Congratulations to Chalmers Mulwa for the Thomas Sterner’s Best PhD Thesis Paper Award

At the EfD Awards Dinner, Chalmer K. Mulwa, a UCT PhD Student Alumni and current Research Lead at the International Potato Centre in Nairobi, was put forward as a nominee and won the Thomas Sterner’s Best PhD Thesis Paper Award. The award requires the paper address significant and relevant problems within the area of study, have clear and actionable policy implications, reflect the real-world impact of the research, and demonstrate high academic standards, with a robust methodology, thorough analysis, and clear presentation of findings.

Chalmers’ paper, Farm Diversification as an Adaptation Strategy to Climatic Shocks and Implications for Food Security in Northern Namibia, which was published in 2020 focuses on the diversification of smallholder farms in response to climate shocks. The primary finding is that a farmers’ previous experience of shocks informs their current level of diversification, in order to protect them against future shocks. Further, farmers that have higher levels of diversification were found to have higher levels of food security.

One of the valuable policy implications the paper produced was that improving accessibility to markets enhanced food security through access to diversified diets, regardless of if a household has specialised agricultural production. Household’s residing in arid or semi-arid lands where the environment does not allow the growth of specific produce can still maintain food security through market access, even if the goods are not produced locally, which improves dietary outcomes. Access to comprehensive climate information is another key policy insight from the paper, as this allows farmers to develop adaptation strategies to mitigate climatic shocks well in advance, dampening the impact of such shocks. The study also finds that female-headed households are more vulnerable to climate shocks-induced food insecurity, and thus protectionist policies that cushion such vulnerable households are important. Finally, off-farm income was found to be a valuable contributor to food security in the face of climate-related shocks, implying that policies that aim at creating non-farm opportunities within rural areas are important pathways to enhancing resilience to climatic shocks.

Unfortunately, Chalmers’ was not at the dinner to accept the award.  However, his supervisor and EfD South Africa & EPRU director Martine Visser accepted it in his absence.

Beyond this paper, Chalmers has worked with Professor Martine Visser and EPRU on various projects on sustainable agriculture production and climate change adaptation. Notable publications from this collaborative work include a study published in Journal of economic behaviour and organization (JEBO) that addresses the issue of demand for adaptive land investments within the context of insecure land tenure, and how enhancing land tenure security improves investment in adaptative technologies.  Another study published in Agricultural Economics journal examines the role that market actors, such as medium to large traders, play in enhancing adoption of sustainable agriculture practices within smallholder farms,  through acting as conduits of information and technology dissemination.

All of these studies led by Chalmers form part of his PhD thesis and offer important policy insights in improving smallholder farmers’ livelihoods within the context of global challenges such as climate change and land degradation.   

To read the paper that won the award, please find it here

Josh Gray