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Smallholder Maize Production and Climatic Risk: A Case Study from Mexico

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  • Hallie Eakin

Abstract

The article explores the strategies employed by smallholder farmers in Mexico to cope with the affects of climatic variability, and how seasonal climate forecasts may assist these farmers in mitigating climatic risk. Recognizing that the decisions of smallholder farmers are intricately tied to the political-economic circumstances in which they operate, the article discusses how agricultural policy in Mexico affects the vulnerability of small-scale producers and may inhibit their ability to use climatic forecasts to their advantage. The article first reviews the literature on smallholder adaptation in Mexico, and discusses briefly policy and institutional issues affecting adaptation at the farm-level. Using the case of small-scale maize producers in Tlaxcala, Mexico, as an illustration, the article then argues that political-economic uncertainty outweighs climatic variability as a determinant of the production strategies of small-scale producers. In these circumstances, the farmers are unlikely to use new seasonal climate forecasts. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000

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  • Hallie Eakin, 2000. "Smallholder Maize Production and Climatic Risk: A Case Study from Mexico," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 19-36, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:45:y:2000:i:1:p:19-36
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1005628631627
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    1. Redclift, Michael, 1983. "Production Programs for Small Farmers: Plan Puebla as Myth and Reality," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(3), pages 551-570, April.
    2. Gary D. Thompson & Paul N. Wilson, 1994. "Common Property As An Institutional Response To Environmental Variability," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(3), pages 10-21, July.
    3. Appendini, Kirsten & Liverman, Diana, 1994. "Agricultural policy, climate change and food security in Mexico," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 149-164, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Erin Bunting & Jessica Steele & Eric Keys & Shylock Muyengwa & Brian Child & Jane Southworth, 2013. "Local Perception of Risk to Livelihoods in the Semi-Arid Landscape of Southern Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-27, May.
    2. Sardorbek Musayev & Jonathan Mellor & Tara Walsh & Emmanouil Anagnostou, 2021. "Development of an Agent-Based Model for Weather Forecast Information Exchange in Rural Area of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Erin C. Pischke & M. Azahara Mesa-Jurado & Amarella Eastmond & Jesse Abrams & Kathleen E. Halvorsen, 2018. "Community perceptions of socioecological stressors and risk-reducing strategies in Tabasco, Mexico," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 441-451, December.
    4. Vasilii Erokhin & Alexander Esaulko & Elena Pismennaya & Evgeny Golosnoy & Olga Vlasova & Anna Ivolga, 2021. "Combined Impact of Climate Change and Land Qualities on Winter Wheat Yield in Central Fore-Caucasus: The Long-Term Retrospective Study," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-28, December.
    5. Skoufias, Emmanuel & Vinha, Katja, 2012. "Climate variability and child height in rural Mexico," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 54-73.
    6. Emmanuel Skoufias & Sushenjit Bandyopadhyay & Sergio Olivieri, 2017. "Occupational diversification as an adaptation to rainfall variability in rural India," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 77-89, January.
    7. Corinne Valdivia & M. Danda & Dekha Sheikh & Harvey James & Violet Gathaara & Grace Mbure & Festus Murithi & William Folk, 2014. "Using translational research to enhance farmers’ voice: a case study of the potential introduction of GM cassava in Kenya’s coast," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(4), pages 673-681, December.
    8. Carla Roncoli & Christine Jost & Paul Kirshen & Moussa Sanon & Keith Ingram & Mark Woodin & Léopold Somé & Frédéric Ouattara & Bienvenue Sanfo & Ciriaque Sia & Pascal Yaka & Gerrit Hoogenboom, 2009. "From accessing to assessing forecasts: an end-to-end study of participatory climate forecast dissemination in Burkina Faso (West Africa)," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 433-460, February.
    9. World Bank, 2012. "The Welfare Effects of Extreme Weather Events : Insights from Three APEC Case Studies," World Bank Publications - Reports 13039, The World Bank Group.
    10. Guillermo N. Murray-Tortarolo & Mario Martínez Salgado, 2021. "Drought as a driver of Mexico-US migration," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-11, February.
    11. Laura Schmitt Olabisi & Ryan Qi Wang & Arika Ligmann-Zielinska, 2015. "Why Don’t More Farmers Go Organic? Using A Stakeholder-Informed Exploratory Agent-Based Model to Represent the Dynamics of Farming Practices in the Philippines," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-24, October.
    12. Burnham, Morey & Ma, Zhao, 2018. "Multi-Scalar Pathways to Smallholder Adaptation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 249-262.
    13. Bert, Federico E. & Satorre, Emilio H. & Toranzo, Fernando Ruiz & Podesta, Guillermo P., 2006. "Climatic information and decision-making in maize crop production systems of the Argentinean Pampas," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 88(2-3), pages 180-204, June.
    14. Ziervogel, Gina & Bithell, Mike & Washington, Richard & Downing, Tom, 2005. "Agent-based social simulation: a method for assessing the impact of seasonal climate forecast applications among smallholder farmers," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 1-26, January.
    15. Emmanuel Skoufias, 2012. "The Poverty and Welfare Impacts of Climate Change Quantifying the Effects, Identifying the Adaptation Strategies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 9384.
    16. Raphael Nawrotzki & Fernando Riosmena & Lori Hunter, 2013. "Do Rainfall Deficits Predict U.S.-Bound Migration from Rural Mexico? Evidence from the Mexican Census," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(1), pages 129-158, February.
    17. Skoufias, Emmanuel & Vinha, Katja & Conroy, Hector V., 2011. "The impacts of climate variability on welfare in rural Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5555, The World Bank.
    18. Lin, Brenda B. & Richards, Paul L., 2007. "Soil random roughness and depression storage on coffee farms of varying shade levels," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 194-204, September.
    19. Jonathan Salerno & Jeremy E. Diem & Bronwen L. Konecky & Joel Hartter, 2019. "Recent intensification of the seasonal rainfall cycle in equatorial Africa revealed by farmer perceptions, satellite-based estimates, and ground-based station measurements," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 123-139, March.

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