Abstract
This study examined smallholder farmers' level of perception about climate change, source of information on climate change, types of adaptation strategies, factors influencing adaptation choices and barriers to adaptation in Eastern Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia. The surveyed farm households in the study area perceived at least one aspect of climate change primarily through their life experience. Planting trees is the major adaptation measure and 89.1 percent of the farmers took this adaptation strategy. Most farmers (96 percent) believe that deforestation is the main cause of climate change and the choice of farmers to plant trees as an adaptation strategy may be partly a mitigation strategy. However, the majority (49.6 percent) of the households employed at least one adaptation response on top of tree planting. The other adaptation strategies include: early planting, terracing, irrigation and water harvesting. The main source of information for these adaptation strategies for 58.4 percent of the respondents is from extension advice. Results of a multinomial logit model showed that non-farm income, farmer- to-farmer extension, access to credit, distance to selling markets, distance to purchasing markets, and income affect the choice of adaptation strategies. Finally, the study identified lack of information as the most important barrier to climate change adaptation. The other barriers include: lack of farm inputs, shortage of land, lack of money, lack of water and shortage of labor.
Highlights
Climate change has adversely affected the livelihoods of people in developing countries where a large proportion of the population is heavily dependent on agriculture
The research was carried out in three districts in East Hararghe Zone of Ethiopia where 110 farm households were randomly considered for the study
All of the surveyed farm households observed at least one type of climate change over the last 20 years primarily based on their life experience
Summary
Climate change has adversely affected the livelihoods of people in developing countries where a large proportion of the population is heavily dependent on agriculture. A country located in the Horn of Africa, where the agricultural sector accounts for about 52 percent of the GDP and 85 percent of the foreign exchange earnings, and employs about 80 percent of the population (CSA Central Statistics Authority 2004) could be a typical example of the impact of climate change on the vulnerable rural communities in the developing world. In the years between 1999 and 2004 alone, more than half of all households in the country faced at least one major drought These cycles of drought have effectively kept the population in vicious poverty nullifying the endeavors of the population in creating assets and increasing its food security status (ILRI 2006; Stige et al 2006; ACCCA 2010)
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