How do smallholder farmers and herders in Africa cope with change, uncertainty and crisis situations in their daily lives? Linda Engström, researcher in rural development, will study this together with colleagues from Tanzania and Canada in a project funded by Formas.
– We aim to contribute with new, locally rooted knowledge about resilience by learning from farmers and pastoralists, says Linda Engström.
The researchers will also study whether three different types of development projects have benefited their ability to deal with uncertainty, change and crises, such as what relations, material resources or methods they have access to. The three types of development projects are large-scale agriculture, land formalisation and the UN flagship programme REDD+ (Reduction of Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation).
The project is led by Linda Engström, researcher in rural development at the Department of Urban and Rural Development. It will run for the next four years and has a budget of six million Swedish crowns. Formas Explore is funding the project.
Project name: COPE: Long-term resilience implications of development agendas for smallholder farmers and herders in rural Africa