Climate Change Adaptation and Farm Profitability among Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers who rely heavily on external inputs and rainfall for their production systems, climate change represents a serious risk to agricultural sustainability, rural livelihoods and food security. Due to greater climate variability and environmental stress, some adaptive measures have been implemented by farmers in the region, such as crop diversification, planting improved seeds, mulching, intercropping, water harvesting, conservation agriculture, and changes in planting schedules, in recent years. How effective these adaptation actions are for improving farm profitability is a question that needs to be answered when assessing their sustainability. This study brings together the latest literature on climate change adaptation and farm profitability for sub-saharan africa smallholder farmers. The evidence suggests that several climate-smart agricultural practices offer good economic returns and reinforce resilience, but are limited in their adoption by high initial costs, labour requirements, lack of access to credit and insecure land tenure, poor extension service and weak market integration. The review also demonstrates that the profitability of adaptation is highly context-specific, depending on ecological zones, farming systems and types of crops. The study finds that enabling policies and institutional support, coupled with specific investments, can facilitate climate adaptation among smallholder farmers to improve their resilience and livelihoods. Enhancing these conditions is crucial for the development of sustainable and profitable smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa in the face of climate change.