Title : Assessing the competence of extension officers in equipping banana farmers and their perception to adapt to climate change: A case study of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces smallholder farmers
Abstract:
Developing countries, due to their limited adaptive capacity and various challenges, are anticipated to be severely impacted by climate change. Thus, it is crucial for the farming communities in these regions to gain a deeper understanding of climate change and its potential effects. To explore this, it is essential to evaluate the knowledge of extension officers, who serve as the primary information source for many small-scale farmers. This study gathered data from 61 extension officers advising on crop production across the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Specifically, 31 extension officers from the Ugu district in KwaZulu-Natal and 30 from the OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape participated. The data were collected via questionnaires, coded, and entered an Excel spreadsheet before being analysed using SPSS version 29. Various analyses were conducted to obtain descriptive statistics, aiming to assess the extension officers' understanding of climate change, the factors driving current climate changes, their methods of staying informed about climate change, the primary climatic variables affecting banana farmers, and the conservation agriculture adaptation measures being promoted. Additionally, the study examined the uptake of these measures by small-scale farmers. The findings indicate that extension officers need training as the most effective method for enhancing their skills. They require further training in weather forecasting, climate change impact recording and reporting, and information communication technologies. Both training sessions and farmer days were identified as the most effective capacity-building strategies in the Ugu and OR Tambo districts.
Keywords: Climate Change, Extension Officer, Banana, Production.
