Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia

SpringerPlus, Jun 2015

This study investigates the perception of historic changes in climate and associated impact on local agriculture among smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana in southern Ethiopia. We drew on empirical data obtained from farm household surveys conducted in 5 districts, 20 pastoral/agropastoral associations and 480 farm households. Using this data, this study analyses smallholders’ perception of climate change and its associated impact on local agriculture, and the effect of various household and farm attributes on perception. Results suggest that most participants perceived climatic change and its negative impact on agricultural and considered climate change as a salient risk to their future livelihoods and economic development. Different levels of perception were expressed in terms of climate change and the impact on traditional rain-fed agriculture. Age, education level, livestock holding, access to climate information and extension services significantly affected perception levels. Household size, production system, farm and non-farm incomes did not significantly affect perception levels of smallholders. Smallholders attributed climate change to a range of biophysical, deistic and anthropogenic causes. Increased access to agricultural support services, which improves the availability and the quality of relevant climate information will further enhance awareness of climate change within of the rural community and result in better management of climate-induced risks in these vulnerable agricultural systems.

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Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia

Debela et al. SpringerPlus Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia Nega Debela 0 Caroline Mohammed 0 Kerry Bridle 0 Ross Corkrey 0 David McNeil 0 0 Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania , Hobart, TAS 7001 , Australia This study investigates the perception of historic changes in climate and associated impact on local agriculture among smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana in southern Ethiopia. We drew on empirical data obtained from farm household surveys conducted in 5 districts, 20 pastoral/agropastoral associations and 480 farm households. Using this data, this study analyses smallholders' perception of climate change and its associated impact on local agriculture, and the effect of various household and farm attributes on perception. Results suggest that most participants perceived climatic change and its negative impact on agricultural and considered climate change as a salient risk to their future livelihoods and economic development. Different levels of perception were expressed in terms of climate change and the impact on traditional rain-fed agriculture. Age, education level, livestock holding, access to climate information and extension services significantly affected perception levels. Household size, production system, farm and non-farm incomes did not significantly affect perception levels of smallholders. Smallholders attributed climate change to a range of biophysical, deistic and anthropogenic causes. Increased access to agricultural support services, which improves the availability and the quality of relevant climate information will further enhance awareness of climate change within of the rural community and result in better management of climate-induced risks in these vulnerable agricultural systems. Adaptation; Farm households; Pastoral/agropastoral systems; Perception; Rainfed agriculture; Vulnerability - Introduction Perception strongly affects how farmers deal with climateinduced risks and opportunities, and the precise nature of their behavioural responses to this perception will shape adaptation options, the process involved and adaptation outcomes (Adger et al. 2009; Pauw 2013). Misconception about climate change and its associated risk may result in no adaptation or maladaptation thus increasing the negative impact of climate change (Grothmann and Patt 2005). Rural households in sub-Saharan Africa are heavily reliant on their natural resource base to provide food and income for the family, and the availability of such resources is dependent on favourable seasonal weather conditions (Solomon et al. 2007). In the climatically more variable regions of sub-Saharan Africa, where dryland farming systems are common, the heavy reliance on rainfed agriculture increases the vulnerability of rural households to the adverse impacts of climate change (Thomas et al. 2007; Mertz et al. 2009). Resource-poor farmers have limited capacity to adapt and are particularly vulnerable (Antwi-Agyei et al. 2012). In Ethiopia, agricultural production is predominantly rain-fed and irrigated agriculture constitutes only 1.1 % of the total cultivated land (Bewket and Conway 2007) and less than 3 % of the current food production in the country (Awulachew et al. 2005). Pastoralism in Ethiopia represents about 60 % of the land mass and much of the commercially valuable livestock is produced under rainfed dryland small-scale agricultural systems vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change (Little et al. 2010; Fratkin 2014). In addition to climate change agricultural systems in developing countries are faced with other risks such as demand for rapidly growing population, changing land tenure systems and ecological degradation (Jones and Thornton 2009; Rufino et al. 2013). The current international scientific consensus is that recent global warming conditions indicate a fairly stable long-term trend with natural variability of local climate (Hansen et al. 2012). The notorious variability in local climate conditions and the underlying long-term trend towards global warming makes it difficult for local people to discern climate change. Beliefs and attitudes towards climate change depend on contextual factors including access to climate information and experiential learning. For instance, the large majority of scientists working in disciplines contributing to studies of our climate, accept that climate change is almost certainly being caused by human activities (Hansen et al. 2012). Indigenous people with limited access to climate information are more likely to attribute changing climatic conditions, particularly extreme weather events, to a change in their rituals and cultural practices (Nyanga et al. 2011). Irrespective of the driving forces however understanding views of target communities is important to prompt the need to adapt and facilitate support for policy related adaptation (...truncated)


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Nega Debela, Caroline Mohammed, Kerry Bridle, Ross Corkrey, David McNeil. Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia, SpringerPlus, 2015, pp. 236, Volume 4, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1186/s40064-015-1012-9