scholarly journals Climate Variability Since 1970 and Farmers’ Observations in Northern Ghana

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Nyadzi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Northern Ghana ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Access To Credit

<p>The study examines how farmers’ observations of climate variability and change correspond with 42 years (1970-2011) meteorological data of temperature and rainfall. It shows how farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana adjust to the changing climate and explore the various obstacles that hinder the implementation of their adaptation strategies. With the help of an extension officer, 200 farmers from 20 communities were randomly selected based on their farming records. Temperatures over the last four decades (1970-2009) increased at a rate of 0.04 (± 0.41) ˚C and 0.3(± 0.13)˚C from 2010-2011 which is consistent to the farmers (82.5%) observations. Rainfall within the districts are characterised by inter-annual and monthly variability. It experienced an increased rate of 0.66 (± 8.30) mm from 1970-2009, which was inconsistent with the farmers (81.5%) observation. It however decreased from 2010-2011 at a huge rate of -22.49 (±15.90) mm which probably was the reason majority of the respondents claim rainfall was decreasing. Only 64.5% of the respondents had adjusted their farming activities because of climate variability and change. They apply fertilizers and pesticides, practice soil and water conservation, and irrigation for communities close to dams. Respondents desire to continue their current adaptation methods but may in the future consider changing crop variety, water-harvesting techniques, change crop production to livestock keeping, and possibly migrate to urban centers. Lack of climate change education, low access to credit and agricultural inputs are some militating factors crippling the farmers’ effort to adapt to climate change.</p>

scholarly journals Farm-level Determinants of Farmers’ Adaptation Decisions to Climate Variability and Change in Didessa Basin, Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-55
Author(s):  
Chala Dechassa ◽  
Belay Simane ◽  
Bamlaku Alamirew
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Adaptation Options

Ethiopia has been identified as one of the sub-Saharan African countries, expected to suffer the most from negative impacts of climate change and variability due to its high reliance on climate variations. This study examines the determinants of farmers' adaptation decisions and constraints to long-term changes in climate variability and change using data collected through semi-structured questionnaires, focused group discussions and field observations from a survey on 450 farm-households in three agro-ecological zones located in Didessa sub-basin. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Farmers noticed a decrease in precipitation and an increase in temperature over the past 20 years.  In response, it was found that the common adaptation options include: planting, Soil and water conservation, improved technology, use of different crop varieties, and a combination of strategies. However, the remedial actions to the changes are less. The main barriers to successful adaptation cited by farmers were Shortage of land (21.78%), lack of credit/ money (19.11%), lack of information (13.56%), and shortage of farm inputs (17.56%) and other institutional and cultural beliefs. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to examine the factors influencing farmers' decision to adapt to changing climatic conditions including socio-economic, demographic; farm characteristics, institutional and climatic variables. We conclude that concerned bodies need to create empowering environment which can promote adaptation options and support constraints farmers face in taking up adaptation to climate change. Also, the government needs to create access to socio-economic and institutional variables appropriate to reach small scale farmers, with limited resources to confront climate change and enhance the livelihood of the households in the study area.

scholarly journals Gendered Perceptions of Climate Variability and Change among Local Communities Living around Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. S. Nalwanga ◽  
M. Sowman ◽  
P. I. Mukwaya ◽  
P Musali ◽  
A. Nimusiima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
National Park ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Flooding Events ◽  
The Impact

Climate change affects both men and women which, in turn, shapes their varied and contrasting perceptions of climate variability and change. This paper examined the gendered perceptions of climate variability and change among local communities in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.The objectives are threefold: - identify climatic shocks faced by the local communities; examine the perceptions of men and women of climate variability and change; and to compare their perceptions with empirical meteorological data. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods, with data collected from 215 respondents using survey, interviews and focused group discussions. From the findings, indicators of climate variability and change included reduced flooding events, occurrence of human diseases, increasing crop pests and diseases, dry spells and intensity of rains. There was increasing significant temperatures while rainfall was declining. Both male and female significantly associated with increasing temperatures and reduced flooding events. While climatic shocks affected both males and females, the impact was more pronounced depending on distinct livelihood activities and roles and responsibilities undertaken. The study concluded that people’s perceptions of climate change should be taken on by the government and integrated in the national climate programs that support people’s livelihoods and survival mechanisms.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Streamflow and Baseflow Responses to Land-Use and Climate Change Using SWAT

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Aboelnour ◽  
Margaret W. Gitau ◽  
Bernard Engel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Matrix Analysis ◽  
Creek Watershed ◽  
Soil And Water

Alteration of land use and climate change are among the main variables affecting watershed hydrology. Characterizing the impacts of climate variation and land use alteration on water resources is essential in managing watersheds. Thus, in this research, streamflow and baseflow responses to climate and land use variation were modeled in two watersheds, the Upper West Branch DuPage River (UWBDR) watershed in Illinois and Walzem Creek watershed in Texas. The variations in streamflow and baseflow were evaluated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. The alteration in land use between 1992 and 2011 was evaluated using transition matrix analysis. The non-parametric Mann-Kendall test was adopted to investigate changes in meteorological data from 1980-2017. Our results indicated that the baseflow accounted for almost 55.3% and 33.3% of the annual streamflow in the UWBDR and Walzem Creek watersheds, respectively. The contribution of both land use alteration and climate variability on the flow variation is higher in the UWBDR watershed. In Walzem Creek, the alteration in streamflow and baseflow appears to be driven by the effect of urbanization more than that of climate variability. The results reported herein are compared with results reported in recent work by the authors in order to provide necessary information for water resources management planning, as well as soil and water conservation, and to broaden the current understanding of hydrological components variation in different climate regions.

scholarly journals Climate Variability and Change in Bihar, India: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Crop Production

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kindie Tesfaye ◽  
Pramod Aggarwal ◽  
Fasil Mequanint ◽  
Paresh Shirsath ◽  
Clare Stirling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Sustainable Crop Production ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

scholarly journals CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE: FARMER PERCEPTIONS AND UNDERSTANDING OF INTRA-SEASONAL VARIABILITY IN RAINFALL AND ASSOCIATED RISK IN SEMI-ARID KENYA

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. P. C. RAO ◽  
W. G. NDEGWA ◽  
K. KIZITO ◽  
A. OYOO
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Probabilistic Nature ◽  
Semi Arid

SUMMARYThis study examines farmers’ perceptions of short- and long-term variability in climate, their ability to discern trends in climate and how the perceived trends converge with actual weather observations in five districts of Eastern Province in Kenya where the climate is semi-arid with high intra- and inter-annual variability in rainfall. Field surveys to elicit farmers’ perceptions about climate variability and change were conducted in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, Mwingi and Mutomo districts. Long-term rainfall records from five meteorological stations within a 10 km radius from the survey locations were obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department and were analysed to compare with farmers’ observations. Farmers’ responses indicate that they are well aware of the general climate in their location, its variability, the probabilistic nature of the variability and the impacts of this variability on crop production. However, their ability to synthesize the knowledge they have gained from their observations and discern long-term trends in the probabilistic distribution of seasonal conditions is more subjective, mainly due to the compounding interactions between climate and other factors such as soil fertility, soil water and land use change that determine the climate's overall influence on crop productivity. There is a general tendency among the farmers to give greater weight to negative impacts leading to higher risk perception. In relation to long-term changes in the climate, farmer observations in our study that rainfall patterns are changing corroborated well with reported perceptions from other places across the African continent but were not supported by the observed trends in rainfall data from the five study locations. The main implication of our findings is the need to be aware of and account for the risk during the development and promotion of technologies involving significant investments by smallholder farmers and exercise caution in interpreting farmers’ perceptions about long-term climate variability and change.

scholarly journals Perception and Adaptation Strategies of Dairy Farmers Towards Climate Variability and Change in West Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthe Montcho ◽  
Elie Antoine Padonou ◽  
Marlise Montcho ◽  
Meshack Nzesei Mutua ◽  
Brice Sinsin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Dairy Production ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Dairy Farmers ◽  
Climate Zones ◽  
Fodder Production

Abstract In West Africa, dairy production plays a vital role in the economy and the wellbeing of the population. Currently, dairy production has become vulnerable due to climate variability. The main objective of this study was to investigate dairy farmers’ perceptions and adaptation strategies towards climate change in West Africa. Individual interview and Focus Group Discussions were conducted among 900 dairy farmers. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to assess dairy farmers’ perception on climate change. Multiple Correspondence Analysis and hierarchical clustering on principal component analysis were used to access the adaptation strategies of dairy farmers. The results revealed that dairy farmers perceived a decrease in the rainy season and the annual rainfall but an increase of the dry season and the annual temperature that affect their activities. Dairy farmers that fed the cattle mainly with natural pastures, crops residues and agroindustrial by-products in the climate zones of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger, used as climate change adaptation strategies, transhumance in wetland, animal manure to improve fodder production and quality; plants to improve milk production, milk conservation and to treat animal diseases. They sold milk or produced local cheese with the remaining unsold milk. They use crops residues, mineral supplements, herd size reduction; water supply with community pastoral wells and dams, purchase water. Dairy farmers that mainly invested in fodder production and conservation in the climate zones of Mali, sold milk produced to dairies and cheese production units; used plants to improve milk production, pasteurization for milk conservation and veterinary service for animal care. This study provided relevant information for West African policymakers in designing appropriate policies and programs to assist dairy farmers to improve milk production under climate variability and change.

Elderly smallholder farmers’ perceptions of and adaptation to climate variability and change in rural Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Divine Odame Appiah ◽  
Felix Asante ◽  
Lois Antwi-Boadi ◽  
Richard Serbeh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pension Scheme ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to examine elderly smallholder farmers’ perceptions of and adaptation to climate variability and change in the Offinso Municipality, Ghana. Design/methodology/approach This paper used quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were analyzed with frequencies and chi-square tests, whereas qualitative data were thematically analyzed. Findings The results showed that elderly smallholder farmers’ knowledge of climate variability and climate change were based on their sex, level of formal education and experience in farming. Elderly smallholder farmers adopted both on-farm and off-farm strategies to cope with climate change and variability. The vulnerability of elderly smallholder farmers to climate change calls for social protection mechanisms such as a pension scheme that guarantees access to monthly cash transfers. Such a scheme will ease constraints to livelihood and ensure improved well-being. Originality/value Elderly smallholder farmers have remained invisible in discourses on perceptions and adaptation to climate change despite the surge in number of this category of farmers. This paper therefore represents an attempt to highlight the experiences of elderly smallholder farmers with climate variability and change.

scholarly journals Mapping Climate Vulnerability of River Basin Communities in Tanzania to Inform Resilience Interventions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Macharia ◽  
Erneus Kaijage ◽  
Leif Kindberg ◽  
Grace Koech ◽  
Lilian Ndungu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Socioeconomic Indicators ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Vulnerability

Increasing climate variability and change coupled with steady population growth is threatening water resources and livelihoods of communities living in the Wami-Ruvu and Rufiji basins in Tanzania. These basins are host to three large urban centers, namely Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and Morogoro, with a combined total of more than 7 million people. Increased demand for ecosystem services from the available surface water resources and a decreasing supply of clean and safe water are exacerbating the vulnerability of communities in these basins. Several studies have analyzed climate projects in the two basins but little attention has been paid to identify locations that have vulnerable communities in a spatially-explicit form. To address this gap, we worked with stakeholders from national and local government agencies, basin water boards and the Water Resources Integration Development Initiative (WARIDI) project funded by USAID to map the vulnerability of communities to climate variability and change in the two basins. A generalized methodology for mapping social vulnerability to climate change was used to integrate biophysical and socioeconomic indicators of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity and produced climate vulnerability index maps. Our analysis identified vulnerability “hotspots” where communities are at a greater risk from climate stressors. The results from this study were used to identify priority sites and adaptation measures for the implementation of resilience building interventions and to train local government agencies and communities on climate change adaptation measures in the two basins.

scholarly journals Farmers’ Perceptions on Climate Variability and Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in Cinzana, Mali

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Touré Halimatou ◽  
Zampaligre Nouhoun ◽  
Traoré Kalifa ◽  
Kyei-Baffour Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Rainfall Variability ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Future Economic Development

Several studies predict that climate change will highly affect the African continent. These changes in climate and climate variability may be challenging issues for future economic development of the continent in general, and particularly in the region of sub Saharan Africa. Offering a case study of Sahelian zone of Mali in the present study aimed to understand farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and change and to evaluate adaptation options used by farmers in the Cinzana commune of Mali. One hundred and nineteen farmers were interviewed using a questionnaire designed with six sections. The result showed that all farmers interviewed were aware of climate change and climate variability. The Farmers perceived a decrease in annual rainfall variability and an increase of temperature as main factors of climate change and climate variability. The observed meteorological data, showed a decrease of precipitation distribution during the last 14 years of which was observed by farmers. Several strategies such as selling animals, use of improved crop varieties, new activities (outside agriculture) and credit were the commonly preferred adaptation strategies to deal with climate change and variability. Factors surveyed, age, gender, education, household size, farm size were found to be significantly correlated to self-reported to adaptation.

scholarly journals Perceived livelihood impacts and adaptation of vegetable farmers to climate variability and change in selected sites from Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 6831-6849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olushola Fadairo ◽  
Portia Adade Williams ◽  
Faridah Sendagire Nalwanga
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Climate Variability And Change ◽  
Vegetable Farmers ◽  
Dry Spell

Abstract In the wake of deepened situations of changing climate, a clear understanding of the perceived impacts and adaptation of climate variability and change on livelihoods of vegetable farmers in Western and Eastern Africa, which is not readily available, is critical for sustainable vegetable production in Africa. Development planning for climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment was utilised in the study. Using multi-stage sampling procedure, 193 vegetable farmers in selected sites prominent for vegetable production from Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria were used. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and linear regression at α0.05. Awareness of climate variability and change was high among most respondents from the three countries, but highest among respondents from Uganda (78.3%). Awareness was highest for long dry spell ($$\bar{x}$$ x ¯  = 1.90) and drought ($$\bar{x}$$ x ¯  = 1.81) and lowest for harmful gas emissions ($$\bar{x}$$ x ¯  = 0.76). Changes in climate variability and trends were perceived to be highest in terms of flood volume/damage caused by flood to farmlands in Nigeria ($$\bar{x}$$ x ¯  = 3.85) and Uganda ($$\bar{x}$$ x ¯  = 5.0), but in terms of increased temperature for Ghana ($$\bar{x}$$ x ¯  = 4.93). Impact of climate-related changes on vegetable farming was high in Ghana (98.3%) and Nigeria (46.6%) but low in Uganda (5.0%). Awareness (β = 0.14), perception (β = 0.15) use of adaptation strategies (β = 0.10) and household size (β = − 0.19) predicted change in perceived impact of climate variability among vegetable farmers. Vegetable farmers in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda are affected differently by climate variability. Farmers in these countries also have different priorities for adaptation strategies. Locality-specific climate adaptation strategies would help ease farmers burden due to climate change.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document