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Abstract In as much as seasonal climate forecasts are an essential tool for supporting livelihoods in rainfed agriculture production, the effects of seasonal climate forecasts on income and yield at the agro ecological zone and wealth quartile levels are not sufficiently researched in Zambia. In order to close this gap, we focused on investigating the impacts of using climate information on productivity and income, while using an endogenous switching regression on a representative subnational and national level data from 7241 agricultural households. Using STATA 17 for analysis, the study found that smallholder farmers who integrated seasonal climate forecasts outperformed those who did not have the information, achieving higher yields (421.54 kg/ha). The localized effects of seasonal forecasting by agro ecological zone indicated that low rainfall areas had significant yield gains than other zones, and wealth results for wealth quartiles showed that farmers in higher quartiles had better yield (126.14 kg/ha) and income (1509.44 kg/ha) gains.. This study therefore recommends that policymakers develop policies and strategies that are region-specific to foster climate awareness to and integration of adaptation techniques by farmers. Additionally, the study also recommends the provision of social safety net to less-endowed farmers as well as investing in better early warning systems to enhance participation in using forecasted information for a sustainable future.

Farmers have adopted ecological farming to overcome the adverse effects of climate change and conventional agriculture. However, the performance of ecological approaches, especially the economic outcomes of ecological practices adopted as a package, has yet to be widely documented in Kenya. This paper aims to fill this gap and generate pertinent information on the implications of adopting different ecological practices bundles on farm income. The study considers five ecological practices: crop diversification, composting, mulching, minimum tillage, and integrated pest management (IPM). This study employed a multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) model to capture the effect of adopting different combinations of ecological practices on farm income. The results reveal that 15.3 % of the surveyed households adopted a bundle combining composting, crop diversification, and IPM. Households that adopted a comprehensive package (comprising all five ecological practices) had the largest positive impact on farm income, increasing it by 9.2 %. This package replaces chemical inputs with locally available resources, restores degraded soils and diversifies production risks to increase food production and farm income. Farming experience, off-farm activities, farm size, perceptions of the effects of conventional agriculture, and drought and floods significantly influenced the adoption of the comprehensive package. This study’s findings imply that policymakers and related stakeholders should provide timely weather-related information, enforce sustainable land use laws, and establish targeted extension services and information campaigns to heighten the adoption of all five ecological practices and enhance household welfare by increasing farm income.

Research background: Beans form a substantial part of the household diet in East and Central Africa and are consumed by most households. They are alternative low-cost proteins for less endowed people in a society and can contribute towards nutrition, food security, and employment. In Homa Bay County, beans are staple food grown by a vast majority of farmers. Choice of market outlet is the most significant decision for farm households to sell their produce to the different market outlets, which has a more substantial impact on household income. Purpose of the article: Factors influencing the choice of market outlets among smallholder bean farmers in Homa Bay County, Kenya Methods: Data collected were analyzed using a Multivariate Probit. Multi-stage sampling was used to collect data from 362 farmers, which constituted 181 participants and 181 non-participants of Public-private partnerships (PPPs); data was collected using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Findings & value added & novelty: The market outlet choices available in the study area for sales of beans included consumers, brokers, retailers, and wholesalers; however, retailers and wholesalers constituted more than half of the market outlets. Experience in bean farming, farm size, access to training, credit, and partnership participation positively and significantly influenced selling to these market outlets. Farmers who participated in PPP participated more in bean farming than non-participants; this might be attributed to the benefit acquired from partnerships, such as training farm inputs, among others. Thus, PPP could be an effective way of improving smallholder livelihood; policies that include mechanisms that create or secure markets for smallholder farmers will see to it that they get increased returns.