The 2015 El Niño's impacts on Ghanaian cocoa households’ livelihoods - the roles of adap?ve prepara?on and agronomic knowledge to bolster resilience to climate shocks. Researching adapta/on in vulnerable communi/es – the case of West African cocoa smallholders Victoria Maguire-Rajpaul ECOLIMITS
Researching adaptation in vulnerable communities – the case of West African cocoa smallholders
Jan 23, 2018
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The2015ElNiño'simpactsonGhanaiancocoahouseholds’
livelihoods-therolesofadap?veprepara?onandagronomic
knowledgetobolsterresiliencetoclimateshocks.
Researchingadapta/oninvulnerablecommuni/es–thecaseofWest
Africancocoasmallholders
VictoriaMaguire-Rajpaul
ECOLIMITS
Introduc/on
SupervisorsConnieMcDermo9,YadvinderMalhi,andMarkHironsECOLIMITStacklesecologicallimitsofpovertyalleviaGoninsmallholderagroforestry
CocoasmallholdersinGhanaandCôted’Ivoire(whoproduce>60%world’scocoa)HowpovertyandinsGtuGonsinfluencecocoasmallholders’drought-adaptaGonWhichfactorsimpedeorenablecocoasmallholders’responsetodrought?
Percep/onsofclimateandadapta/on
Howclimateandclimatevariabilityareperceivedvariesbetweenpeople.HowadapGvepracGcesareperceivedvariesbetweenpeople.
PracGcingadaptaGonandconceptualisingadaptaGoncanvary.
Image:M.Hirons
17interviews&2focusgroupsin6villages
InCôted’Ivoirefocusgroups,observaGonsand17interviewsin6villages5villagesaroundGagnoa1villagebyUNESCOBiosphereReserve,ParkTaï
Vulnerablepopula/onPeoplewithfewassets,li9leeducaGon,andwithoutaccesstocreditDependentoncocoafor70-100%income(NGamoahandAfrane,2008)
Vulnerabletocommodityprices’volaGlity(CombesandGuillaumont,2002)
Vulnerablepopula/onfacingsevereclimateshock
ElNiño-induceddroughtsimpedereliableculGvaGonofrain-fedcropsacrossthetropics(Da9&Hoogeveen2003)
Dependentonrainfall(almostnoonewithanirrigaGonsystem)ExposedandsensiGvetoerraGcweatherandclimate-relatedextremes
LimitedadapGvecapabiliGestodealwithhazardousevents
Cocoasuitability2013vs.2050
Climatechangethreatenscocoa
Nowvulnerabilitycompoundedbyclimateshocks,risingtemperatures,anderraGcrains.Howeverwhencoping,manyofthesecocoafarmersdidnotconsiderclimatechangeseparately,ifatall.AsPoulio9e,Smit,&Westerhoff(2009)observedwithvulnerableBangladeshivillagers.
Percep/onsofclimateandadapta/on
Howclimatevariabilityisperceivedvariesbetweenpeople.HowadapGvepracGcesareperceivedvariesbetweenpeople.
PracGcingadaptaGonandconceptualisingadaptaGoncanvary.
Percep/ons
HowfarmersperceivetheadaptaGontheydoontheirfarmsmayvaryfrommynarrowly-academicadaptaGonperspecGve.
Percep/ons
HowfarmersperceivetheadaptaGontheydoontheirfarmsmayvaryfrommyacademicadaptaGonperspecGve.
Percep/ons
HowfarmersperceivetheadaptaGontheydoontheirfarmsmayvaryfrommyacademicadaptaGonperspecGve.
Respondandadaptresourcefully
Exceedsadap/vecapacity
Empathe/candcontext-specificques/ons
Incocoacontext,IandtheECOLIMITSteamexplainedwhatwemeanby:o reacGveadaptaGon,o anGcipatoryadaptaGon,ando copingasashort-termresponsetovariability.
Usingavarietyoftechniquesthroughouttheproject,wediscussed:o variableweather,o extremeweather,ando climateshocks.
FocusgroupsonElNiñodrought’seffects
Weather Cocoa Oilpalm Food(staple)crops Vegetables
Aug‘16
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan‘17
Feb
Mar
Adapta/on≠transforma/on
MostadaptaGonisincrementalandfamiliar(Katesetal.,2012)
o synonymssuchas“change”,“makingachange”,“doingafarmtaskdifferently”tousual
o anecdoteso examplesfromneighbouringfarms
o exampleswithhistoricalprecedent
Infarmers’terms
o farmmanagementchangesactuallydone;
o ifperceivethosechangesaseffecGveorfeasible;
o ifdeemthosechangesenoughforfutureweatherextremes;
o ifbelievesufficientifsimilarextendeddroughtstruck.
“Asfortheweather,thereisli2leanindividualcandoaboutit”.
Agencyandselfpercep/on
Somebelievetheyholdli9leagencyand
humansonearthorchestratedbyanomnipotentGod
Sincesomethinkli9lecanbedonetomiGgaterisk,difficulttoexplaintheirownadaptaGonstrategies(Barbieretal.,2009).
Adapta/on:agamblewithspiritualforces
Shouldnotbearrogant(Chester,2005;Barbieretal.,2009;Adgeretal.,2012).
Religious-adherencecanheightenexposureandsensiGvitytohazards(Schipper,2010)
andcanevenbeapotenGalformaladaptaGon.
Adapta/on-beliefdichotomy
>60%farmersinterviewedthisOctober‘temporarily’divergedfromworldviewof“God’splan”asdesGnybyimplemenGngadapGvechanges.
Carriedout‘goodagriculturalpracGces’toalleviatedroughtimpactswhilebelievinginanomnipotentgod(GyeNyame)decidingall.
Conformedtoparallelandcontradictorybeliefsystemstocopewithdrought.
Unconsciousor‘notclimate’adapta/on
AdapGvechangesmade,butnotinresponsetoweathervariability.
e.g.instructedtoplantmoreshadetreese.g.bredsnailsbecauseofaperceiveddeclineinsoilferGlity,notbecauseofperceivedchangesinclimate.
Mertzetal.(2009)alsoobservedthisadaptaGonphenomenonwherefewagriculturalchangesmadecouldbedirectlya9ributedtoclimatevariability.
Takeaways
o Knowthesystem,people,andculturesasbestyoucan
o FindoutdifferingpercepGons
o Expecttheunexpected
o BepreparedtoshiqyourtheoreGcalframing
o BesensiGvetovulnerabiliGeswhendesigningtheresearchandineachinterview
Extendeddryseason’simpacton2015-2016’smaincropcocoayield?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Don'tknow
50%increaseormore
Upto50%increase
Nochange
Upto50%decrease
50%decreaseormore
Totalfailure
No.ofcocoahouseholds
ENSOimpactoncocoayield
Realis/c,local-leveladap/vestrategies
o Smallholders‘voices’heardincocoagovernance(Webber&Labaste,2010;Abbey,Tomlinson,&Branston,2016).
o Elucidatecocoasmallholders’pressingandrecurrentvulnerabiliGes
o theirsourcesofstrengthandadap/vecapaci/esneededtosustainlivelihoodsandavoidmaladaptaGon.
o Farmer-relevantadap/vechangestocomplementagronomic,ecological,andotherscienGficrecommendaGons.
Iacknowledgeandthank
MysupervisorsECOLIMITSteamTouton,Côted’Ivoire&GhanaNCRC,GhanaLondonInsGtuteofZoologyESRC,UKNERC,UKMarieCurieFellowshipEnvironmentalChangeInsGtuteWolfsonCollege,Oxford
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