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marketing risks that farmers face. Access to appropriate technologies (e.g. early
warning systems, improved crop varieties) can enhance adaptive capacity by
expanding farmers' response options in the face of uncertainties - but it may
also result in 'lock-ins' that lead to maladaptation (Barnett and O'Neill 2010).
The term 'information and skills' includes factors such as literacy, education,
training, communication networks and knowledge dissemination forums
(Eakin and Lemos 2006). There is increasing recognition that co-production
of knowledge and collaborative and iterative learning processes, as opposed
to top-down transfers of information and technology, are needed for effective
adaptation (Tschakert and Dietrich 2010). For example, while scientific and
'expert' knowledge is necessary to develop improved rice varieties that are
high yielding or can withstand drought, knowledge of farmers' production
circumstances and preferences is needed to select breeding materials with
features - such as aroma and cooking qualities - that farmers value (Kafiriti
et al. 2003). I operationalize these two determinants by asking whether the
technologies, information and skills promoted by OG schemes are considered
locally relevant and appropriate, and whether they promote two-way flows
of information and collaborative learning, experimentation and adaptation.
Investments in physical infrastructure such as roads, wells, hospitals, schools
and markets can enhance a community's adaptive capacity by improving health,
income and access to employment, resources and services (Eakin and Lemos
2006). However, infrastructural investment may be vulnerable to climatic risks,
such as flash flooding (Keskitalo et al. 2011). I explore the extent to which
OG schemes are investing in infrastructure that is adapted to current and
future climate variability and change. 'Institutions' are the formal and informal
structures, rules and incentives that govern individual, collective and societal
behaviour (Ostrom 1990; North 1990). They play a key role in shaping adaptive
capacity by mediating the barriers and incentives for accessing and using
resources (Gupta et al. 2010). OG schemes are considered an 'institutional
innovation' (Glover 1987) in which smallholder farmers enter into agricultural
production and marketing partnership with large estates, formalized in a written
contract. I explore the formation and role of smallholder OG associations and
the role of institutional dynamics outside OG schemes in shaping smallholder
farmers' bargaining power vis-à-vis the large estates. Equity is a concern that
cuts across the determinants. It is closely connected to formal and informal
institutions, which are subject to power relations and that structure the ways in
which entitlements to adaptation resources such as financial and social capital,
technology and information are allocated in society (Eakin and Lemos 2006).
I outline how OG schemes are influencing equity at the community level by
examining which households are participating in OG schemes, and why, and
how access to land and water is negotiated and contested within and beyond
the schemes.
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