Participatory Process: Approaches for Assessing Farmer Behavior Towards Adopting Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the analytical methods typically used in the scientific literature to assess farmer behaviour towards adopting adaptation strategies to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa. The approaches were classified according to the spatial scale in three main groups: (i) approaches that aim to evaluate adoption at the farm-level and understanding the drivers of farmer choices at the individual level, (ii) approaches that aim to up-scale adoption from farm to regional scale—bottom-up approaches and, (iii) approaches that aim to refine regional estimates of adoption—top-down approaches. A case study in each group of approaches has been presented to show the applicability of the methodology. These include a case study conducted in Makueni (Kenya) and two studies developed at the regional level in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data used in this chapter were derived from focus group discussions and a survey implemented in Makueni Case Study, an extensive review and synthesis of case studies assessing drivers of adoption, public databases and the cross-sectional survey developed by the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Overall, the results of the studies showed the importance of considering various scales when assessing adoption of adaptation strategies to climate change. As farmer’s behaviour varies at a local or individual scale there is elevated complexity when generalizing behavioural patterns of farmers at regional scales. The results identified and estimated the effect of key socio-economic and psychological factors that influence adoption of adaptation strategies in the sub-Saharan agricultural sector.