Climate Change-Induced Impacts on Smallholder Farmers in Selected Districts of Sidama, Southern Ethiopia

Different factors control the types of adaptive strategies and likelihoods of experiencing climate change-induced impacts by smallholder farmers. By using a mixed research method, this study examines the types and determinants of climate change-induced impacts on smallholder rural farmers in drought-prone low lands of Sidama, Southern Ethiopia. Randomly selected (401) households were surveyed on climate change-induced impacts. Longitudinal climatic data were also collected from the Ethiopian National Meteorological Agency to assess the trend of rainfall (RF), temperature and drought incidents. The analyses of the data revealed that RF and temperature had shown decreasing and increasing trends, respectively, during the three decades under consideration (1983–2014). These changes in RF and temperature exposed farmers to climate-related epidemics, drought, harvest loss, and hunger. The logit model results revealed that different factors control the likelihood of exposure to climate change-induced impacts. The findings revealed that literacy level, involving women in family decisions and farmers’ involvement in adaptation planning, reduces the likelihood of exposure to climate change-induced hunger. Therefore, there is a need to work on human capital of the farmers through expanding education, strengthening women’s participation in family decision-making, and by improving public participation in climate change adaptation undertakings to minimize climate change-induced impacts.

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Smallholder farmers’ climate change adaptation practices contribute to crop production efficiency in Southern Ethiopia

Agronomy Journal ◽

10.1002/agj2.20900 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dessalegn Anshiso Sedebo ◽

Gu‐Cheng Li ◽

Kidane Assefa Abebe ◽

Bekele Gebisa Etea ◽

John Kojo Ahiapka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Adaptation ◽

Crop Production ◽

Production Efficiency ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Southern Ethiopia ◽

Adaptation Practices

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Information Sources and Constraints to Climate Change Adaptation amongst Smallholder Farmers in Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12145846 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (14) ◽

pp. 5846

Author(s):

Oluwabunmi Oluwaseun Popoola ◽

Shehu Folaranmi Gbolahan Yusuf ◽

Nomakhaya Monde

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Agricultural Production ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Global Climate ◽

Eastern Cape ◽

Extension Services ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Rural Farmers ◽

Agricultural Knowledge ◽

Climate Change Information

With current global climate change conditions, the urgency to provide agricultural knowledge on adaptation has risen. The dearth of climate change information is one amongst many agricultural production challenges faced by the majority of rural farming communities. This study aimed to identify smallholder farmers’ sources of climate change information and constraints to their coping and adaptation. Descriptive statistical tools, mean scores and the ‘problem confrontation index’ (PCI) were used to assess and describe the study’s findings. Analysis revealed that public extension services play a minute role in rural farmers’ climate change knowledge; they get their information elsewhere. The most critical constraint to climate change coping and adaptation in the study area was lack of access to agricultural extension services.

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Seasonal Climate Prediction and Adaptation Using Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Agriculture Systems in Southern Africa: A Review

Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.5539/jas.v8n5p156 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 156 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Obert Jiri ◽

Paramu L. Mafongoya ◽

Chipo Mubaya ◽

Owen Mafongoya

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Indigenous Knowledge ◽

Adaptive Capacity ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Local Level ◽

Climatic Data ◽

Health Food ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Rural Farmers ◽

The World

<p>Erratic rainfall and increasing temperature is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious global problems affecting many sectors in the world. It is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development with adverse impact on environment, human health, food security, economic activities, natural resources and physical infrastructure. Southern Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world, particularly because of widespread poverty, recurrent droughts, inequitable land distribution, over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture and low adaptive capacity. Yet rural farmers in southern Africa have managed to survive the vagaries of climate change over the years. This review reveals that these rural farmers can use indigenous knowledge to cope and adapt to climate change. Availability and access to scientific weather information to make cropping and other decisions at the local level remain key issues to usage of climatic data by rural farmers. On the other hand, indigenous knowledge is what rural farmers have been using but is also becoming unreliable due to climate change and variability. Integration of indigenous knowledge and scientific seasonal forecast seems to be a key possible thrust to reduce vulnerability, enhance resilience of rural farmers and increase their adaptive capacity.</p>

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Climate change and variability awareness and livelihood adaptive strategies among smallholder farmers in semi-arid northern Ghana

Environmental Development ◽

10.1016/j.envdev.2021.100629 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100629

Author(s):

Felix Asante ◽

Lawrence Guodaar ◽

Saasi Arimiyaw

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Adaptive Strategies ◽

Northern Ghana ◽

Climate Change And Variability ◽

Semi Arid

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Climate change vulnerability assessment for smallholder farmers in China: An extended framework

Journal of Environmental Management ◽

10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111315 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 276 ◽

pp. 111315

Author(s):

Xiangbo Xu ◽

Le Wang ◽

Mingxing Sun ◽

Chao Fu ◽

Yunli Bai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Vulnerability Assessment ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment

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Exploring Smallholder Farmers’ Preferences for Climate-Smart Seed Innovations: Empirical Evidence from Southern Ethiopia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13052786 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 2786

Author(s):

Shimelis Araya Geda ◽

Rainer Kühl

Keyword(s):

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Preference Heterogeneity ◽

Southern Ethiopia ◽

Significant Preference ◽

Experiment Data ◽

Breeding Programs ◽

Drought Tolerant ◽

The Face ◽

Mnl Model ◽

Participatory Research Methods

Rapid plant breeding is essential to overcome low productivity problems in the face of climatic challenges. Despite considerable efforts to improve breeding practices in Ethiopia, increasing varietal release does not necessarily imply that farmers have access to innovative varietal choices. Prior research did not adequately address whether varietal attributes are compatible with farmers’ preferences in harsh environmental conditions. With an agricultural policy mainly aiming to achieve productivity maximization, existing breeding programs prioritize varietal development based on yield superiority. Against this background, we estimated a multinomial logit (MNL) model based on choice-experiment data from 167 bean growers in southern Ethiopia to explore whether farmers’ attribute preferences significantly diverge from those of breeders’ priorities. Four important bean attributes identified through participatory research methods were used. The results demonstrate that farmers have a higher propensity toward drought-tolerant capability than any of the attributes considered. The model estimates further show the existence of significant preference heterogeneity across farmers. These findings provide important insight to design breeding profiles compatible with specific producer segments. We suggest demand-driven breeding innovations and dissemination strategies in order to accelerate the adoption of climate-smart and higher-yielding bean innovations that contribute to achieve the national and global sustainability goals in Ethiopia.

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Health impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers

One Health ◽

10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100258 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100258

Author(s):

Byomkesh Talukder ◽

Gary W. van Loon ◽

Keith W. Hipel ◽

Sosten Chiotha ◽

James Orbinski

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

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Assessing the Sensitivity of Main Crop Yields to Climate Change Impacts in China

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12020172 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 172

Author(s):

Yuan Xu ◽

Jieming Chou ◽

Fan Yang ◽

Mingyang Sun ◽

Weixing Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Crop Yield ◽

Food Production ◽

Crop Yields ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Climatic Data ◽

The South ◽

The North ◽

Output Elasticity ◽

The Impact

Quantitatively assessing the spatial divergence of the sensitivity of crop yield to climate change is of great significance for reducing the climate change risk to food production. We use socio-economic and climatic data from 1981 to 2015 to examine how climate variability led to variation in yield, as simulated by an economy–climate model (C-D-C). The sensitivity of crop yield to the impact of climate change refers to the change in yield caused by changing climatic factors under the condition of constant non-climatic factors. An ‘output elasticity of comprehensive climate factor (CCF)’ approach determines the sensitivity, using the yields per hectare for grain, rice, wheat and maize in China’s main grain-producing areas as a case study. The results show that the CCF has a negative trend at a rate of −0.84/(10a) in the North region, while a positive trend of 0.79/(10a) is observed for the South region. Climate change promotes the ensemble increase in yields, and the contribution of agricultural labor force and total mechanical power to yields are greater, indicating that the yield in major grain-producing areas mainly depends on labor resources and the level of mechanization. However, the sensitivities to climate change of different crop yields to climate change present obvious regional differences: the sensitivity to climate change of the yield per hectare for maize in the North region was stronger than that in the South region. Therefore, the increase in the yield per hectare for maize in the North region due to the positive impacts of climate change was greater than that in the South region. In contrast, the sensitivity to climate change of the yield per hectare for rice in the South region was stronger than that in the North region. Furthermore, the sensitivity to climate change of maize per hectare yield was stronger than that of rice and wheat in the North region, and that of rice was the highest of the three crop yields in the South region. Finally, the economy–climate sensitivity zones of different crops were determined by the output elasticity of the CCF to help adapt to climate change and prevent food production risks.

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