Quantifying the determinants of climate change adaptation strategies and farmers' access to credit in South Africa

The damaging effects of climate change on agricultural productivity are on the increase. Relevant adaptation strategies are important to cope with climate change risks and sustain agricultural productivity. This study employed descriptive statistics, multivariate probit (MVP) model and endogenous switching regression model (ESRM), to analyze the data collected using a survey questionnaire from four provinces in South Africa. The study estimated the determining factors influencing the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies and credit access among smallholder farmers in the study areas. The empirical results of the multivariate probit model showed that location, access to extension, non-farm income, farming experience, crop and livestock production, susceptibility, agricultural training and access to credit variables influenced the smallholder decision to adopt climate change adaptation strategies. On the other hand, the ESRM showed that location, age, marital status, gender among others, influenced the decision to adopt climate change adaptation strategies. The variables such as location, education, drought experience affected the smallholder farmers' access to credit. Thus, to improve the adaptive capacity of farmers, stakeholders and government must cooperate and collaborate to improve the conditions under which farmers can gain access to climate change information and suitable agricultural credit as well as policy incentives to ensure overall sustainability of the agricultural sector. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that factors such as location, access to extension, farming experience, crop and livestock production, among others, influence smallholder farmers' adoption of climate change adaptation strategies; while location, age, marital status, gender, among other factors, influence the decision to adopt climate change adaptation strategies; and factors like location, education, and drought experience affect smallholder farmers' access to credit.