IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/endeec/v26y2021i5-6p432-449_2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Droughts and floods in Malawi: impacts on crop production and the performance of sustainable land management practices under weather extremes

Author

Listed:
  • McCarthy, Nancy
  • Kilic, Talip
  • Brubaker, Josh
  • Murray, Siobhan
  • de la Fuente, Alejandro

Abstract

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, increasing the vulnerability of smallholder farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture. We evaluate the extent to which farmers in Malawi suffer crop production losses due to extreme weather, and whether sustainable land management (SLM) practices help shield crop production losses from extreme events. We use a three period panel dataset where widespread floods and droughts occurred in separate periods, offering a unique opportunity to evaluate impacts using data collected immediately following these events. Results show that crop production outcomes were severely hit by both floods and droughts, with average losses ranging between 32–48 per cent. Legume intercropping provided protection against both floods and droughts, while green belts provided protection against floods. However, we find limited evidence that SLM adoption decisions are driven by exposure to weather shocks; rather, farmers with more productive assets are more likely to adopt.

Suggested Citation

  • McCarthy, Nancy & Kilic, Talip & Brubaker, Josh & Murray, Siobhan & de la Fuente, Alejandro, 2021. "Droughts and floods in Malawi: impacts on crop production and the performance of sustainable land management practices under weather extremes," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(5-6), pages 432-449, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:26:y:2021:i:5-6:p:432-449_2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1355770X20000455/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Josephson & Jeffrey D. Michler & Talip Kilic & Siobhan Murray, 2024. "The Mismeasure of Weather: Using Remotely Sensed Earth Observation Data in Economic Context," Papers 2409.07506, arXiv.org.
    2. Kilic, Talip & Moylan, Heather & Ilukor, John & Mtengula, Clement & Pangapanga-Phiri, Innocent, 2021. "Root for the tubers: Extended-harvest crop production and productivity measurement in surveys," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Ailish Craig & Craig W. Hutton & Justin Sheffield, 2022. "Social Capital Typologies and Sustainable Development: Spatial Patterns in the Central and Southern Regions of Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, July.
    4. McCarthy, Nancy & Kilic, Talip & Brubaker, Joshua & Fuente, Alejandro de la & Murray, Siobhan, 2021. "Recurrent Climatic Shocks and Humanitarian Aid: Impacts on Livelihood Outcomes in Malawi," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315324, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Mgomezulu, Wisdom Richard & Edriss, Abdi-Khalil & Machira, Kennedy & Pangapanga-Phiri, Innocent, 2023. "Towards sustainability in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: Implications on household poverty, food and nutrition security," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 2(3).
    6. Michler, Jeffrey D. & Josephson, Anna & Kilic, Talip & Murray, Siobhan, 2022. "Privacy protection, measurement error, and the integration of remote sensing and socioeconomic survey data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. Meyer, Jessica, 2023. "How do forests contribute to food security following a weather shock? Evidence from Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    8. Boureima Sawadogo, 2022. "Drought Impacts on the Crop Sector and Adaptation Options in Burkina Faso: A Gender-Focused Computable General Equilibrium Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-22, November.
    9. Gourlay,Sydney & Kilic,Talip, 2022. "Is Dirt Cheap ? The Economic Costs of Failing to Meet Soil Health Requirements onSmallholder Farms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10108, The World Bank.
    10. Calogero Carletto, 2021. "Better data, higher impact: improving agricultural data systems for societal change [Correlated non-classical measurement errors, ‘second best’ policy inference, and the inverse size-productivity r," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(4), pages 719-740.
    11. Qingqing Li & Yanping Cao & Shuling Miao & Xinhe Huang, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Drought and Wet Events and Their Impacts on Agriculture in the Yellow River Basin," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, April.
    12. Sally Sonia Simmons & John Elvis Hagan & Thomas Schack, 2022. "Then and Now: Investigating Anthropometrics and Child Mortality among Females in Malawi," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    13. Valiant O Odhiambo & Sheryl L Hendriks & Eness P Mutsvangwa-Sammie, 2021. "The effect of an objective weighting of the global food security index’s natural resources and resilience component on country scores and ranking," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1343-1357, December.
    14. Qi, Yu & Zhang, Hongxuan & Shao, Shuai, 2024. "Valuing high temperature's fiscal costs: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 134-152.
    15. Sydney Gourlay & Talip Kilic, 2023. "Is dirt cheap? The economic costs of failing to meet soil health requirements on smallholder farms," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 793-818, November.
    16. McCarthy, Nancy & Cavatassi, Romina & Mabiso, Athur, 2023. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 89: Incorporating the Impact of Climate and Weather Variables in Impact Assessments: An Application to an IFAD Climate Change Adaptation Project in Viet Nam," IFAD Research Series 330876, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:26:y:2021:i:5-6:p:432-449_2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ede .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.