The impact of climate information services on smallholder farmers’ livelihood outcomes

Abstract

A number of strategies are being put in place in many countries to help minimize the negative
impacts of climate change on agriculture and related enterprises. One such strategy is the
provision of climate forecasts to farmers. This study investigated the impact of access to
tailored climate information services on smallholder farmers’ livelihood outcome variables
such as yield of pearl millet, livestock value and household incomes. A counterfactual
framework was used to identify impact, through computation of the Average Treatment effect
on the Treated. The study employed the Propensity Score Matching method in estimating
the impact. The results revealed that access to tailored climate information services had a
positive and significant effect on farmers’ incomes. However, impact on yield of pearl-millet
was insignificant and impact on livestock value was weakly significant. The study concluded
that tailored climate information services have the capacity to enhance farmers’ livelihood
outcomes such as incomes.