Environmental discounting and sustainable land management by smallholder farmers in Chibombo district, central Zambia.
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Date
2019
Authors
Mubanga, Chisanga Fiona
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Poor soil fertility management practices coupled with climate variability are among
factors negatively impacting crop productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Promotion
of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices among farmers has been one of the
measures taken to improve and maintain crop productivity. Among SLM practices
promoted are agroforestry and soil conservation. Despite extensive promotion of SLM
practices among smallholder farmers in SSA and benefits that farmers can reap from
them, adoption of SLM remains low. Continued low adoption of SLM can potentially
result in irreversible soil degradation which can ultimately impact food security among the
poor. One of the reasons for low adoption of SLM practices such as agroforestry has been
the long time it takes for benefits to accrue. Preference for soon rather than later benefits
could indicate discounting behaviour among farmers. The aim of this study was to
investigate environmental discounting behaviour among smallholder farmers in Chibombo
District. Objectives were to determine SLM practices implemented by farmers; why these
practices are preferred; and to what extent farmers demonstrate environmental discounting
in their SLM choices. The data were collected from Kalola Agricultural Camp in
Chibombo District through semi-structured interviews with 158 randomly sampled
farmers, three Focus Group Discussions, key informant interviews, and field observations.
The data were analysed using content analysis and Z-proportional test at 95 percent
confidence level. Results showed that practices commonly adopted by farmers were crop
rotation (84.3 percent), planting of legume to fix nitrogen (57.4 percent), and mixed
cropping (56.9 percent). Over 50 percent of farmers would continue using mineral
fertiliser, herbicides and pesticides regardless of when soil infertility would occur; and that
up to 53.7 percent of farmers would plant fertiliser trees if benefits would accrue to them
within twenty years. It was concluded that crop rotation, mixed cropping, and planting of
legumes were widely practiced because they are perceived easier to implement, yield fast
results and provide food variety. Farmers demonstrated discounting behaviour in their
choices to continue using mineral fertiliser and in planting fertiliser trees.
Recommendations: investigating discounting behaviour by assessing if farmers would be
willing to implement SLM practices given the time taken for benefits to accrue. Other
aspect of discounting such as opportunity cost should be investigated to establish how they
impact adoption. Materials for SLM implementation such as fertiliser trees should be
ready available at district agricultural offices for access to those who want to plant
fertiliser trees.
Key words: Sustainable agriculture, Conventional agriculture, Agroforestry, Soil
conservation, Environment.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Land use, Rural. , Sustainable agriculture. , Soil management--Environmental aspects.