Smallholder farming in the face of climate change

Apart from its nutritional value, food systems are crucial to our economies – agriculture accounts for four percent of global GDP. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where about 50% of the region’s workforce engages in farming, the sector accounts for at least 20% of GDP. The FAO estimates that 70 percent of the world’s 570 million farms are less than one hectare. Smallholder farming accounts for nearly 80% Uganda’s population is based in rural communities. Despite all these, it is projected that Africa will be most affected by the effects of climate change.

But, who are smallholder farmers?

At the heart of Africa’s agriculture are smallholder farmers, some 33 million hardworking individuals who typically farm on less than a hectare of land. Despite their small operational scale, smallholder farmers produce food for a substantial proportion of the world’s population. They grow a variety of crops such as rice, maize, sorghum, wheat, beans and vegetables which help with balancing nutrition and diversification of the food markets. 

It is not easy practicing agriculture, certainly not as a smallholder farmer. This is because it is labor intensive, and they face many risks, uncertainties  and challenges that they have learnt to deal with through experience. Family labor is mostly employed but sometimes they do hire external labor to help prepare in the farming. Despite all these, smallholder farmers take pride in what they do. They are passionate and committed to look for opportunities to improve their work. A majority of smallholder farmers have had little or no education, this is typical in rural communities. This limits their ability to access, process and efficiently use relevant information they might come across.

For decades, they have acted as stewards of our environment who have adopted critical practices like agroforestry, mulching, intercropping, terracing etc. These are all essential in mitigating and adapting to climate change which the world is racing to combat today. This is in addition to the immediate benefits of growing trees like jack fruit, which have many additional benefits. Because they are the lowest earners at the base of their production value chain, their ability to develop resilience mechanisms and quickly adapt to climate change effects is very limited, despite their critical role in feeding the world’s population. We, therefore, need to help them to adopt both short term and long term strategies to ensure that they will continue feeding the world.

While terms like carbon neutral, carbon capture, global warming and the likes are now normal to the rest of the world, smallholder farmers have very little knowledge, if any of what they mean. Yet the world expects them to play a part in reducing the emissions that they in principle have contributed. Of course, it is smallholder farmers, especially those in Africa that are and will continue to experience most of the effects.

7 key things to know about smallholder farmers and smallholder farming:

1. Smallholder farming is often rain-fed – meaning the only source of water used comes from the sky!
2. Small farms depend predominantly on family labor, although they may hire outside help.
3. Smallholder farmers produce relatively small food volumes on small plots of land (compared to large or commercial-scale farmers).
4. They produce primarily for local consumption, but their commodities, such as maize, mangoes, and avocado, can find their way into the export market.
5. Smallholders generally have fewer resources and technology than commercial-scale farmers. For example, they till their land by hand instead of using tractors.
6. Smallholders are often considered part of the informal economy – their livelihoods depend on the natural resource base and informal networks to access markets.
7. Smallholder farmers are most vulnerable to climate and market price fluctuations.

What are most their biggest challenges

One can have a strong case to argue that the majority of smallholder farmers in Uganda become so, without choice. Either due to lack of alternative occupations or they became so as a natural transition, simply because it is what they grew up practising. Whatever the case might be, smallholder farmers face many challenges that limit their growth and expansion besides working on limited pieces of land. Three of the biggest are access to finance and quality inputs, climate change and market access. Let us explore this a little more. 

– Access to finance and quality inputs: When farmers cannot access affordable agricultural finance, they cannot afford planting supplies, most often seed and fertilizer. This, in turn, means they miss being able to plant when the rains start each planting season – a critical moment given the majority of them practice rain-fed agriculture. As a result, they often fail to meet their farms’ production potential, with serious implications for food and nutrition security and livelihoods.

– Climate change: Climate change is also causing lots of problems for smallholders. Climate change alters the growing conditions of entire regions, affecting rain patterns and making production unpredictable. Inevitably, farmers who depend on rain are most affected by the effects of our changing climate. Climate change also causes environmental degradation, water supply fluctuations, including floods, droughts, and severe storms. These events lead to scenarios such as low soil fertility, a reduction in arable land suitable for agricultural production, erosion, depletion of water bodies and reduced rainfall, and high incidences of pests and diseases that affect crop productivity and livestock health.

– Market access: Market access is another big challenge; smallholders lack reliable, fair markets to sell their produce. Because most farmers live in remote places or simply do not have the right networks. It’s often difficult for them to get their produce to markets, with high transportation costs a big constraint. This is really problematic because after harvesting, many smallholder farmers need to sell their crops quickly because they don’t have ideal storage facilities. Most farmers have been exploited by middlemen, who come to their villages, and buy their produce at give-away prices.

So what’s the solution?

– Providing access to finance, quality supplies and training: Supplying farmers with asset-based financing and agriculture training services is a practical way of increasing the productivity of small farms and reducing hunger and poverty. 

Giving Hope Foundation is providing smallholders with farming supplies like high-quality seed and organic fertilizer – on credit, and agriculture training services, to enable them to increase and sustain their farms’ production. Farmers enjoy a flexible repayment system that allows them to pay back their loans in any amount throughout the growing season. Besides accessing credit options, farmers also benefit from market facilitation through storage solutions and marketing training.

– Building climate resilience: Even with increased access to all of these services, products, and information, climate change poses a threat to smallholders. This is why increasing focus on climate resiliency practices such as climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is critical. CSA strategies, which help farmers maintain their productivity even during challenging weather, include products and services that generate income and enhance a farm’s long-term sustainability. For example biochar, bamboo and growing trees along their farms help fix their soils’ health and provide long-term, stable assets. Another solution is crop diversification ensures that the farmers can still have food to eat, even when one crop suffers. We are also training them in making and applying compost along with biochar, which helps to enrich the soil and maintain its health.

Development leaders have to find ways to integrate biodiversity into farming systems, especially for smallholder farmers. Together, we must find ways to equip them with basic farming tools in order to help them move away from manual production. We need to help them access and process information, for example, training them in how to efficiently use mobile phones can take them a huge step forward.

Supporting sustainable agricultural production starts at the grassroots level. Giving Hope Foundation works directly with rural smallholder farmers to help them grow healthier food, access markets, diversify their incomes and receive the information and tools they need in moving out of poverty. 

You can also support our Climate change adaptation project for smallholder farmers in Uganda