Factors Affecting Adaptation Strategies of Small Holder Farmer’s to Climate Changes: Evidence from Dale Woreda in Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyzing factors that affect smallholder farmers’ choice of adaptation strategy and identifies adaptation measures to climate change in Ethiopia using Dale Woreda as a case study. The data was collected from 359 sample households using a survey questionnaire and was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and econometric methods. Multinomial logit model (MNL) was used to identify factors influencing smallholder farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change and variability. The adaptation strategies considered in the MNL model were crop diversification, growing drought tolerant crop, soil and water management, early and late planting and small scale irrigation practice. The result from the multinomial logit analysis showed that sex, education, farm experience, family size, farm income, farm size, distance to the market, soil fertility, access to credit, access to climate information, and extension access were significant factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adaptation strategies. a unit increases in number of years of education could increase 8.1% of the likelihood of adopting crop diversification ,1.8% of the likelihood of adopting growing drought tolerant crop and 1.2% of the likelihood of early and late planting as adaptation measures. The basic barriers to climate change adaptation on the farmers’ side are lack of credit access, lack of knowledge, lack of support from government, shortage of farm land, lack of climate information and lack of climate related problem. Therefore, expanding extension service, improving the availability of credit and enhancing research on use of new crop diversification and distributing drought tolerant crop varieties and encouraging continuous climate training center, disseminating climate information by local language through social media and providing modern tool for soil and water management and small scale irrigation by government are more suited in three agro-ecological zones.