The effect of heterogeneous adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices on household food and nutrition security of small-scale urban crop farmers in eThekwini Municipality

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses food security issues under climate change. The research examined the effect of adopting CSA practices on food and nutrition security by small-scale urban crop (SSUC) farmers in the eThekwini (ETH) Municipalityusing purposive sampling from 412 SSUC farmers. Results suggest that socio-demographic and institutional factors influence household consumption patterns and dietary status of SSUC farmers. The probit selection model show that the farmer’s age, education, household size, off-farm income, monthly expenditure on food, agricultural training, group membership, and credit access significantly influenced CSA practices adoption decisions. The endogenous switching regression using marginal treatment effects shows that farm income, off-farm income, monthly expenditure on food, group membership, hired labour and distance to the farming site significantly affected household food consumption patterns. Gender, marital status, employment status, age, household size, farm and off-farm income, monthly expenditure on food, group membership, hired labour and number of part-time labourers from households significantly influenced the household dietary diversity status of SSUC farmers. The findings confirm heterogeneity in the effects of adopting CSA practices. Unobserved benefits are prevalent through a positive selection of CSA practices depicted by the Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS) and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). Adopting CSA practices enhanced the food and nutrition of SSCU farmers, shown by the average treatment effects (ATT) when farmers adopt CSA practices. Adopting CSA practices correlated positively with the food and nutrition security of SSUC farmers, with adopters being 16 and 31 percent more food secure concerning HFCS and HDDS, respectively. Hence, SSUC farmers in ETH Municipality adopting CSA practices were likely better off regarding food consumption patterns and dietary diversity. In light of this, a nexus between SSUC farmers, researchers, and extension services must consider suitable sets of CSA practices of relevant scale chosen and directed toward the welfare of localised contexts.