Abstract
The impact of climate change is a global threat, and its effect is more pronounced in developing countries. It is vital to link physical data analysis with endogenous knowledge and practices of farmers to strengthen their adaptive capacity. This study was conducted to explore spatial variability and temporal trends of temperature and rainfall in association with farmers’ perceptions and their adaptation strategies in Southwest Ethiopia. Daily rainfall and temperature data of twelve weather stations were collected from the National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia for the period 1983 to 2016. Farmers’ perceptions about climate change and its impact and their adaptation strategies were assessed through a survey. Spatial variability and temporal trends of rainfall and temperature were analyzed using ArcGIS and R software. Sen’s slope estimator and Mann–Kendall’s trend tests were used to detect the magnitude and statistical significance of changes in rainfall and temperature. Spatial analysis of rainfall showed high variability over the region. There were no consistent and significant temporal trends of annual and seasonal rainfall of the area. Significant and upward trends of annual maximum and minimum temperatures were reported for all stations. Accordingly, annual maximum and minimum temperatures were increased by 0.71 and 0.65°C, respectively, over the period 1983 to 2016. Farmers had a good awareness of climate change and its impact. Adaptation strategies used by farmers included soil and water conservation practices (66.21%), crop diversification (62.16%), modifying planting date (42.56%), agroforestry practices (35.13%), use of drought-tolerant variety (33.95%), use of early maturing crop (27.03%), and livelihood diversification (25.42%). As most of these adaptation strategies were familiarized by a small number of farmers, further effort is needed to identify factors limiting the adoption of these strategies. Furthermore, additional planned strategies and supports that widen available options at the farmers’ disposal should be introduced to strengthen their adaptive capacity.
Highlights
Climate change is a global phenomenon, and its adverse effects challenge people’s socioeconomic activities, health, livelihood, and food security [1]. e combined global land and ocean temperature showed a warming trend of 0.08°C per decade since 1880 and over twice that rate (0.18°C) since 1981 [2]
Spatial distributions of long-term (1983 to 2016) mean annual rainfall showed the occurrence of higher rainfall in the northern parts compared to southern parts of the region with spatial variability of 37% (Figure 3). e highest mean annual rainfall (1211.35 mm) was observed at Basketo while the lowest value (434.5 mm) was observed at Erbore in South Omo which accounted for 36% of the maximum rainfall (Figure 3)
Spatial analysis of long-term climate data revealed that there was high variability of rainfall and temperature across the region. e northern region received higher annual and seasonal rainfall compared to the rest parts while annual maximum and minimum temperatures were lower for the northern parts of the region
Summary
Climate change is a global phenomenon, and its adverse effects challenge people’s socioeconomic activities, health, livelihood, and food security [1]. e combined global land and ocean temperature showed a warming trend of 0.08°C per decade since 1880 and over twice that rate (0.18°C) since 1981 [2]. Climate change is a global phenomenon, and its adverse effects challenge people’s socioeconomic activities, health, livelihood, and food security [1]. Even though climate change is a global threat, developing countries are much more vulnerable than the industrialized world [3, 4], as they have much more limited human, institutional, and Advances in Meteorology financial capacity to adapt to the associated challenges [5]. It is reported that Africa had already warmed by 0.7°C over the twentieth century [5]. In Africa, such changes bring a high burden on people whose livelihood is based on agriculture, which is mostly rainfed and highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change [6, 7]
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