Farmers' views on climate change

..development agencies and governments need to think carefully about who to target when promoting agroforestry as an activity that reduces vulnerability to climate change.

When Harvard graduate Tannis Thorlakson explored the contribution that agroforestry could make to reducing subsistence farmers' vulnerability to climate change in Western Kenya, she canvassed the views of the people who really mattered: the farmers themselves.

Thorlakson conducted a series of household surveys, in-depth interviews and group discussions in Nyando District, where there are high levels of poverty. During the previous year, the district had experienced both droughts and floods, and Thorlakson was able to gauge the impact these had on farmers' livelihoods and practices. Many families had suffered, with the disastrous weather conditions forcing them to sell agricultural tools, consume seeds which should have been used for planting, and make other sacrifices. Climate change could make their lives even more difficult in future.

Most of the farmers believed the best way of coping with climate threats and stresses involved improving their standard of living. Agroforestry helps farmers do this by raising productivity and incomes though diversification, and providing farmland with greater resilience to climatic hazards. However, agroforestry is a long-term process, and farmers have to wait some years before they experience tangible benefits. This helps to explain why the poorest farmers did not invest much in planting trees, despite their evident benefits; they could not afford to think about the future.

"Thorlakson's research contains a very important message for development agencies," says Henry Neufeldt, head of climate change research at the World Agroforestry Centre. "It shows that if farmers can't afford to forego the income they earn from annual crops – and that's the case for the poorest farmers – then they won't be able to invest in agroforestry or other climate-smart activities which could help them break out of the poverty trap." This means that development agencies and governments need to think carefully about who to target when promoting agroforestry as an activity that reduces vulnerability to climate change.

Thorlakson T. (forthcoming). Reducing subsistence farmers' vulnerability to climate change: the potential contributions of agroforestry in Western Kenya. Nairobi: World Agroforestry Centre.