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| Title: | Farmers' perceptions of climate change and its agricultural impacts in the Abay and Baro-Akobo River Basins, Ethiopia |
| Authors: | Bewket, Woldeamlak Alemu, Dawit |
| Year: | 2011 |
| Periodical: | Ethiopian Journal of Development Research (ISSN 0378-0813) |
| Volume: | 33 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Period: | April |
| Pages: | 1-28 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Ethiopia Northeast Africa |
| Subjects: | climate change agricultural production farmers households consciousness Agriculture, Agronomy, Forestry Crops and climate |
| External link: | https://doi.org/10.4314/ejdr.v32i2.68605 |
| Abstract: | This article presents an assessment of farmers' perceptions of climate change and its agricultural impacts in the Ethiopian portion of the Nile and Baro-Akobo river basins. A total of 500 randomly selected households were interviewed from 15 kebeles in five woredas, three each from dega, woina-dega and kolla agro-ecological zones. In addition, focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted in each kebele. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize quantitative data, which was then used to augment the quantitative analysis. Results indicate that the majority of farmers perceived climate change to be seen in temperature and rainfall changes, over the past two to three decades. Regarding agricultural impacts, 77 percent of respondents stated to have observed a reduction in crop production while 60 percent observed a reduction in the length of a crop growing period. Similarly, 79 percent, 62 percent and 44 percent of respondents perceived an increased amount of insects and an increase in plant diseases and weeds, respectively. Also, about 59 percent of the respondents perceived a changed situation in areas suitable to produce major crops. The belg (short) season production, in traditionally belg growing areas, has almost totally been abandoned. A higher proportion of households in dega and kola areas perceived negative agricultural impacts as compared to those in woina-dega areas; the differences being statistically significant. Similarly, statistically significant gender-based differences were also observed regarding climate change and its agricultural impacts, where the percentage of females perceiving climate change was lower than that of males. It is concluded that there is a need to identify and to promote community-based adaptive measures that take into account local perceptions and knowledge of climate change and its multiple impacts. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract] |
