Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi

Southern Malawi is continuously affected by tropical cyclone-related floods (TCRFs), which have negative consequences on households' livelihoods, thereby displacing most households to neighbouring communities of Mozambique. The TCRFs have further threatened national, regional, community, and ho...

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Main Authors: Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri, Eric Dada Mungatana, Lucy Pangapanga, Francis Samson Nkoka
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2022-12-01
Series:Tropical Cyclone Research and Review
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2225603223000024
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author Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri
Eric Dada Mungatana
Lucy Pangapanga
Francis Samson Nkoka
author_facet Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri
Eric Dada Mungatana
Lucy Pangapanga
Francis Samson Nkoka
author_sort Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri
collection DOAJ
description Southern Malawi is continuously affected by tropical cyclone-related floods (TCRFs), which have negative consequences on households' livelihoods, thereby displacing most households to neighbouring communities of Mozambique. The TCRFs have further threatened national, regional, community, and household food security agenda, which is already constrained by poverty, poor agricultural practices, low use of improved varieties, unaffordable inorganic fertilizers, and fragmenting landholding sizes. Accordingly, households have indigenously engineered resilience-based Sustainable Landscape Management (SLM) practices, like intercropping, agroforestry, cover cropping, and soil and water conservation practices, against the adverse effects of TCRFs on-farm productivity. Hence, this study examines the effect of TCRFs and SLM adoption on-farm productivity. While using rigorous endogenous switching regression econometric tools, the study finds TCRFs reducing farm productivity by 27 percent. After SLM adoption, the study observes farm productivity enhancement by 29–126 percent when households adopt at least one SLM practices under varying degrees of TCRFs. Despite the highlighted advantages of SLM adoption, female farmers are less likely to adopt SLM practices because they do not have access to productive resources. Hence, the study proposes the need of gender targeted extension services, accompanied by some seed capital for SLM adoption. Besides, there is need to sensitize farmers on the complementarities between inorganic fertilizer and SLM practices. Lastly, future studies should assess the effect of sustained SLM adoption or dis-adoption and input intensification on farm productivity.
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spelling doaj.art-2351b1ed06f84c9a95bc685d643749b52023-05-12T04:16:28ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Tropical Cyclone Research and Review2225-60322022-12-01114265276Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern MalawiInnocent Pangapanga-Phiri0Eric Dada Mungatana1Lucy Pangapanga2Francis Samson Nkoka3Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department (s) of Environmental and Natural Resource Management|Agricultural and Applied Economics, Lilongwe, Malawi; Corresponding author.Department of Agricultural Economics, Stellenbosch University, South AfricaResearch for Development, Smart Project Evaluation, Lilongwe, MalawiUrban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience, and Land Unit, The World Bank Group, Lilongwe, MalawiSouthern Malawi is continuously affected by tropical cyclone-related floods (TCRFs), which have negative consequences on households' livelihoods, thereby displacing most households to neighbouring communities of Mozambique. The TCRFs have further threatened national, regional, community, and household food security agenda, which is already constrained by poverty, poor agricultural practices, low use of improved varieties, unaffordable inorganic fertilizers, and fragmenting landholding sizes. Accordingly, households have indigenously engineered resilience-based Sustainable Landscape Management (SLM) practices, like intercropping, agroforestry, cover cropping, and soil and water conservation practices, against the adverse effects of TCRFs on-farm productivity. Hence, this study examines the effect of TCRFs and SLM adoption on-farm productivity. While using rigorous endogenous switching regression econometric tools, the study finds TCRFs reducing farm productivity by 27 percent. After SLM adoption, the study observes farm productivity enhancement by 29–126 percent when households adopt at least one SLM practices under varying degrees of TCRFs. Despite the highlighted advantages of SLM adoption, female farmers are less likely to adopt SLM practices because they do not have access to productive resources. Hence, the study proposes the need of gender targeted extension services, accompanied by some seed capital for SLM adoption. Besides, there is need to sensitize farmers on the complementarities between inorganic fertilizer and SLM practices. Lastly, future studies should assess the effect of sustained SLM adoption or dis-adoption and input intensification on farm productivity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2225603223000024Tropical cyclonesSustainable land-scape management practicesFarm productivityEndogenous switching regression model
spellingShingle Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri
Eric Dada Mungatana
Lucy Pangapanga
Francis Samson Nkoka
Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi
Tropical Cyclone Research and Review
Tropical cyclones
Sustainable land-scape management practices
Farm productivity
Endogenous switching regression model
title Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi
title_full Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi
title_fullStr Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi
title_short Understanding the impact of sustainable land-scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones: Evidence from Southern Malawi
title_sort understanding the impact of sustainable land scape management practices on farm productivity under intensifying tropical cyclones evidence from southern malawi
topic Tropical cyclones
Sustainable land-scape management practices
Farm productivity
Endogenous switching regression model
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2225603223000024
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