A Micro-Level Analysis of Vulnerability to Climate Change by Smallholder Farmers in Semi-Arid Areas of Zimbabwe

Using household survey data from a random sample of 180 households in Gweru and Lupane district, we found the distribution of vulnerability among households was skewed with mean 0.76. On average 89% of the households had a probability of more than 0.5 making them vulnerable to food insecurity and 11% were not vulnerable to food insecurity. The gender of household head, farming experience, household income, and livestock ownership had strong influence on household cereal production and hence their vulnerability to climate changes. In addition, social networks and use of hired labour positively influences crop productivity. Overally, development policies that increase household income, boost livestock ownership and enhance social capital improve crop production, which is critical to boost household adaptive capacity to climate change. There is need to link climate change policies to broader rural development policies especially in developing nations.