A Comparative Study of Farmers' Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in Three Agro-ecologies of Northwest Ethiopia
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Date
2014-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Climate change is adversely affect ing the livelihood of Ethiopian farmers who depend on rain-fed
agriculture with differential impacts from place to place, from community to community and
from individual to individual depending on the adaptive capacity of th e systems. Although better
knowledge of vulnerability levels, perceptions and adaptation is vital for policy making, not much
is studied as to how these inter-related issues impact on the lives of famers from the perspectives
of five livelih ood assets. To fill these knowledge gaps, this study focused on three central themes:
description of the biophysical and economic characteri stics of the dega, wayna dega and kola
sites, an assessment of vulnerability levels of farmers in terms of exposure to climate change,
access to five livelihood assets including the adoption of different adaptation methods and
examination of fanners ' perceptions and adaptation to climate change. The quantitative and
qualitative approaches ha ve been used to achieve the objectives of th e study. The biophysical and
economic characteristic of the study sites was anal yzed u sing simple regression, different indices,
coefficient of variation and one-way-Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Livelihood vulnerability
index was used to ana lyze the vulnerability levels of the surveyed households. The farmers'
perceptions and adaptation to climate change were assessed using perce ntage, index of adoption,
and binary logi st ic regression. The results revealed that agro-ecological settings are the most
important conditions that ha ve created differential vulnerability situations of the households. The
biophysical and economic contexts in the dissected landscapes of Abay-Beshilo River Basins
(kola sites) , where recurrent droughts, land degradation, low production, and poor access to
infrastructural facilities are serious problems, are found to be worse than in wayna dega and dega.
Correspondingly, the livelihood vulnerability indi ces (LV I) indicated th at the kola households are
found to be more vulnerable by all capital assets and low index of a daptation . By climatic
exposure index, wayna dega households stood first closely followed by those in kola. Analyses of
perceptions and adaptation also revealed that the majority of the farmers had observed an in crease
in temperature and a decreasel erratic rainfall in the three sites . The fanners have adopted different
adaptation strategies, but the rate s of their adoption vary by agro-ecology. The most common
adaptation strategies are: the use of manure-compost, terracing, replanting, change of pl anting
dates, use of fertilizers (wayna dega and dega), planting different crops, bei ng engaged in nonfarm
activities and s hifting to cheaper food items. Of which, the most statistically signifi can t
detenninants of adopting each strategy were agro-ecological zone and famler-to-farmer
extension. Other significant detenninants of adaptation were: farm size, age, family size, and
live stock ownership, access to water, fonnal extension se rvices, and perception of temperature
and rainfall changes. For building more climate-resilient community the government and other
stakeholders should provide appropriate environmental management systems, infrastru cture and
extension services to the community.
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Keywords
Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change