Livelihood resilience of smallholder livestock farmers in the face of climate change in Fiji

Smallholder livestock farming in Fiji, a cornerstone of rural livelihoods and food security. However, is increasingly threatened by climate change-induced cyclones, droughts, floods, sea level rise and rising disease pressures. This study assessed the climate resilience of 270 smallholder livestock farmers across six sites representing Fiji’s major agro-ecological zones (Tailevu, Naitasiri, Sigatoka, Rakiraki, Labasa, and Seaqaqa) using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) and a Participatory Resilience Index based on five capital assets: human, social, physical, financial, and natural. Results revealed uniformly low resilience (0.172–0.241), with the lowest scores recorded in the sugarcane belt of Sigatoka, Rakiraki, Labasa, and Seaqaqa, where the collapse of the sugarcane industry has left farmers with low alternative source of income, poor rural roads, limited veterinary services, degraded pastures, and limited market access. Social and physical capitals were the most deficient across all sites, while financial capital performed relatively better in the wetter zones of Tailevu and Naitasiri, where livestock farming thrives as a result of social capital, such as that provided by Fiji Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd (FCDCL), that enable them to access government subsidies, low interest credit services and access market through a milk collection chilling plant that is close to farmers and the potential alternative income from root crop farming such as cassava and Dalo (arrowroots). The Binary Probit Regression revealed that membership in farmers cooperatives, secure fencing, on-farm water harvesting, access to credit, and presence of animal feed were the strongest predictors of both short-term coping (odds ratios 1.88–2.46) and long-term adaptation (odds ratios 1.71–2.33). Farmers ranked animal diseases, absence of improved breeds, low prices of livestock products, and lack of reliable markets as the major barriers to adaptation, while strongly endorsing training, extension services, and climate information as key enablers. Interventions are needed to break the low resilience trap driven by aging and declining farmer population as well as the contraction of alternative income sources such as sugar cane farming. There is an urgent need for balanced, multi-capital interventions particularly organizing farmers in all areas into co-operatives, investing in low-cost physical infrastructure such silvopastoral system and the reduction of price of animal feed through government subsidies. Such interventions are essential for building a climate resilient livestock sector capable of supporting Fiji’s rural livelihoods, food and nutrition security.