Assessing the impact of climate change adaptation strategies on food security and farm income: insights from Burkina Faso

Building climate resilience is now widely recognized as an essential strategy for smallholder farmers aiming to achieve long-term food security and enhance agricultural productivity. In light of the deterioration of agricultural lands due to climate change, it is essential to develop impactful strategies to tackle these urgent challenges. This study aims to identify the key factors that significantly impact farmers' ability to adapt to climate change and its effects on both net farm income and food security. To achieve this objective, we employed a multistage approach, analyzing data from 420 farmers in the Central Plateau and North Regions of Burkina Faso. We applied multivariate probit and Poisson regression models to determine the key factors influencing climate change strategies. To obtain unbiased estimates of impact, the propensity score matching (PSM) method was utilized to effectively address the selection bias arising from observable factors. The Poisson regression model consistently showed that factors including off-farm income, family labor, training, improved seed, farming experience, microdosing practices, chemical fertilizer, drought exposure, and access to climate information have a positive and significant impact on the adoption of strategies. Based on the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) estimation, the climate change adaptation strategies (CCAS) significantly contribute to reducing food expenditures by 48%. Moreover, there is compelling evidence indicating that these specific strategies have a positive effect on enhancing farm income by 43%. Strategy 3 "increasing availability of manure" is more practical and feasible to implement, as it can be executed by individual farmers or communities with support from extension services and NGOs, requiring less complex coordination than Strategy 4 "updating knowledge for new technology". The results of the study indicate that all strategies assessed have significantly enhanced food security and increased farm incomes. For a meaningful improvement in food security and a rise in farmers’ earnings, it is vital that governments and NGOs take action to support sustainable practices. This can be done through persistent capacity building and better access to climate change information.