74

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.15

Experienced 5 times

2.21

0.00

3.28

0.00

0.00

1.10

Experienced 6 times

0.74

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.15

Experienced 7 times

0.74

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.15

Experienced 8 times

0.00

6.67

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.33

Experienced 9 times

0.74

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.15

Experienced 10 times

25.00

0.00

3.28

33.33

5.00

13.32

Total

100.00100.00100.00100.00100.00100.00Sample size

136.00

30.00

61.00

9.00

60.00

296.00Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 65

66 | Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi

adaptation in Chikwawa district?

effective indigenous and emerging

technologies and innovations for

What is the level of awareness on climate change
issues in the study area?

What are the significant ,visible and experiential
climate change impacts in the study area?

What are the farmers’ practices that exacerbate theimpact of climate change in the study area?

To Examine the nature of climate

To identify different practices thatchange in the area;

exacerbate the impact of climatechange impact in the study area

climate change in the area

To examine the awareness ofstudy area

climate change adaptation in the

What are the effective indigenous and emerging

technologies and innovations for climate change

To identify, describe and document

Research Questions

Objectives

Annex D
Research Methodological Framework

Farmers in the study area do not engage in practices
that exacerbate climate change impacts.

There are no significant, visible and experiential
climate change impacts in the study area.

Farmers and institutions in the study area are notaware of climate change impacts and other related
issues.

Hypothesis· Farming practices· Off-farm and on-farmenterprises· Other practices· Type of climate change
impacts (visible andexperiential)· Temperatures trend forthe past 10 years· Rainfall trend for the past
10 years.
· Floods occurrence
pattern· Dry spells occurrence
pattern· Farmers’ stories andtestimonies on what theyknow about climatechange.
· Farmers experience on theimpacts of climate change
and their response to copeor adapt.
· Institutions’ experience andresponse measures toclimate change impacts.

· Farming systems(crops
and Livestock)· Off- farm income
generating activities· Innovations and indigenous
technologies.

Data needs (what data needs
to be collected)-Include
specific variables

Focus Group discussions
Transect walk and observations
Individual household survey
Semi-Structured Interviews with key
informants in Chikwawa district.
· Descriptive statistics by use STATA
10. computer package shall be usedin the analysis

·
·
·
·

Focus Group discussions
Transect walk and observations
Individual household survey
Semi-Structured Interviews with key
informants in Chikwawa district.
· Descriptive statistics by use STATA
10. computer package shall be usedin the analysis

·
·
·
·

Focus Group Discussions
Historical climatic profile.
Individual Household Survey.
Semi-Structured Interviews with key
informants in Chikhwawa district.
· Descriptive statistics by use STATA 10.
computer package shall be used in theanalysis····· Focus group discussions· Individual household survey· Semi-Structured Interviews with key
informants in Chikwawa district.
· Transect walk and observations.
· Descriptive statistics by use of
STATA 10. computer package shallbe used in the analysis

Possible methods of data collection andanalysis

Incidence of Indigenous, Emerging and Innovative Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Smallholder Farmers' Livelihood Security in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi | 67

area.

institutional level in the study

adaptation mea sures at

towards climate change

for enhancing behavioral changes

Make policy recommendations

Malawicommunity and national levels inresilience at individual household,for building climate change· Make policy recommendations

strategies in the area

adoption of various adaptation· Determine factors affecting· What are institutional behaviors towards climatechange adaptation measures?
· What are the capacity building needs of theinstitutions that can assist to influencecommunities to adapt to climate change?

· What are household behaviors towards climatechange adaptation measures?
· What are the factors that affect adoption of various
adaptation strategies?
· What are the capacity building needs of the farming
communities that can assist to adapt to climatechange?

Farmers’ access to markets, access to credit,
access to extension service, household assets,
farming experience, household size, age ofhousehold head, gender of household head,education level of household head, and farmer’sawareness of climate change do not affect adoptionof adaptation practices for climate change.

· Climate change adaptation
measures exposed tofarmers and institutions.
· Whether the adaptation
measures are being
utilized or not to bothhousehold and institutional
levels· Household socio economic
data· Different household
adaptation strategies· Focus Group discussions· Individual household survey· Semi -Structured Interviews with key
informants in Chikhwawa district.
· Descriptive statistics by use STATA
10. computer package shall be usedin the analysis .

· Individual household survey.
· The multinomial Logit Model shall be
used in determining the factors that
effect adoption of adaptation
measures.
· Descriptive statistics by use of
STATA 10. computer package shallalso be used in the analysis

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