A Review of Building Climate‐Resilient Agriculture in Smallholder Systems

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change has increasingly threatened agricultural sustainability and food security, especially in smallholder farming systems where limited resources and adaptive capacity constrain responses to climate shocks. This study systematically reviews the literature on agricultural climate resilience, focusing on resilience measurement, farmer adaptation, organizational support, and government regulation. The review shows that resilience research has evolved from vulnerability‐oriented approaches toward broader frameworks emphasizing resistance, recovery, adaptation, and transformation capacities. Existing studies indicate that farmers’ adaptive behaviors, such as production adjustment and technology adoption, form the micro‐level foundation of resilience. However, smallholders often face constraints in information, capital, technology, and market access, limiting the effectiveness of autonomous adaptation. Organizational support and government regulation therefore play essential roles through information diffusion, resource coordination, infrastructure provision, policy incentives, and collective governance. Nevertheless, current research still lacks theoretical integration, dynamic resilience assessment, cross‐scale governance analysis, and systematic understanding of institutional constraints in smallholder systems. The review highlights that agricultural climate resilience is not solely determined by farmers’ adoption of adaptation technologies, but also by how resource constraints, market barriers, and institutional arrangements shape adaptation decisions and coordination among multiple actors.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Economic Surveys, 2026 · DOI ↗