522
unprofitable, and most women depend on farming while men look for alternative
sources of livelihood. The sizes of land are now smaller because land has been distributed among many children, and children, especially girls, are getting married at
a younger age because it is difficult for the parents to provide for their children, they
mostly fall on steps 1 and 2. The trend showed that there were more households with
no capacity to adapt in 2013 than there are now in 2018, implying that there is
improvement in the adaptive capacity of households. This result is consistent with
the individual interviews that showed that most households have moved up the ladder. Both the individual questionnaire and focus group discussion questions used
the same time period of 5 years.
The results showed a direct relationship between adoption of CSA technologies
and level of adaptive capacity. This is consistent with the findings by Pingali 2012
who noted that low adaptive capacity affects adoption of new technologies. A farmer
with low adaptive capacity will be unlikely to adopt new agricultural technologies.
In general, female farmers had a low level of adaptive capacity, and this also affected
adoption of CSA technologies. As such, interventions that implement new technologies should assess and address gaps in the adaptive capacity of farmers. Improving
adaptive capacity of farmers, especially female farmers, is key to increasing the
adoption of new technologies including CSA technologies.
3.3 Communication Channels for Disseminating Climate
Smart Agriculture Technologies
The common channels for disseminating CSA technologies were extension workers
(government and NGOs), lead farmers, radios, village meetings, field days and
demonstration plots. But, the main channel of communication was through government extension workers and lead farmers (Fig. 7). However, there were vacant positions for extension workers in all the EPAs visited, and some sections within the
EPA had no extension worker. Indeed, almost half of the positions of the extension
workers at Linga EPA were filled with field assistants, who were students from
Natural Resources College. In scenarios like these, which are common in most of
the EPAs, lead farmers continue to play a significant role in disseminating technologies and good agricultural farming practices to the other farmers. Their proximity to
farmers, in addition to their knowledge and experience of the local area, enhances
trust and confidence among farmers.
In general, the results showed that female respondents had low access to common channels of communication such as radio and cell phone. Only 33% of the
respondents in female-headed households owned a cell phone as compared to 59%
of the respondents in male-headed households who owned one. Similarly, more
male-headed households (70%) owned a radio than their female-headed household
counterparts in which only 24% owned a radio. This implies that fewer females are
able to access messages sent through cell phones and radio. The results showed that
more respondents in Nkhotakota (39%) owned a radio than in Phalombe (35%).
T. K. Chibowa et al.
unprofitable, and most women depend on farming while men look for alternative
sources of livelihood. The sizes of land are now smaller because land has been distributed among many children, and children, especially girls, are getting married at
a younger age because it is difficult for the parents to provide for their children, they
mostly fall on steps 1 and 2. The trend showed that there were more households with
no capacity to adapt in 2013 than there are now in 2018, implying that there is
improvement in the adaptive capacity of households. This result is consistent with
the individual interviews that showed that most households have moved up the ladder. Both the individual questionnaire and focus group discussion questions used
the same time period of 5 years.
The results showed a direct relationship between adoption of CSA technologies
and level of adaptive capacity. This is consistent with the findings by Pingali 2012
who noted that low adaptive capacity affects adoption of new technologies. A farmer
with low adaptive capacity will be unlikely to adopt new agricultural technologies.
In general, female farmers had a low level of adaptive capacity, and this also affected
adoption of CSA technologies. As such, interventions that implement new technologies should assess and address gaps in the adaptive capacity of farmers. Improving
adaptive capacity of farmers, especially female farmers, is key to increasing the
adoption of new technologies including CSA technologies.
3.3 Communication Channels for Disseminating Climate
Smart Agriculture Technologies
The common channels for disseminating CSA technologies were extension workers
(government and NGOs), lead farmers, radios, village meetings, field days and
demonstration plots. But, the main channel of communication was through government extension workers and lead farmers (Fig. 7). However, there were vacant positions for extension workers in all the EPAs visited, and some sections within the
EPA had no extension worker. Indeed, almost half of the positions of the extension
workers at Linga EPA were filled with field assistants, who were students from
Natural Resources College. In scenarios like these, which are common in most of
the EPAs, lead farmers continue to play a significant role in disseminating technologies and good agricultural farming practices to the other farmers. Their proximity to
farmers, in addition to their knowledge and experience of the local area, enhances
trust and confidence among farmers.
In general, the results showed that female respondents had low access to common channels of communication such as radio and cell phone. Only 33% of the
respondents in female-headed households owned a cell phone as compared to 59%
of the respondents in male-headed households who owned one. Similarly, more
male-headed households (70%) owned a radio than their female-headed household
counterparts in which only 24% owned a radio. This implies that fewer females are
able to access messages sent through cell phones and radio. The results showed that
more respondents in Nkhotakota (39%) owned a radio than in Phalombe (35%).
T. K. Chibowa et al.