Abstract
Climate change adversely affects Ethiopian economy due to heavy dependence of the agricultural sector on rainfall. A decrease of rainfall and rise in temperature has been increasing the exposure of the country to frequent drought. The study was conducted in central Tigray, Adiha tabia, to examine the perception of farmers on trends of climate changes and existing coping strategies. Farmers’ knowledge of various adaptation strategies, drought early warning system and weather forecasting were assessed using focus group discussion (FGD), which consisted of 144 systematically sampled respondents. Temperature is rising while precipitation is declining from time to time. Untimely rain and frequent drought are challenging crop production in the area. Drought is perceived, both by male and female respondents, as the primary climate related hazard which is occurring frequently and affecting their livelihood. Individual’s vulnerability to this hazard varies based on their hazard coping capacity. Lack of modern early warning systems, inflexible cropping calendar and narrow choice of crop varieties should aggravates the vulnerability. Hence, improving forecasting and dissemination of climate information, developing drought resistant varieties and promoting farm-level adaptation measures like use of irrigation technologies and adjusting planting dates should be prioritized to improve community resilience to climate change.
Highlights
Climate variability has attracted much attention in recent decades, because of the globally unparalleled persistence of anomalously low rainfall, and because of the low capacity of society and economical systems to cope with climate change related risks
This study focused on Adiha, which is located in central Tigray and characterized by fragile resource base and varying climate conditions
Change of climate was well perceived by communities of the study area as most of them have been observing changes in temperature, precipitation and timing of rainfall and related frequent drought (Figures 2 and 3)
Summary
Climate variability has attracted much attention in recent decades, because of the globally unparalleled persistence of anomalously low rainfall, and because of the low capacity of society and economical systems to cope with climate change related risks. Climate change with expected long term changes in rainfall patterns and shifting temperature zones are expected to have negative effects on agriculture [2]. Ethiopia’s agriculture, which is the mainstay of the country’s economy constituting more than half the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and generates more than 85 percent of the foreign exchange earnings [3], is mainly rainfed and heavily depend on rainfall. The GDP falls [4]. This dependence makes the country vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. The potential adverse effects of climate change on Ethiopia’s agricultural sector are of a major concern because of this dependence [6]
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