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Improved land management, poverty reduction and agricultural development are critically related goals for rural areas in the third world, and must be treated as such in the design of better policies for economic development and poverty alleviation (Barbier, 2000; Hinrichsen, 2000). It is evident that soil degradation has an immense negative impact on the productive capacity of soil. However, there should be a considerable investment to modern technologies by different governments for land intensification and improved livelihoods, such as inorganic fertilizers, irrigation and draft power to provide a much needed relief in rural areas. Koninga & Smaling (2005) argue that, most types of soil degradation can be prevented or reversed for example by adding nutrients to depleted soil and rebuilding top soil through soil amendments. However, without government intervention such options are not available to the poor households in the rural areas.
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nature are now taking place that will have profound influence on the earth and its people in the next decades. Climate change is a reality and its adverse effects are already witnessed in most developing countries, where populations are most vulnerable and least likely to easily adapt to these changes. Most of these countries’ social, institutional and physical infrastructure’s capacities are not strong enough to cope with the short and long term impacts of climate change (Prandini et al., 2009). For example, the geographic location in the tropical and subtropical regions where crops are exposed to a near maximum temperature tolerance and where dry land, non-irrigated agriculture dominate, is causing a huge decrease on production yields even from a small change in the climate.
Climate change is deepening poverty and indirectly exposing poorest countries and their communities to the greatest risk of food insecurity (Parry et al., 2004; Abraha &
Savage, 2006). The higher temperatures and changing precipitation levels resulting from climate change are depressing crop yields and causing limited harvest especially in most low-income countries, where adaptive capacity is low (Parry et al., 2004; Abraha
& Savage, 2006; Molua, 2009). Molua (2009) emphasised that the issue of climate change is important for most of developing countries because of their highly dependence on agrarian economy. In essence, for these countries, agriculture does not only provide for food but together with the forestry sectors caters for employment of the majority of the population, contribute significantly to national incomes, and remain the driving force for economic development (Parry et al., 2004). Thus, these developing nations are facing a greater vulnerability because of their reliance on agriculture, lower
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tolerance to coastal and water resource changes, and limited financial, technical, and institutional capacity to adapt (Banuri & Opschoor, 2007). Furthermore, the tropical are particularly vulnerable to potential damage from environmental changes because large areas of these regions are already covered by poor soils, which have already made much of the land unusable for agricultural production (Khandlhela & May, 2006). For instance, in Africa and Latin America, an extreme decrease in overall agricultural productivity of up to 30% is projected during the next century.
Again, due to different effects of climate change, developing countries are also likely to suffer huge economic losses. However, beyond the direct economic impacts, crop failure due to climate change could increase unemployment, destabilise food security further increase competition for scarce resources, and increased social inequality.
Banuri & Opschoor (2007) argued that, on a national level, vulnerability to economic losses manifests in poorer countries due to a lack of resources and capacity to respond to the threats and ultimately impacts of climate change. The ability to adapt and cope with weather and climate change related hazards depends on economic resources, infrastructure, technology, and social safety nets availability in any affected country (McGuigan, Reynolds & Wiedmer, 2002). And because many poor countries are already under pressure from issues such as population growth, rapid urbanization and resource depletion, stagnant economic growth, poverty and hunger, climate change comes as one of many environment problems that they are already confronted with (Parry et al., 2004; Banuri & Opschoor, 2007; Hahn et al., 2009). In the community level, issues such as class, gender, ethnicity, age, level of education and access to resources are also
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found to be the determinants of vulnerability to climate induced natural hazards and disasters (McGuigan et al., 2002). Because of lack of servings, security and insurance, for the poorest households in rural areas it is almost impossible for them to replace or compensate for the numerous things that they lose or are destroyed, including houses, livestock, food reserves, household items and tools during climate induced floods for example.
Depending on the geographic area, the effects of climatic changes have also altered soil conditions and element availability so severely that the tolerance and adaptation capacity of certain plant species to new or chemically imbalanced growth media has been overwhelmed (Hickey & Salas, 1995). Furthermore, the change of climatic conditions has been identified as having potential for increasing bacterial contamination of food and water, which consequently may result in alteration of the types, frequencies, and intensities of crop and livestock pests, change of risks related to water and foodborne infection diseases. Because of temperature increases pest’s infections and damage are common during the critical and most sensitive earlier stage of crop development leading to crop failure (Tshiala & Olwoch, 2010; Rowhani et al., 2011).
Consequently this failure is also reinforced by generally deteriorating quality of soils and in some cases landslides and erosion phenomena. Increased temperature and altered precipitation patterns have resulted in increased losses of soil minerals, especially by leaching and erosion.
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The incidents of crop failure are common in rural areas. Miraglia, Marvin, Kleter, Battilani, Brera, Coni, Cubadda, Croci, De Santis, Dekkers, Filippi, Hutjes, Noordam, Pisante, Piva, Prandini, Toti, van den Born, & Vespermann (2009) wrote that, crop failure has decreased yields of spring-sown crops such as maize, sunflowers, and soybean. Higher temperatures and a greater incidence and intensity of extreme weather have led not only to significant modifications in crop systems and yield, but also to an expanding range of crop pests and altered transmission dynamics of challenges, which has exacerbated the yield reduction and impair food safety (Hahn et al., 2009; Miraglia et al., 2009). For example, the increase of temperature is found to limit crop yield by accelerating the plant development, affecting the floral organs and fruit formation and the functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus (Tshiala & Olwoch, 2010). Climate change effects on many rural situations will also influence the decrease in the amount of yearly precipitation, prolonged dry periods and projected temperature increases (Khandlhela & May, 2006; Hahn et al., 2009; Miraglia et al., 2009),. This process will ultimately alter and enforce a faster growing periods and shorter lifecycles. And if the timing and length of growing seasons is shifted, possible alteration of the planting and harvesting dates will change reinforcing the need to change crop varieties used in a particular area. Unfortunately, many households do not have resources and inputs to cope when these changes are occurring. Moreover, such household are vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition.
Again, it is evident that the effects of climate change are clearly linked to food production, food access and food distribution among households in rural areas (Olesen
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& Bindi, 2002). However, the severities of these effects are identifiable among households who are solely land-dependant for food production and income (Hahn et al., 2009). The vulnerability of rural households and small-holder subsistence farmers can also greatly influenced by lack of seeds availability during planting season. According to Khandlhela & May (2006) increased events of extreme climatic conditions which disrupt and destroy harvest has also impacted on the availability of seeds to plant. Again the disruption of seeds stores by natural events such as floods is common in rural area. The effects of flood include the disruption of food crops on farms, dying of livestock through different diseases, and again disruption of seeds stores (Hickey & Salas, 1995;
Khandlhela & May, 2006; Hahn et al., 2009). The significance of flood damage can be ecological were flood wash away the fertile soil that household food production relies;
however, the impact on food crops can be more severe, particularly if floods are experienced just before harvesting period, because that would jeopardise seeds supply for the following year food production seasons(Hickey & Salas, 1995; IPCC, 2001).
Moreover, efforts by households to seek seeds from other family members and friends are found to be less effective, because such people could be facing the same problem.
Climate change has a significant impact on agriculture and forestry in rural areas thus forcing producers to adopt new practices in response to altered conditions. According to the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPPC), the analysis on climate change impact shows that because of drought, there is a general reduction of potential crop yields and a decrease in water availability for agriculture and population in many parts of the developing world (IPCC, 2001; Khandlhela & May, 2006). Drought is not only
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undermining farm yields, killing animals and reducing household food availability but also is influencing poor harvesting and that has automatically threatens food security and livelihoods in rural areas. Furthermore, drought has also contributed to long term agricultural stagnation and deepened rural poverty, because of destroying land which is the source of food production (Heerink, 2005). The process of drought is closely linked to erratic and unprecedented rainfall accompanied by excessive heat and temperatures (Khandlhela & May, 2006). Thus, this relationship is mostly affecting those households that are only dependent on their own food production to survive, in particular those who depend on rain-fed agricultural activities for food security and income generation.
Small-scale family farms, traditionally the backbone of much of developing country agriculture, are under threat, while globalization and domestic investments are encouraging production on a larger scale (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2002). The nature of farming is changing rapidly in many developing countries because of the aging farm population, the feminization of agriculture, the growing labour shortages and depletion of asset bases resulting from the HIV and AIDS crisis, and the decreasing cost of capital relative to labour (Altman et al., 2009). Furthermore, the complexities surrounding the effect of climate change on household food production illustrate the challenges involved in trying to deal with the growing need of ensuring food security in rural areas. Government support structures to solve the problem of food insecurity in rural areas should take into account the uniqueness of the complexities faced by food producers in their respective areas (IFPRI, 2002; Altman et al., 2009 Miraglia et al., 2009). According to the Miraglia et al. (2009), in order to deal with
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emerging food safety risks caused by climate change, a large variety of disciplines are needed ranging from natural to social science and, as a consequence, a holistic approach is advisable to adequately tackle the complexities encountered. Climate change threatens farm yield and returns. Thus, any agricultural policy to be adopted must therefore bring innovative approaches to production and rural institutions in order to play an important role in influencing the sector's ability to adapt successfully to climate change (IPCC, 2001; Khandlhela & May, 2006; Hahn et al., 2009). This strategy calls for all agriculture decision makers to take into account and understand the influence and sensitivity within which climate change aligns to production processes particularly in rural areas.