Abstract
Ethiopia is also frequently identified as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. The potential adverse effects of climate change on Ethiopia’s agricultural sector are a major concern, particularly given the country’s dependence on agricultural production, which is sensitive to climate change and variability. This problem calls the need to understand agroecology based vulnerability to climate change and variability to better adapt to climate risks and promote strategies for local communities so as to enhance food security. The objective of this study is to estimate and compare the level of vulnerability of smallholder farmers’ to climate change and variability from three agroecology representing Muger River sub-Basin of the upper Blue Nile basin using Livelihood Vulnerability Index. The research used quantitative and qualitative data collected through Focussed Group Discussions, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey of 442 sampled households across three different agro-ecologies in the sub-basin. The results reveal that along with the different agro-ecological zone, households and communities experienced different degrees of climate vulnerability. These differences are largely explained by differences in exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers. The livelihood vulnerability analysis reveals that Kolla agroecology exhibits relatively low adaptive capacity, higher sensitivity and higher exposure to climate change and variability that is deemed to be the most vulnerable agroecology. These contributing factors to a vulnerability in Kolla agroecology are largely influenced by assets, livelihood diversification, innovation, infrastructure, socio-demographic factors, social capital, agriculture, food security, and natural disasters and climate variability. The result furthermore shows that Dega agroecology has least vulnerable owing to its higher adaptive capacity. These results suggest that designing agroecology based resilience-building adaptation strategies is crucial to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate change and variability.
Highlights
Climate change impacts are widely observed in Africa where it has directly affected climate-dependent activities [1]
This paper has aimed to address a gap in differences of smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate change among different agroecology by using empirical data to assess the exposure, adaptive capacity, and sensitivity
Through livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) developed by Hahn and his colleagues, the research demonstrates empirically the differences in exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of farmers across three Argo-ecologies
Summary
Climate change impacts are widely observed in Africa where it has directly affected climate-dependent activities [1]. According to [2] Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and variability because of multiple stresses and its low adaptation capacity. [3] reports that agricultural production and food security in many African countries are likely to be severely compromised by climate change and climate variability. Like other African countries, Ethiopia is frequently identified as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change [3] [4] [5]. Climate change is a major concern in Ethiopia because of its potential adverse effects on Ethiopia’s agricultural sector, given the country’s dependence on agricultural production. Reports indicate that there have been major droughts in Ethiopia over the past centuries, 15 of which, occurred in the last 50 years leading to major losses or suffering in human as well as loss of livestock due to a shortage of water and grazing lands [7]
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