Determinants of Farm Resilience to Climate Change: The Role of Farmer Entrepreneurship and Value Chain Collaborations

TLDR

Resilience has become a key concept in academia and policy, yet its application at the farm level and the determinants of farm resilience in smallholder settings remain unclear. The study develops a novel conceptual framework linking farm resilience to farmer adaptive capacity to address this knowledge gap. The authors propose mechanisms by which farmer entrepreneurship, organization membership, and buyer relationships enhance adaptive capacity and thereby resilience. The study recommends strengthening farmer entrepreneurship, organization support, and buyer relationships to improve farm resilience.

Abstract

The concept of resilience gained traction in academic, policy, and development discourse in recent years, yet its conceptualization and application at the farm level has received little attention. For instance, recent policy recommendations present farm resilience as a silver bullet in dealing with agricultural risks and uncertainty, and in achieving sustainable agri-food systems. Yet, the question of what determines farm resilience in a smallholder farming set-up remains fuzzy. To address this knowledge gap, we firstly develop a novel conceptual framework based on determinants of farm resilience and farmer adaptive capacity as a pathway through which farm resilience is strengthened. The emphasis on adaptive capacity responds to a conceptual weakness inherent in studies that present socio-ecological systems as static systems. Secondly, based on a literature review, we propose mechanisms through which farmer entrepreneurship, membership in farmer organization, and farmer–buyer relationships may influence farmer adaptive capacity and thereby farm resilience. Based on our conceptual understanding of the determinants of farm resilience, we recommend approaches that augment farmer entrepreneurship, support farmer organizations, and strengthen farmer–buyer relationships.