Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability: The Case of DodotaWoreda, Arsi Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
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Date
2013-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The fact that climate has been changing in the past and it continues to change in the future that implies the need to understand how farmers perceive climate change and adapt in order to guide strategies for adaptation in the future. This study assesses the farmers’ perception on climate change impact and adaptation in Dodota woreda. It is based on data generated from 4 kebeles and 160 sample farmers which 81 households are from kola and 79 from woyna dega agroecological
zones. As data shows, there is an increment of temperature of the woreda understudy showing that there is an increment of 2.0oC in the past three decades. Similarly, according to data gathered from Ethiopia National Meteorological Service Agency, there is declining of rainfall in the past three decades keeping that the existence of high variability. The maximum rainfall was observed in 1977 (annual rainfall of 1220.3mm), while the lowest annual rainfall was recorded in 1984 (511.9mm). As observed from focus group discussions and key informant interview the frequency
of drought has increased from decade to decade, i.e. in the beginning there was drought in every ten years, next every five years at the end every two years.
The study applied logit model in order to analyze factors affecting farmers’ perception on climate
change and adaptation. The results revealed that respondents’ age, educational status, sex,
family size, access to extension services, wealth (farm size, number of farming oxen, cattle,
ruminant animals and pack animals), farming experience and exposures to mass media have positively/negatively and significantly effect on farmers perception on climate change and adaptation. In addition, it indicates that the female-headed households are more likely perceive climate change and take up adaptation methods as they have more affected by climate change.Moreover, farmers living in the lowland areas have perceived climate change as compared to midland and highlands. This is due to the fact that lowland areas are already hotter and a marginal change in temperature could be perceived easily. As observed from the study, farmers live in kola agro-ecological zone are more perceived than farmers in woyina dega. Moreover, access to credit has negative and significant effect on climate change perception and adaptation
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Geography and Environmental Studies