IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i7p3773-d525989.html

Understanding the Logic of Climate Change Adaptation: Unpacking Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation by Smallholder Farmers in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe

Author

Listed:
  • Wisemen Chingombe

    (School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, Private Bag X11283, Mbombela 1200, South Africa)

  • Happwell Musarandega

    (Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa)

Abstract

Smallholder farmers in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe, have grappled for a long time with the effects of climate change despite the locally and externally driven resilience-building initiatives in place. This paper adopts a qualitative approach to explore the encountered adaptation barriers. Smallholder farmers, Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) officers, and the traditional leadership fraternity were randomly selected from the district’s 22 rural wards as study participants. Data were solicited using focus group discussions and face-to-face interviews that were corroborated by researcher observation methods. The data were analysed using thematic content analysis of key perspectives drawn from smallholder farmers, traditional leaders, and extension officers who work with farmers. What was unveiled is an assortment of barrier dynamics related to climate, finance, infrastructure, generational change, water resources, inefficient bureaucracy, gender inequality, and health barriers. Vensim PLE 7.3 software was used to illustrate barrier components as they act together to cripple smallholder farmers’ efforts to raise their adaptive capacity. Adaptation barriers are complex and, therefore, cannot be addressed using policies that are fragmented. The paper recommends a multidimensional approach by policy makers to analyse adaptive barriers to build more climate resilience within smallholder farmer communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Wisemen Chingombe & Happwell Musarandega, 2021. "Understanding the Logic of Climate Change Adaptation: Unpacking Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation by Smallholder Farmers in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3773-:d:525989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3773/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3773/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Linus M. Nyiwul, 2019. "Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Africa: Strategies, Synergies, and Constraints," Contributions to Economics, in: Tiago Sequeira & Liliana Reis (ed.), Climate Change and Global Development, pages 219-241, Springer.
    2. Tiago Sequeira & Liliana Reis (ed.), 2019. "Climate Change and Global Development," Contributions to Economics, Springer, number 978-3-030-02662-2, May.
    3. H. Brown & Johnson Nkem & Denis Sonwa & Youssoufa Bele, 2010. "Institutional adaptive capacity and climate change response in the Congo Basin forests of Cameroon," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 263-282, March.
    4. Klaus Eisenack & Susanne C. Moser & Esther Hoffmann & Richard J. T. Klein & Christoph Oberlack & Anna Pechan & Maja Rotter & Catrien J. A. M. Termeer, 2014. "Explaining and overcoming barriers to climate change adaptation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 867-872, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Happy Mathew Tirivangasi & Louis Nyahunda, 2025. "The interplay of Christianity and Ndau African traditional religion in shaping climate change adaptation in Zimbabwe: An Afrocentric analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2266-2277, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boehnke, Denise & Jehling, Mathias & Vogt, Joachim, 2023. "What hinders climate adaptation? Approaching barriers in municipal land use planning through participant observation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    2. Denis Sonwa & Johnson Nkem & Monica Idinoba & Mekou Bele & Cyprain Jum, 2012. "Building regional priorities in forests for development and adaptation to climate change in the Congo Basin," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 441-450, April.
    3. Jungmin An & Dong-Kwan Kim & Jinyeong Lee & Sung-Kwan Joo, 2021. "Least Squares Monte Carlo Simulation-Based Decision-Making Method for Photovoltaic Investment in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Laura M. Canevari‐Luzardo & Frans Berkhout & Mark Pelling, 2020. "A relational view of climate adaptation in the private sector: How do value chain interactions shape business perceptions of climate risk and adaptive behaviours?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 432-444, February.
    5. Nadia Pintossi & Deniz Ikiz Kaya & Ana Pereira Roders, 2021. "Assessing Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse Practices: Multi-Scale Challenges and Solutions in Rijeka," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, March.
    6. H.M. Tuihedur Rahman & Gordon M. Hickey, 2020. "An Analytical Framework for Assessing Context-Specific Rural Livelihood Vulnerability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    7. Cavalcante, Ana Helena A. P., 2015. "Barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation: The water crisis in Greater São Paulo," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 04-2015, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    8. Castells-Quintana, David & del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, Maria & McDermott, Thomas K.J., 2018. "A review of adaptation to climate change through a development economics lens," Working Papers 309605, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    9. Qiao Hu & Zhenghong Tang & Lei Zhang & Yuanyuan Xu & Xiaolin Wu & Ligang Zhang, 2018. "Evaluating climate change adaptation efforts on the US 50 states’ hazard mitigation plans," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 92(2), pages 783-804, June.
    10. Singh, Naveen P. & Arathy, Ashok & Pavithra S. & Balaji S.J. & Bhawna, Anand & Khan, Arshad, Md., 2017. "Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Development Planning," Policy Papers 344986, ICAR National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP).
    11. Mazdak Irani & Saeed Banihashemi, 2022. "Impact of Knowledge, Tendency and Perceived Threats of Climate Change on Adaptation Strategies: The Case of Tehran Architects," Energy and Environment Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, June.
    12. Ajay Gajanan Bhave & Neha Mittal & Ashok Mishra & Narendra Singh Raghuwanshi, 2016. "Integrated Assessment of no-Regret Climate Change Adaptation Options for Reservoir Catchment and Command Areas," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(3), pages 1001-1018, February.
    13. Tomas Gabriel Bas & Jacques Gagnon & Philippe Gagnon & Angela Contreras, 2022. "Analysis of Agro Alternatives to Boost Cameroon’s Socio-Environmental Resilience, Sustainable Development, and Conservation of Native Forests," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-28, July.
    14. Melania Michetti & Stefano Ghinoi, 2020. "Climate-driven vulnerability and risk perception: implications for climate change adaptation in rural Mexico," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(3), pages 290-302, September.
    15. Richard H. Moss, 2016. "Assessing decision support systems and levels of confidence to narrow the climate information “usability gap”," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 143-155, March.
    16. Melina Matos, 2025. "Innovation drivers in climate adaptation," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 15(1), pages 35-54, March.
    17. Charles Sims & Sarah E. Null & Josue Medellin-Azuara & Augustina Odame, 2021. "Hurry Up Or Wait: Are Private Investments In Climate Change Adaptation Delayed?," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(04), pages 1-36, November.
    18. Lisa Dilling & Elise Pizzi & John Berggren & Ashwin Ravikumar & Krister Andersson, 2017. "Drivers of adaptation: Responses to weather- and climate-related hazards in 60 local governments in the Intermountain Western U.S," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(11), pages 2628-2648, November.
    19. Injy Johnstone, 2022. "Global governance and the Global Green New Deal: the G7’s role," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Sining C. Cuevas, 2016. "The interconnected nature of the challenges in mainstreaming climate change adaptation: evidence from local land use planning," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 661-676, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3773-:d:525989. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.