Small-scale farmers and climate change

1 Sustainable Markets Small-scale farmers and climate change How can farmer organisations and Fairtrade build the adaptive capacity of smallholders? 2012 Jessica Frank and Chris Penrose Buckley TWIN. IIED Sustainable Markets papers This paper was produced by IIED's Sustainable Markets Group. The Sustainable Markets Group drives IIED's efforts to ensure that markets contribute to positive social, environmental and economic outcomes. The group brings together IIED's work on market governance, business models, market failure, consumption, investment and the economics of climate change . Published by IIED 2012. Citation: Frank, J and Penrose Buckley, C. 2012. Small-scale farmers and climate change . How can farmer organisations and Fairtrade build the adaptive capacity of smallholders?

2 IIED, London Cover photo TWIN. Designed by Andy Wilkinson Printed by Park Communications Ltd, London Sustainable Markets Group International Institute for Environment and Development 80 86 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8NH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 7399. Fax: +44 (0)20 3514 9055. email: ISBN: 978 1 84369 891 3. A catalogue record for this paper is available from the British Library. This publication can also be downloaded from: Small-scale farmers and climate change How can farmer organisations and Fairtrade build the adaptive capacity of smallholders? Jessica Frank and Chris Penrose Buckley TWIN. 2012. Smallholder farmers are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as a result of poverty, marginalisation and reliance on natural resources.

3 climate change is likely to lead to decreasing crop yields in most tropical and sub-tropical regions, negatively impacting agricultural sectors and reducing food security in developing countries. It is imperative to identify approaches that strengthen ongoing economic development efforts and enhance the adaptive capacity of farmers , their households and their communities. This paper explores the links between farmer organisations, Fairtrade and adaptation to climate change , and the extent to which such institutions and market arrangements can enhance the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers . It does this by reviewing evidence from published research and studies and by analysing case studies of two Fairtrade-certified farmer organisations in Uganda and Malawi.

4 The paper's findings suggest that membership of farmer organisations and participation in Fairtrade can strengthen smallholders' capacity to adapt to climate change in a number of ways. sustainable markets I Building the adaptive capacity of smallholders Acknowledgements This research was carried out by TWIN and funded by the Co-operative. The authors would like to thank Gumutindo and Kasinthula for facilitating the research and Andy Carlton and George Matiya for providing research support. 4 I Building the adaptive capacity of smallholders I sustainable markets Contents About the authors 4 Farmer organisations' and Fairtrade's impact on adaptation: the evidence 16. Acknowledgements 4. Collective action for empowerment 16.

5 Executive summary 6. Assets: Fairtrade premium and minimum prices 16. Background and context 6. Access to services: credit, technology and extension 17. Smallholder Adaptive Capacity Framework 6. Market engagement and participation 17. Impact of farmer organisations and Fairtrade on adaptation: the evidence 6 Reflections on the evidence base 18. Case studies 7 Case studies 19. Lessons and next steps 7 Gumutindo Coffee Co-operative Enterprise, Uganda 19. Introduction 8 Strengthened institutions 19. Context 9 Enhancing financial assets and access to credit 20. climate change and smallholder agriculture 9 Extension services for knowledge and technical support 21. Adaptation meets development 10 Kasinthula Sugar Cane Growers, Malawi 23.

6 Farmer organisations 10 Institutional arrangements and obligations 24. Fairtrade 10 Market engagement and influence 24. Characterising the adaptive capacity Access to technology and services: of smallholder farmers 12 pivot irrigation system 24. Smallholder farmer adaptive capacity framework 12 Impacts on farmer income and community assets 25. Level 1: Agency 13 Farmer agency and empowerment 25. Level 2: Core capabilities 13 Lessons and next steps 26. Institutions: formal and informal 13 Adaptive structures 26. Knowledge and technology 14 Fairtrade challenges 26. Assets 14 Critical gaps 27. Level 3: Processes of a system 14 References 29. Market engagement and influence 14 Annex 1: Local Adaptive Capacity framework (LACf) 30.

7 Innovation 14 Annex 2: The spectrum of development and adaptation 31. Entitlements 14. Forward-planning 15. I 5. sustainable markets I Building the adaptive capacity of smallholders Executive summary Background and context Smallholder Adaptive Capacity Framework This paper explores the links between farmer organisations, Fairtrade and adaptation to climate change , and In order to assess the extent to which participation in farmer the extent to which such institutions and market arrangements organisations and Fairtrade promotes adaptation, it is can enhance the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers . necessary to identify what we mean by adaptive capacity and It does this by reviewing evidence from published research examine how assets, processes and capabilities combine and studies and by analysing case studies of two Fairtrade- and interact at various levels.

8 Drawing on the Local Adaptive certified farmer organisations in Uganda and Malawi. Capacity framework developed by the ACCRA consortium, Smallholder farmers are disproportionately vulnerable this paper develops a smallholder adaptive capacity framework to the impacts of climate change as a result of poverty, identifying key characteristics of particular relevance to small - marginalisation and reliance on natural resources. climate scale farmers . change is likely to lead to crop yields decreasing in most This framework pays particular attention to farmer agency and tropical and sub-tropical regions, thereby negatively important dynamic processes such as market engagement. impacting agricultural sectors and worsening issues of food The characteristics are grouped into the following three levels security in developing countries.

9 Although smallholders have to emphasise the important, if complex, relationships and considerable experience in dealing with climate variability, the dependencies between the different elements: unprecedented levels of variability associated with long-term climate change are outside the realm of traditional coping Level 1: Agency, at the centre, links all the different strategies (Pettengell, 2010). elements and levels As climate change impacts are increasingly observed and Level 2: These are core attributes or capabilities that felt by smallholder farmers , there is an urgent need to identify facilitate other processes approaches which strengthen ongoing economic development Level 3: These are key processes, enabled as a result of efforts and enhance the adaptive capacity of farmers , their the existence of certain core attributes households and their communities.

10 Reducing people's vulnerability to climate change is closely linked to the poverty reduction and economic development agendas, since poverty Impact of farmer organisations and is both a condition and a determinant of vulnerability (Hamill Fairtrade on adaptation: the evidence et al., 2008). Effective and sustainable adaptation to climate change in the long run is therefore dependent on broad-based Drawing on the smallholder adaptive capacity framework economic development in which smallholders are able to introduced in the previous section, recent studies and move from low return subsistence activities to higher return research findings are reviewed to identify what theoretical livelihood activities. arguments and empirical evidence there is that farmer Both farmer organisations and certification systems, such organisations and/or Fairtrade contribute to smallholder as Fairtrade, have received growing attention in rural adaptive capacity.