Climate Change Adaptation by Smallholder Tea Farmers: a Case Study of Nepal

Highlights

• Most tea farmers in Nepal are aware of climate change and how to adapt to it.

• Common adaptation strategies are crop diversification, soil conservation, agroforestry, and the usage of less climate-sensitive tea cultivars.

• Farmers who are members of a cooperative, who have access to credit, and who attended frequent training generally used a wider range of climate change adaptation strategies.

• Many tea farmers are not aware of the government's strategic plans to increase the production and export of Nepalese tea.

Abstract

Climate change is threatening the livelihood of tea farmers in Nepal. Simultaneously, the production of tea is becoming an increasingly important economic sector for the country. This study aimed to reveal the adaptation behavior towards climate change among smallholder tea farmers, particularly which demographic, institutional, and information source factors are likely to influence the degree of adaptation. We collected quantitative data in the district of Ilam via 91 farmers through a questionnaire survey and applied descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and binary logistic regression models to analyze the collected data. Findings revealed that information sources (peer exchange, internet, and training attendance), as well as institutional factors (cooperative membership and credit access), positively influenced the degree of climate change adaptation among the respondents. Easier credit access and joining cooperatives could enhance the adaptative capacity of smallholder tea farmers. Improving the interaction between the Nepalese government and stakeholders involved in the domestic tea value chain could also increase economic success.

Introduction

The impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector are increasing (Duncan et al. 2016), not only for staple crops but also for cash crops. Many high-value cash crops such as wine, coffee, or tea are particularly sensitive to a changing climate (Mozell & Tach 2014). Thus, climate change will impact the supply of many popular beverages in addition to food security. For example, climate-induced harvest losses of barley would reduce the supply of beer (Xie et al., 2018). Similarly, the future of global wine production might not be secured without appropriate climate change adaptation (Hannah et al. 2013). This need for adaptation also holds for non-alcoholic beverages. An increase in extreme weather events due to climate change would lead to higher harvest losses in tea production in the future (Ahmed et al. 2014).

The IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land highlights that climate change poses a global threat to food security with a high impact on the developing world (Mbow et al. 2019). Reduced crop yields and harvest losses due to climate change will have a large effect on smallholder agriculture systems (Beltrán-Tolosa et al. 2020). These systems consist of farmers whose livelihood is largely dependent on agricultural production. Smallholder farmers face a higher risk of poverty and food insecurity due to the high dependence on their crops and livestock (Morton 2007). Additionally, limited information as well as financial constraints contribute to the socio-economic instability of smallholder farmers while they are facing the negative impacts of climate change (Sietz et al., 2012). This observation holds both for smallholder staple and cash crop farmers.

The tea (Camellia sinensis) sector is growing in various parts of the world. For example, tea production has increased by more than 60% between 2004 and 2014 in Nepal (ITC, 2017). This growth is proof of an increasing share of regional livelihood being generated through tea production. The Nepalese tea sector largely consists of smallholder farmers who are highly dependent on tea production as their main source of income. However, Nepal’s tea industry is also impacted by climate change as are most other agricultural fields around the word (Chalise et al. 2017). As the government of Nepal aims to increase production and export of tea, it should be a natural consideration to gain insight into the industry’s climate change adaptation behavior (ITC, 2017). This is not only important from an economic viewpoint but primarily for the development of effective policies.

A lack of awareness regarding climate-smart agriculture leaves farmers more exposed to any potential losses. Inappropriate adaptation also lowers overall agricultural productivity (Woods et al. 2017). Therefore, many studies have investigated how the international tea industry is adapting to climate change. These studies are however primarily focused on small and large tea farms in countries with a higher volume of tea production, such as India (Biggs et al. 2018a), China (Ahmed et al. 2014), Vietnam (Nguyen & Mitsumasu, 2017), Japan (Ashardiono & Cassim 2014), Kenya (Ochieng et al. 2016), and Sri Lanka (Gunathilaka et al. 2018). Research focusing on climate change adaptation behavior of smallholder tea farmers in tea producing countries with a lower production volume, like Nepal, is still missing.

To fill this gap, we conducted an empirical study among smallholder tea farmers in Nepal. The aim was to provide insight into the current situation and the identification of factors which positively influence the adaptation behavior of the tea farmers by answering the following research questions:

• How aware are Nepalese tea farmers about climate change?

• Which strategies are applied by smallholder tea farmers in Nepal to adapt to climate change?

• How do socio-demographic, farm and institutional characteristics, as well as information sources influence the implementation of adaptation strategies?