Browsing by Author "Jamalainen, Janita"

Climate change is challenging farmers around the world, undermining food security and livelihoods. Smallholder farmers are encountering changing environmental conditions and extreme weather events as a significant negative impact on their livelihoods and food security when the resources needed to adapt are not sufficiently available. Previous studies show that the impacts of climate change are currently most noticeable in the developing countries of the Global South, where local agriculture and smallholder farming still remain an important part of people's livelihoods and local food security. This study focused on the experiences and outcomes of the Building Resilience -tool I (BR-I) for smallholder farmers in 5 different African countries between 2021 and 2022. Through the tool, farmers assessed the impacts of climate change on their livelihoods and their own capacities and needs to adapt to the challenges caused by climate change. The data used in this study consisted of reports filled in when using the tool collecting farmers' responses, and separate feedback on their experiences of using the tool. The results showed that climate change reduced the predictability of environmental conditions and increased the irregularity of the growing seasons. Drought, floods, and storms were the main threats to crops, often leading to yield losses or poor crop quality. Other losses included livelihood-related losses of material assets, for example during floods and storms. Indirect negative impacts of climate change included loss of farmers' livelihoods, increased poverty and reduced local food security and weaker nutritional quality of food. To adapt to climate change impacts, farmers often used more sustainable and higher quality crop varieties and, for example, built more efficient irrigation systems. However, the results showed that to adapt to climate change, farmers need more material and financial resources and research-based knowledge to improve their livelihood activities.