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This study aims to identify factors affecting local adaptation strategies smallholder farmers are practising to adapt multiple stresses. Primary data were collected from 400 randomly sampled households from six districts of Wolaita zone by face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Survey data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. A binary logit model was employed to identify factors affecting smallholder farmers' local adaptation strategies. A total of 15 explanatory variables, identified from relevant empirical literature, was included in the binary logit model to assess their relationship to the dependent variable – households' decision to employ various local adaptations. The study found that eight of the explanatory variables such as age, farmland size, livestock owned, income, distance to market, extension agent visist, participation in the local organizations, and agro-ecology significantly influenced local adaption strategies. Additionally, qualitative data from focus group discussions and key informant interviews showed that the role and use of local adaptation have been ignored and marginalized. This study suggests the government should recognize the importance of local knowledge, multiple stakeholders should participate to enhance smallholders' adaptabilities, interdisciplinary research is required, and communities should be supported to share their knowledge to build synergies between different knowledge systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied innovation processes in agriculture and nutrition to discuss a scaling approach that encompasses the technical, institutional, and behavioral dimensions of change. To understand dynamics across these dimensions, we analyzed farmers' innovation processes through two analytical lenses: farmer-centered and structural. Focus group discussions in Kapchorwa, Uganda, and Teso South, Kenya, looked at farmers' choices of innovations. Individual interviews and stakeholder workshops at both study sites increased understanding of the local innovation system. To address local challenges, strive for livelihood aspirations, and fulfill personal taste preferences, farmers selected and adapted practices promoted by a research project. A wide range of additional support providers encouraged farmers to develop innovations in agriculture, marketing, and nutrition. By promoting innovation as a process rather than an outcome, it is possible to address context-specific needs and enhance farmers' adaptive capacities. Scaling these processes necessitates the involvement of innovation support service providers in order to create an enabling environment for experimentation. Analytical dualism highlights the different roles of human agency and structures in innovation processes needed to design successful scaling strategies. This paper sets out a novel approach to understanding the increasingly discussed dimensions of scaling by linking them with concepts from innovation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]