Letter to the Editor: Making flood adaptation suitable for farming households

Keywords: floods, farming household, flood adaptation, climate change, agriculture

Abstract

Zambia's smallholder farmers largely maintain maize growing as their primary source of sustenance even though the yields tend to be extremely low. Maize production continues to be dominant as it is still seen as the best way for them to sustain their livelihoods despite having limited access to external resources. As smallholder maize production is rain-fed, it carries a high risk of being affected by climate change. Climate risk for smallholder farmers is in form of droughts, high temperatures and excessive rainfall which results in floods. The floods being experienced in most parts of the country during the 2022/2023 agricultural season have brought to the fore the importance of adopting climate resilient and sustainable agricultural practices. Despite the heightened social media buzz, the recent flooding is not new. It is part of wider increased climate variability, noted for its severity and higher frequency. Climate change has resulted in flooding in many regions [3], and impacted many sectors. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the most impacted sector is the smallholder agricultural sector. The impacts of climate change and its related events on food production and food security threaten SSA, a region which has a long history of poverty and food insecurity
Published
2023-05-07