Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Environmental Dynamics (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Environmental Dynamics

Advisor/Mentor

Peter, Brad

Committee Member

Vining, Ben

Second Committee Member

Holland, Edward

Keywords

Agricultural adaptatioon; Food security; Geo-analytics; Malawi; Pigeonpea; Remote sensing

Abstract

Drought, heatwaves, and flooding cause tremendous damage to agricultural production in Malawi, and the continuous production of maize has led to widespread soil degradation. Additionally, climate change is transforming the environment at a scale beyond historical records, posing significant challenges to social, political, and economic systems. To combat these issues, agricultural innovations have been implemented, such as the installation of irrigation systems and development of heat/drought resilient crop varieties. Pigeonpea is one of the prominent drought-tolerant and temperature resilient crops grown as a diversification strategy since it allows farmers to adapt to changes while maintaining subsistence needs. This research investigates agricultural productivity as an adaptation indicator and pairs it with the adoption of pigeonpea. Vegetation indices from global-scale NASA satellites were used here to measure agricultural productivity across time and were related to pigeonpea production survey data from 2005 to 2021. This approach assesses the spatiotemporal change to pigeonpea production, evaluates regions where crop productivity has shown notable improvements, and finally shows the overlap between overall crop productivity increases in conjunction with pigeonpea integration. This thesis provides an inventory of crop productivity across Malawi at the Extension Planning Area scale and implements geospatial techniques, such as Bivariate Local Moran’s I, to establish potential adaptation. Ultimately, the results of this study show that (1) substantial regional disparities in agricultural productivity exist across Malawi, with the Southern region exhibiting high pigeonpea adoption and increasing adoption in the Northern region; (2) pigeonpea production demonstrates low spatiotemporal variability, while crop productivity shows moderate variability. Both pixel and EPA scales indicate a higher potential for adaptation than non-adaptation, with 59% of pixels and 174 EPAs showing greater potential adaptation than non-adaptation; (3) a spatial analysis identified specific EPAs where increased pigeonpea production correlates with improved overall crop productivity, highlighting potential adaptation success areas; and (4) a Difference in Differences analysis reveals a positive and marginally significant effect of pigeonpea cultivation on overall crop productivity only when controlling for environmental factors. By integrating remote sensing data with national survey estimates, this research contributes to developing targeted adaptation interventions/policies that enhance agricultural resilience thus promoting food security.

Download

Share

COinS