Research Articles (DE)

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Browsing Research Articles (DE) by Subject "Climate risk"

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    Assessing climate risk to improve incomes of rural farming households in the Caprivi region, Namibia
    (2013) Nyambe, Jacob M.; Belete, A.
    While the scientific world blames the severity of climate risk factors on climate change, the assessment of its effects on a rural household remains understudied. The objective of this study is to assess climate risk factors on rural households that practices small-scale agriculture with the aim of improving the incomes of farming households. The paper used cross-sectional data from a sample of 253 respondents who represented households that were based in the flood prone areas of the Caprivi region. Invoking a multivariate regression model revealed that climate risk factors especially flood exacerbates the opportunity cost for obtaining a good harvest and thus exposed farming households to income risk and food insecurity. In view of these findings, old age pension and retirement annuities, the value of livestock and that of food aid proved vital to the income and food security needs of rural households in the study area. Investing in early warning systems and publicizing likely climate risk scenarios may be helpful to rural households in preparing to secure their income sources and thus reducing chances of hunger.
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    Determinants of farmers’ decisions to cultivate crops in the Caprivi region of Namibia: A logistics analysis
    (2012) Nyambe, Jacob M.; Belete, A.
    Annually, rural farmers in the Caprivi region are faced with making difficult choices of whether or not to cultivate their crop fields. The choice farmers make is influenced by the presence of wild animals, climate risk factors, and prospects of future food aid-rollouts. This study investigates key identified determinants to rural farmers’ decisions to cultivate their crop fields amidst the three mentioned influencers. Using a structured questionnaire, 253 respondents were interviewed on a face to face basis. Random sampling was used in selecting the respondents. The respondents resided in the flood plains where they had access to food aid for a period of 5 years. The central livelihood strategy for the respondents is agriculture. A logistics model was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the household food bill, age of the head of the household, and the value and availability of food aid were essential determinants of a rural farmer’s decision to cultivate his/her crop field. It also came out that rolling out food aid to rural farmers for a period of ≤ 5 years has little effect on their crop production commitments. A longer period may become a disincentive to crop farming in favor of food aid.