Climate change adaptation by smallholder farmers in Southern Africa: a bibliometric analysis and systematic review

Climate change adaptation research is currently a policy priority. For smallholder farmers, it provides opportunities for resilience building. The research area is growing rapidly and calls to synthesize existing data have been made. Existing work forms a basic picture of the trends in the research area. However, it is limited in scope and methodological approaches used. This work synthesizes climate change adaptation research on smallholder farmers in Southern Africa. It gives an overview of past and current directions of climate change adaptation research using a combination of bibliometric analysis techniques and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. Results show a steady growth in research, a disproportionate distribution of research and weak research collaboration among Southern African countries. Diverse methodologies are in use but a combination of approaches is rare. Co-occurrence of keywords show recognizable strides in research ranging from adaptation to mitigation linkages to the influence of climate change impacts on adaptation and livelihood outcomes. Strengthened research collaboration between countries in Southern Africa should be advocated for. This would help develop viable, appropriate and localized adaptation solutions. Equitable allocation of funding is pertinent to ensure uniform research activity and adaptation action across the region. A combination of research approaches is needed to push forward adaptation research on smallholder farmers in Southern Africa.