Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
them for losses due to extreme events such as floods, drought, hurricanes, and hail
(Warner et al. 2013). These policies are normally offered to individuals and pur-
chased, as in the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Program.
Community-level insurance schemes are possible but not common. In Nigeria,
an index-based livestock insurance program was introduced. Payouts were based
on areal statistical models, involving all community pastoralists that had purchased
insurance. Most of the smallholders and pastoralists in Africa are uninsured. Ethiopia
has instituted the HARITA program, which takes a holistic approach by linking
insurance with risk reduction measures (Warner et al. 2013). Such schemes require
public-private partnerships between insurance companies and governments. When
there are multigovernment or regional agreements, multicountry programs such as
African Risk Capacity further share the risks. Women farmers and pastoralists need
access to such resources, as well as their male counterparts.
Often in the face of climate change or by pressure from large-scale land buyers,
communities with customary land access sell their land—or it is sold for them by
the government. The land, previously a crucial asset for the rural poor, is now lost to
them. German et al. (2013) document such cases in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania,
and Zambia. These break up communities and particularly disadvantage women.
13.9 MOBILIZATION
Responses to climate change are limited by access to all the capitals, including natu-
ral capital, such as land. A number of social movements have arisen in and across
agricultural communities as access to land and water are increasingly constrained
(McKeon 2013).
13.10 CONCLUSIONS
Many of the proposed adaptations from international agencies address developing
new technologies, educating individuals and changing traditional farming patterns
(Jalloh et al. 2013). These strategies would be strengthened by locating them within
agricultural communities and taking into account gendered access and control of
potential resources within communities. Women are particularly vulnerable to cli-
mate change, as their lack of access and control over the resources, particularly polit-
ical, financial, and built capitals, and their responsibilities for the day-to-day upkeep
of their families (human and cultural capital) give them fewer alternatives to adapta-
tion (Arora-Jonsson 2011). Yet, when women organize within their communities and
across communities, they can be powerful actors to influence adaptation to climate
change (Odigie-Emmanuel 2010b).
Traditional communities, especially the women of these communities, are very
vulnerable to climate change and globalization. Women's cultural capital, combined
with bridging and bonding social capital, results in adaptation in areas where there
has not been a strong presence of global resource extraction. The ability of women to
adapt to climate change is greatly reduced where there are areas of large-scale land
acquisition, including petroleum extraction, large-scale mining, and industrial agri-
culture. These activities destabilize communities and greatly marginalize women.
