Smallholder farmer resilience to extreme weather events in a global food value chain

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Thompson, W. J., Varma, V., Joerin, J., Bonilla-Duarte, S., Bebber, D. P., Blaser-Hart, W., Kopainsky, B., Spath, L., Curcio, B., Six, J. and Krutli, P. 2023. Smallholder farmer resilience to extreme weather events in a global food value chain. Climatic Change. 176, p. 152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03586-1

AuthorsThompson, W. J., Varma, V., Joerin, J., Bonilla-Duarte, S., Bebber, D. P., Blaser-Hart, W., Kopainsky, B., Spath, L., Curcio, B., Six, J. and Krutli, P.
Abstract

Extreme weather events have severe impacts on food systems, especially for smallholders in global food value chains (GFVCs). There is an urgent need to understand (a) how climate shocks manifest in food systems, and (b) what strategies can enhance food system resilience. Integrating satellite, household and trade data, we investigate the cascading impacts after two consecutive hurricanes on smallholder banana farmers in Dominican Republic, and determinants of their recovery. We found that farmers experienced an ‘all-or-nothing’ pattern of damage, where 75% of flooded farmers lost > 90% of production. Recovery of regional production indicators took ca. 450 days. However, farm-level recovery times were highly variable, with both topographic and human capital factors determining recovery. Utilising this case study, we show that engaging in a GFVC impeded recovery via ‘double exposure’ of production loss and losing market access. Our results suggest that strategies to enhance resilience, with a particular focus on recovery, in GFVCs should promote trader loyalty, facilitate basin-scale collaboration and expand risk-targeted training.

KeywordsFood system; Climatic resilience; Smallholder; Trade; Extreme weather
Year of Publication2023
JournalClimatic Change
Journal citation176, p. 152
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03586-1
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderGlobal Challenges Research Fund (UKRI)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeBB/N020847/1
Publisher's version
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online30 Oct 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted11 Jul 2023
PublisherSpringer
ISSN0165-0009

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98yqz/smallholder-farmer-resilience-to-extreme-weather-events-in-a-global-food-value-chain

79 total views
18 total downloads
4 views this month
6 downloads this month
Download files as zip