Abstract

The study seeks to understand the dynamics of climate impact on crop agriculture, with each chapter addressing a specific topic related to the theme. Chapter 2 examines the current and simulates future economic impacts of climate change on Malawi’s smallholder agriculture using Ricardian analysis based on a three-year panel (2010, 2013, 2016) for World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data from 3,531 farming households. The results reveal that more warming negatively affects agriculture returns on the one hand. In contrast, more precipitation generates gains on the other hand. Simulation reveals that global warming impacts will be more critical than precipitation change. With strategic climate adaptation choices. Chapter 3 assesses the magnitude of climate-induced vulnerability to expected poverty among farming households and how climate change shocks relate to ex-post poverty and poverty transition. Vulnerability is strongly associated with short-run climate stresses and less so with long-run climate-related shocks. The effects of vulnerability on actual poverty lessen with time in the long run. Similarly, climate related stresses worsen the welfare of farming households. The result underscores the importance of livestock in buffering against poverty. Chapter 4 establishes farmers’ willingness to pay for weather index insurance for a staple food crop using a contingent valuation experiment. Using data from 10 districts in Malawi, estimates of willingness-to pay are in the range of US$5.5 to US$15 per hectare per cropping season. At the infancy stage, government subsidies for insurance premiums and linkage of premium payments to Village Savings Groups will be crucial.

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School	: School of Law, Economics and Government
Issued Date	: 2022

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