Socio-Demographic Determinants of Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption Among Smallholder Crop Producers in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province of South Africa

Abstract

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a transformative approach to farming that aims to meet the demands of increasing food production under the growing pressures of climate change. CSA’s goals are to boost agricultural productivity, enhance resilience to climate impacts, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, the study explored farmers’ socio-demographic factors influencing the adoption of CSA in sustainable crop production. The study was carried out in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga province of South Africa, with a focus on smallholder crop producers in the area. The study surveyed 300 smallholder farmers and employed simple random sampling, structured questionnaires, and a binary logistic regression model for data analysis. The significant and positive socio-demographic variables relevant to the adoption of climate-smart practices were level of education (p < 0.014), household size (p < 0.007), farm experience (p < 0.053), and farmland fertility (p < 0.047). Therefore, for CSA practices to be adopted by smallholder crop producers, a targeted approach is needed to address this issue. Therefore, support and training are needed to bridge the literacy gap among smallholder crop producers with the overall aim of improving their understanding of climate change and CSA practices that can mitigate the effects of climate change.