Knowledge of climate change and adaptation by smallholder farmers: evidence from southern Ethiopia.
Climate change has the greatest negative impact on low-income countries, which burdens agricultural systems. Climate change and extreme weather events have caused Ethiopia's agricultural production to decline and exacerbated food insecurity over the last few decades. This study investigates whether farmers' awareness and perceptions of climate change play a role in climate change adaptation using climate-smart agricultural practices. To collect data, 385 households in Southern Ethiopia were sampled using a multistage sampling. A Heckman probit two-stage selection model was applied to investigate the factors influencing farmers' perceptions to climate change and adaptation measures through adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices, complemented with key informant interviews and focused group discussions. The results indicated that most farmers (81.80%) perceived that the local climate is changing, with 71.9% reporting increased temperature and 53.15% reporting decreasing rainfall distribution. Therefore, farmers attempted to apply some adaptation practices, including soil and water conservation with biological measures, improved crop varieties, agroforestry, improved breeds, cut and carry system, controlled grazing, and residue incorporation. The empirical results revealed that farmers adaptation to climate change through adoptions of CSA practices was significantly influenced by education, family size, gender, landholding size, farming experience, access to climate information, training received, social membership, livestock ownership, farm income and extension services. The study found that farmers' perceptions of climate change and variability were significantly influenced by their age, level of education, farming experience, and access to climate information, hence, the need to focus on enhancing the accuracy of weather information, strengthening extension services, and considering a gender-sensitive adaptation approach toward improving farmers' knowledge and aspirations. Agricultural policies should support the efforts of farmers to increase the reliance on climate risk and alleviate farmers' difficulties in adopting climate-smart agriculture practices.
Belay A
,Oludhe C
,Mirzabaev A
,Recha JW
,Berhane Z
,Osano PM
,Demissie T
,Olaka LA
,Solomon D
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《Heliyon》
Do farmers' risk perception, adaptation strategies, and their determinants benefit towards climate change? Implications for agriculture sector of Punjab, Pakistan.
Due to global and regional climatic dynamics for a couple of decades, agricultural productivity, rural livelihood, and food security have been badly affected in Pakistan. This study was conducted in Punjab, Pakistan, to explore the farmers' understanding of the impacts of climate change, adaptation strategies, determinants, and benefits on agriculture using data from 1080 respondents. Perceived risks by the farmers in the rice-wheat cropping system and the cotton-wheat cropping system were weed infestation, seed rate augmented, low-quality seeds, infestation of crop diseases and pests, change of cropping pattern, increase of input use, decrease of cropping intensity and productivity, decreasing soil fertility, increasing irrigation frequency, and increase of harvesting time. To alleviate the adverse influences of climate change, the adaptation strategies used by farmers were management of crop and variety, soil and irrigation water, diversification of agriculture production systems and livelihood sources, management of fertilizer and farm operations time, spatial adaptation, access to risk reduction measures and financial assets, adoption of new technologies, institutional support, and indigenous knowledge. Moreover, the results of Binary Logistic Regression indicate that adaptation strategies are affected by different factors like age, education, household family size, off-farm income, remittances, credit access, information on climatic and natural hazards, information on weather forecasting, land acreage, the experience of growing crops and rearing of livestock, tenancy status, tube well ownership, livestock inventory, access to market information, agricultural extension services, and distance from agricultural input/output market. There is a significant difference between adapters and nonadapters. The risk management system may be created to protect crops against failures caused by extreme weather events. There is a need to develop crop varieties that are both high yielding and resistant to climate change. Moreover, cropping patterns should be revised to combat the effects of climate change. To enhance farmers' standard of living, it is necessary to provide adequate extension services and a more significant number of investment facilities. These measures will assist farmers in maintaining their standard of living and food security over the long term to adapt to the effects of climate change based on various cropping zones.
Usman M
,Ali A
,Bashir MK
,Radulescu M
,Mushtaq K
,Wudil AH
,Baig SA
,Akram R
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Smallholder farmers access to climate information and climate smart adaptation practices in the northern region of Ghana.
In Ghana over 70% of people who are employed in the agricultural sector are smallholder farmers' living in less developed communities engaging in rudimentary agriculture. Climate change poses a serious threat to smallholder farmers which impacts on their income, food security and wellbeing. Climate information could be a vital resort for smallholder farmers' adoption of climate smart adaptation strategies in order to better manage climate risk. This study is aimed at investigating factors that influence smallholder farmers' joint decision to access climate information as well as adopt climate smart adaptation practices in the Northern Region. Data used was collected from a cross-sectional survey of 475 smallholder farmers'. The joint decision of smallholder farmers to access climate information and also adopt climate smart adaptation practices was analysed by using bivariate probit regression model. The econometric estimates reveal that age, household size, farm income, access to agricultural extension services and assets are the key drivers of smallholder farmers joint decision to access climate information and adopt climate smart adaption practices. Government, district assemblies and non governmental organisations supporting smallholder farmers' adoption of climate smart adaptation strategies in order to overcome climate risk should also assist in the accessibility of climate information since they complement one another. Smallholder farmers literacy and knowledge level should be increased through non-formal and informal educational programmes, and extension education using the farmer-field schools method.
Alidu AF
,Man N
,Ramli NN
,Mohd Haris NB
,Alhassan A
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