Climate Change Adaptation Strategies among Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Climate change remains a global challenge, threatening food security and livelihoods,
especially among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Recent estimates reveal
that smallholder farmers account for 75% of the total agricultural output and 70% of
marketed agricultural produce in Kenya. However, it is projected that climate change and
variability will reduce agricultural production by 10–20% by 2050. Climate change
adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers are thus critical to ensure the resilience of
people's livelihoods and the survival of agriculture. This systematic review examined climate
change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The
synthesis included ten studies that met the criteria, including three quantitative and seven
mixed-methods studies. The quantitative studies identified significant climate adaptation
strategies included such as: adopting different seed/ plant varieties, changes in fertilizer and
manure use patterns, reducing runoff and erosion, and changes in crop sequences. In
contrast, the mixed methods studies revealed different significant climate adaptation
strategies such as planting trees, mulching, crop rotation, varying planting and harvesting
dates, crop diversification, water harvesting, use of farmland manure, intercropping, and
terracing. Key factors influencing the uptake of climate change adaptation strategies among
smallholder farmers included increasingly challenging climate conditions, educational
attainment, and farming in higher potential agroecological environments. The review
identifies evidence gaps in optimizing the benefits from a unified approach to adaptation
rather than separate treatment of adaptation or mitigation. Besides, despite adaptation
strategies being skewed towards integrated drought-related effects of climate change, the
review did not identify any gender-sensitive climate adaptation strategies reducing farmers'
vulnerability to climate change impacts. There is a need for impact evaluations on the effects
of climate adaptation strategies, and further research on the effectiveness of climate change
adaptation strategies to examine both the extent to which these climate change adaptation
strategies interventions are transferrable to sub-Saharan countries.
Keywords:Climate change, smallholder farmer, Adaptation strategies,Agricultural,
Variability