What Drives Farmers to Make Top-Down or Bottom-Up Adaptation to Climate Change and Fluctuations? A Comparative Study on 3 Cases of Apple Farming in Japan and South Africa
Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Farmers have been exposed to multiple stressors including climate change, and they have managed to adapt to those risks. The adaptation actions undertaken by farmers and their decision making are, however, only poorly understood. By studying adaptation practices undertaken by apple farmers in three regions: Nagano and Kazuno in Japan and Elgin in South Africa, we categorize the adaptation actions into two types: farmer initiated bottom-up adaptation and institution led top-down adaptation. We found that the driver which differentiates the type of adaptation likely adopted was strongly related to the farmers’ characteristics, particularly their dependence on the institutions, e.g. the farmers’ cooperative, in selling their products. The farmers who rely on the farmers’ cooperative for their sales are likely to adopt the institution-led adaptation, whereas the farmers who have established their own sales channels tend to start innovative actions by bottom-up. We further argue that even though the two types have contrasting features, the combinations of the both types of adaptations could lead to more successful adaptation particularly in agriculture. This study also emphasizes that more farm-level studies for various crops and regions are warranted to provide substantial feedbacks to adaptation policy.
The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113–8657, Japan;African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), University of Cape Town, Private Bag x3, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa;The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113–8657, Japan;Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG), University of Cape Town, Private Bag x3, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa;African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), University of Cape Town, Private Bag x3, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa
Recommended Citation:
Mariko Fujisawa,Kazuhiko Kobayashi,Peter Johnston,et al. What Drives Farmers to Make Top-Down or Bottom-Up Adaptation to Climate Change and Fluctuations? A Comparative Study on 3 Cases of Apple Farming in Japan and South Africa[J]. PLOS ONE,2015-01-01,10(3)