Abstract
Purpose — The effects of climate change have caused Angolan agriculture grave problems. The sector relies on rain-fed agriculture, but rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall make growing crops and raising livestock more difficult. The problem is aggravated by various issues. Firstly, the Angolan government does not appear to understand the sector, secondly, it does not involve the farming community in their discussions and thirdly it invests too little in the sector. This lack of understanding and communication continually blights the sector and by extension the country, resulting in repeated inappropriate agriculture financial policies and increased food insecurity. The purpose of this study is to explore the role and views of stakeholders in improving the resilience of Angolan small-scale farmers to climate change.Methodology — Phase 1 a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with purposively selected twenty smallholder farmers and four experts. The results were analysed thematically in the second phase; a survey questionnaire was developed using five themes to emerge from the qualitative results. In the third phase, a quantitative cross-sectional stakeholder survey was delivered to one hundred and eighty-one stakeholders. Both the interviews and survey were conducted in Portuguese, analysed and then translated into English.
Findings — This study found that farmers believe climate change has resulted in more erratic rainfall, often there is too much rainfall or even too little rainfall to sustain farming. It also revealed that lack of coordination between government schemes and stakeholders coupled with reduced government spending has impacted farmers’ cash flows and subsequently the wider rural community. The result is that farmers depend increasingly on informal financial sources to fund their businesses. To cope with these stresses, Angolan farmers use informal adaptation strategies, but this contributes to their sense of powerlessness and vulnerability.
Research limitations and implications — The main limitation of this study lay in accessing information about Angola because there are no large-scale databases. This study offers significant policy inputs at the local and national government levels. It urges the government to bring together stakeholders, including farmers to build and implement appropriate policy responses to climate change. It argues these responses will improve the country’s food security.
Originality ⁄ Value — By examining the experiences and concerns of small-scale farmers and agriculture stakeholders in Angola, the empirical evidence points to the role different stakeholders can play in scaling up farmers’ resilience in one of the least studied countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
| Date of Award | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Madhusudan Acharyya (Supervisor) & Keith Halcro (Supervisor) |