Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:38:14.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of climate change on net revenue and food adequacy of subsistence farming households in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2014

Byela Tibesigwa ,
Martine Visser  and
Jane Turpie
Byela Tibesigwa
Affiliation:
Environmental-Economics Policy Research Unit, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7700, Cape Town, South Africa. E-mail: byela.tibesigwa@gmail.com
Martine Visser
Affiliation:
Environmental-Economics Policy Research Unit, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa. E-mail: martine.visser@uct.ac.za
Jane Turpie
Affiliation:
Environmental-Economics Policy Research Unit, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa. E-mail: jane@anchorenvironmental.co.za
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of climate change on poor households across South Africa who practise subsistence farming to supplement their household income and dietary requirements. We consider three production systems: specialized crops, livestock and mixed crop-livestock farming. In general, we find specialized crop farmers to be the most vulnerable, while mixed crop-livestock farmers appear to be least vulnerable, suggesting that crop-livestock diversification is a potential coping strategy among poor subsistence farming households. We observe qualitatively similar results when we use self-reported food adequacy as the outcome. Furthermore, predicted impact shows that the climatic changes will be mildly harmful at first but will grow over time and lead to a 151 per cent loss in net revenue by the year 2080. Interestingly, we observe that crop farmers receive higher revenue when land is owned by the household, while on the other hand, livestock farmers earn more revenue when the land is communal.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , June 2015 , pp. 327 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, R. (1999), ‘On the search for the correct economic assessment method’, Climatic Change 41(3–4): 363–370.Google Scholar
Angrist, J. and Pischke, J. (2008), Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Benhin, J. (2008), ‘South African crop farming and climate change: an economic assessment of impacts’, Global Environmental Change 18: 666–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, R. (1999), ‘The impact of global warming on agriculture: a Ricardian analysis. Comment’, American Economic Review 89(4): 1049–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs) (2011a), ‘South Africa's Second National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’, [Available at] http://www.unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/zafnco2.pdf.Google Scholar
DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs) (2011b), National Climate Change Response White Paper, [Available at] http://www.sanbi.org/sites/default/files/documents/documents/national-climate-change-response-white-paper.pdf.Google Scholar
Deressa, T. (2006), ‘Measuring the economic impact of climate change on Ethiopian agriculture: Ricardian approach’, CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 25, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deressa, T. and Hassan, R. (2009), ‘Economic impact of climate change on crop production in Ethiopia: evidence from cross-section measures’, Journal of African Economies 18(4): 529–554.Google Scholar
Deressa, T., Hassan, R., and Poonyth, D. (2005), ‘Measuring the economic impact of climate change on South Africa's sugarcane growing regions’, Policy and Practice in Southern Africa 44(4): 524–542.Google Scholar
Di Falco, S., Yesuf, M., Kohlin, G., and Ringler, C. (2012), ‘Estimating the impact of climate change on agriculture in low-income countries: household level evidence from the Nile Basin, Ethiopia’, Environmental Resource Economics 52(4): 457–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durand, W. (2006), ‘Assessing the impact of climate change on crop water use in South Africa’, CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 28, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) (2008), Climate Change and Food Security: A Framework Document, [Available at] http://www.fao.org/forestry/15538-079b31d45081fe9c3dbc6ff34de4807e4.pdf.Google Scholar
Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A. and Frijters, P. (2004), ‘How important is methodology for the estimates of the determinants of happiness?’, Economic Journal 114(497): 641–659.Google Scholar
Gbetibouo, G. and Hassan, R. (2005), ‘Measuring the economic impact of climate change on major South African field crops: a Ricardian approach’, Global and Planetary Change 47: 143–152.Google Scholar
Hassan, R. (2010), ‘Implications of climate change for agricultural sector performance in Africa: policy challenges and research agenda’, Journal of African Economies 19(2): ii77–ii105.Google Scholar
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2007), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kabubo-Mariara, J. and Karanja, F. (2007), ‘The economic impact of climate change on Kenyan crop agriculture: a Ricardian approach’, Global and Planetary Change 57: 319–330.Google Scholar
Kotir, J. (2011), ‘Climate change and variability in sub-Saharan Africa: a review of current and future trends and impacts on agriculture and food security’, Environment Development Sustainability 13: 587–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruger, A. and Shongwe, S. (2004), ‘Temperature trends in South Africa: 1960–2003’, International Journal of Climatology 24(15): 1929–1945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurukulasuriya, P. and Mendelsohn, R. (2006), ‘Endogenous irrigation: the impact of climate change on farmers in Africa’, CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 18, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
Kurukulasuriya, P., Mendelsohn, R., Hassan, R., et al. (2006), ‘Will African agriculture survive climate change?’, World Bank Economic Review 20(3): 367–388.Google Scholar
Kurukulasuriya, P., Mendelsohn, R., Hassan, R., and Dinar, A. (2008), ‘A Ricardian analysis of the impact of climate change on African cropland’, African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 2(1): 1–23.Google Scholar
Mano, R. and Nhemachena, C. (2006), ‘Assessment of the economic impacts of climate change on agriculture in Zimbabwe: a Ricardian approach’, CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 11, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendelsohn, R. and Dinar, A. (2003), ‘Climate, water, and agriculture’, Land Economics 79(3): 328–341.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, R., Nordhaus, W., and Shaw, D. (1994), ‘The impact of global warming on agriculture: a Ricardian analysis’, American Economic Review 84(4): 753–771.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, R., Dinar, A., and Dalfelt, A. (2000), ‘Climate change impacts on African agriculture’, Preliminary analysis prepared for the World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, R., Arellano-Gonzalez, J., and Christensen, P. (2009), ‘A Ricardian analysis of Mexican farms’, Environment and Development Economics 15: 153–171.Google Scholar
Molua, E. (2009), ‘An empirical assessment of the impact of climate change on smallholder agriculture in Cameroon’, Global and Planetary Change 67: 205–208.Google Scholar
Molua, E. and Lambi, C. (2006), ‘The economic impact of climate change on agriculture in Cameroon’, CEEPA Discussion Paper, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nhemachena, C., Hassan, R., and Chakwizira, J. (2010), ‘Economic impacts of climate change on agriculture and implications for food security in Southern Africa’, Paper presented at Climate Change and Security, the 50th Anniversary Conference for the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, Trondheim, Norway.Google Scholar
Ouedraogo, M., Some, L., and Dembele, Y. (2006), ‘Economic impact assessment of climate change on agriculture in Burkina Faso: a Ricardian Approach’, CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 24, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
Schulze, R. (2010), Atlas of Climate Change and the South African Agricultural Sector: A 2010 Perspective, Pretoria: Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.Google Scholar
Seo, S. and Mendelsohn, R. (2006), ‘Climate change impacts on animal husbandry in Africa: a Ricardian analysis’, CEEPA Discussion Paper No. 9, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa, University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
Seo, S. and Mendelsohn, R. (2008), ‘Measuring impacts and adaptations to climate change: a structural Ricardian model of African livestock management’, Agricultural Economics 38(2): 151–165.Google Scholar
Seo, S., Mendelsohn, R., Dinar, A., Hassan, R., and Kurukulasuriya, P. (2009), ‘A Ricardian analysis of the distribution of climate change impacts on agriculture across agro-ecological zones in Africa’, Environmental and Resource Economics 43(3): 313–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, J., Mendelsohn, R., Dinar, A., Huang, J., Rozelle, S., and Zhang, L. (2009), ‘The impact of climate change on China's agriculture’, Agricultural Economics 40: 323–337.Google Scholar
Warburton, M. and Schulze, R. (2005), ‘Detection of trends over time in hydrological drivers and responses over Southern Africa’, in Schulze, R. (ed.), Climate Change and Water Resources in Southern Africa: Studies on Scenarios, Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation, Pretoria: Water Research Commission.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Tibesigwa Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Tibesigwa Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 117 KB