Analysing the contribution of ICTS in addressing climate change amongst communal farmers from two districts of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Climate change involves long-term change in the state of the climate. It is expected to have negative effects which include the increased frequency and intensity of climate extremes such as droughts, floods and storms. In addition, agricultural seasons and productivity are generally expected to be affected. This is likely to compound the problems that rural people in Africa face, especially the smallholder farmers. Thus, adaptation is of paramount importance. However, many factors limit the ability of farmers to adapt to climate change. This includes lack of information and knowledge about climate change. In rural areas an important source of information is agricultural extension; however, in some cases it is not effective and efficient. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been noted to play an important role in the dissemination of agricultural information, and recently, their potential in contributing to climate change awareness and adaptation has received increased attention. Therefore, the study aims to explore how ICTs contribute to climate change awareness and adaptation amongst communal farmers. The study was conducted in Seke and Murewa Rural Districts (herein Seke and Murewa) situated in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. The target population were communal farmers who are mainly dependent on agriculture (field crops, horticulture, fruit production, and livestock rearing). The two districts have climate associated with natural agro-ecological region II, with an average rainfall of 500-700 mm. The study used the mixed methods approach, which combined the quantitative method based on a survey of 300 farming households and the qualitative method based on key informant interviews. A multi-stage sampling approach was used for the survey. The data was collected in 2011. The Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) package was used for data entry and descriptive statistics, while Stata data analytical package was used for regression analysis. The first objective was to determine the level of access to ICTs by communal farmers in the two districts. Most of the respondents in both districts knew and owned the following ICTs namely, the radio, the mobile phone, and the television (TV). The main power sources for the ICTs were solar power, national grid electricity, and rechargeable batteries. Most of the respondents in both districts read newspapers, and church magazines. For almost all the print media in both districts, the main source of the media was through friends and relatives, buying and to some extent libraries and public places. The majority of respondents understood the language used in various ICTs, though some had difficulties in understanding the English language. The second objective was to assess how access to ICTs influenced climate change awareness amongst communal farmers in the two districts. The majority of respondents in both districts were generally found to be aware of climate change. Nevertheless, some of those who perceived themselves as being aware were actually not aware or had low awareness as revealed by the climate change awareness index. The respondents had limited understanding of the issues relating to causes and intervention measures to address climate change. From the regression analysis, the following factors were found to have a significant positive influence on climate change awareness: access to mobile phone, access to radio, access to newspapers, access to agricultural extension, participation in developmental and farmer organisations, having talked about climate change, education level, and age of the respondent. One variable namely position of authority had a significant negative relationship. The third objective of the study was to investigate the contribution of ICTs in climate change adaptation amongst the communal farmers. This objective was fulfilled by mainly concentrating on assessing how farmers accessed forecasting and early warning information. Up to two-thirds of the respondents indicated that they did not have access to timely early warning information on droughts and violent storms. In addition, around half of the respondents indicated that they were not getting information on the likely rainfall amount and distribution in the coming season. Respondents ranked deciding the planting dates and the choice of crop varieties as the most important farm decision-making activities that were influenced by forecasting information. Some of the channels through which farmers accessed early warning and weather information were radio, extension, direct enquiry, TV, other farmers, newspapers, mobile phone, and farming magazines. This study showed that both old and new ICTs are important in information dissemination and capacity building for climate change adaptation and awareness. In order for rural people to benefit from various applications and capabilities of ICTs, in particular, mobile phone applications, there is need to improve telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure. Agricultural extension workers who are an important source of information in rural areas, had less knowledge on climate change issues hence the need to incorporate such issues into their training. Initiatives to promote climate change awareness and adaptation should provide platforms for diverse stakeholders to share and exchange information and knowledge on climate change. There is need to improve the reliability of weather forecasting information as well as training farmers on how to interpret the information. Most importantly, complimentary agricultural information, inputs, and technologies should be available and accessible to the farmers.