RESEARCH PAPER
DETERMINANTS OF CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ADOPTION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN BUGESERA DISTRICT, RWANDA
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Submission date: 2024-02-02
Final review date: 2024-07-18
Acceptance date: 2024-10-04
Publication date: 2025-03-31
Zagadnienia Ekonomiki Rolnej / Problems of Agricultural Economics 2025;382(1):108-132
KEYWORDS
JEL CLASSIFICATION CODES
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ABSTRACT
Aim:
To adapt to changing climate, farmers should transform their farming practices and adopt various
methods that sustainably increase agricultural productivity and resilience. This study assessed
climate-smart agricultural practices adopted and the determinants influencing adoption among farmers,
focusing on smallholder farmers in Bugesera district, Rwanda.
Material and methods:
Primary data were collected from 204 randomly selected household surveys,
focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The data were analyzed using a multivariate
probit model.
Results:
The results revealed that the majority (85.3%) of farmers noticed climate variability and
change, with 55.9% of respondents noting decreased rainfall and 47% noticing increased temperatures.
The results confirm that the likelihood of households adopting changes in planting time, crop
rotation, agroforestry, on-farm water conservation, and the use of improved crop varieties were 80.9,
68.6, 79.9, 58.8, and 78.2%, respectively. The results revealed that farm size, farming experience, access
to credit, access to agricultural extension services, access to weather and climate information, climate change perception, and social group membership are the major determinants of various climate-
smart agricultural practices.
Conclusions:
To enhance the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices, further measures
should focus on disseminating weather and climate information to smallholder farmers to increase
their knowledge of climate change. The climate-smart agricultural practices established by the government
can be managed by smallholder farmers through their different community farmer groups.