Awareness and Perceptions of Climate Change Impact Amoung
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AWARENESS AND PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT AMOUNG SMALL-SCALE MAIZE FARMERS IN ESWATINI: THE CASE STUDY OF HHOHHO, MANZINI AND SHISELWENI REGIONS By MELUSI NOEL KUNENE STUDENT NUMBER 49936174 Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE in the Department of Agriculture and Animal Health COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA Florida Science Campus Supervisor: Ms. D.L. Mthombeni Co-Supervisor: Prof. M.A. Antwi May 2019 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my family. Thank you for your prayers and patience. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I take this opportunity to thank the Lord Almighty for His guidance and the power He provided me. I am very grateful to my supervisors and mentors, Ms. Danisile L. Mthombeni and Professor Mike A. Antwi for their guidance and patience during my Master’s research journey. Thanks to my wife, Mrs Thabsile Vilakati-Kunene and my children Sinelivi, Olubanzi and Uzwile; and my niece Simphiwe Nhlabatsi for their support and unconditional love. ii DECLARATION I, MELUSI NOEL KUNENE, declare that, ANALYSING THE AWARENESS AND PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT AMOUNG SMALL-SCALE MAIZE FARMERS IN ESWATINI: THE CASE STUDY OF HHOHHO, MANZINI AND SHISELWENI REGIONS is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ________________________ _____________________ SIGNATURE DATE NAME: MELUSI NOEL KUNENE STUDENT NUMBER: 49936174 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................. I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... II DECLARATION .......................................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ IV LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... IX ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................. X ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................. XII CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the study ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Significance of the study ............................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Problem statement ........................................................................................................................................ 5 1.4 Research objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 6 1.4.1 Overall objective ......................................................................................................................................... 6 1.4.2 Specific objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Hypothesis of the study ............................................................................................................................. 7 1.6 Outline of the study ....................................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................................. 9 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................................. 9 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Climate Change .............................................................................................................................................. 9 2.3 The global perspective on climate change ........................................................................................... 10 2.4 Climate change based on African continent perspective ................................................................. 11 2.5 Climate change based on southern Africa region perspective ....................................................... 15 2.6 Climate change in eSwatini ....................................................................................................................... 15 2.7 Socioeconomic and global climate change and its impacts on crop production ...................... 16 2.8 Climate change and its impacts in eSwatini ......................................................................................... 18 iv 2.9 Climate change and maize production in eSwatini ............................................................................. 20 2.10 Climate Variability and maize production ........................................................................................... 22 2.11 Economic impacts of climate change under different maize production areas ....................... 23 2.12 Farmers’ perceptions on the impact of climate change .................................................................. 25 2.13 Climate change awareness ..................................................................................................................... 26 2.14 Chapter summary ...................................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................ 30 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 30 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.2 Study area ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.3 Research design .......................................................................................................................................... 32 3.3.1 Study population ...................................................................................................................................... 32 3.3.2 Sampling ..................................................................................................................................................... 33 3.3.3 Sample size per region ........................................................................................................................... 34 3.4 Data collection .............................................................................................................................................. 34 3.4.1 Primary data ............................................................................................................................................... 35 3.4.2 Secondary data ......................................................................................................................................... 35 3.5 Data analysis ................................................................................................................................................. 35 3.6 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................................................ 36 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................ 37 THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SMALL-SCALE MAIZE FARMERS IN THE HHOHHO, MANZINI AND SHISELWENI REGIONS ............................................ 37 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 37 4.4 Results and discussion .............................................................................................................................. 37 4.4.1 Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of respondents ........................................... 37 4.4.2 Age distribution among the respondents .......................................................................................... 37 4.4.3 Education level.......................................................................................................................................... 38 4.4.4 Household size among respondents..................................................................................................