Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture

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    EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS AND THEIR ADAPTATION MECHANISMS: THE CASE OF ADAMI TULU JIDO KOMBOLCHA DISTRICT, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University college of Agriculture, 2018) ABDISSA HATEW
    Climate change is a major challenge for agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods for many of people in the area. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of climate change on the livelihood of smallholder farmers and theirs adaptation mechanisms. The study was conducted in four rural kebeles of Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative (descriptive statistics and binary logit model) methods of data analysis. Primary data were collected from a randomly selected 200 sample households through interview and focus group discussion. Relevant secondary data were also obtained from National Meteorological Agency (NMA), other governmental offices, and the internet. The results obtained from the analysis of three decades meteorological data and the respondents’ perception on local climate change indicate an overall increase in temperature and high variability in belg and kiremt rainfalls. Local people perceived climate change induced hazards as increasing in terms of the occurrences of frequent drought, extreme heat, livestock disease and crop yield reduction. The findings also reveal that some elements of climate (temperature and rainfall) show annual and seasonal variability with slightly increasing trend. It is found that higher temperature and decreasing precipitation levels caused by climate change depresses crop yields and livestock production. The findings indicate that climate change has led to changing the planting time, declined crop yield and decreasing livestock production. The results of binary logit model analysis identified that age, sex, education level, TLU, number of oxen, farm size, off farm activities, distance to Farmers’ Training Centre and distance to market are the major determinants of households livelihoods as a measure of farmers food security. Changing planting date, implementing soil and water conservation techniques, use of improved crop varieties, use of irrigation and growing drought tolerant crops are the major adaptation mechanism employed by the farmers to adapt to climate change in the study area. In livestock production, farmers are found to decrease livestock numbers by selling the older ones, diversify livestock holdings and practice transhumance. Lack of awareness, shortage of money, poor information, shortage of land, lack or low access to irrigation, poor access to market, no or low access to credit, low access to agricultural inputs and low access to extension service as most important barriers to adaptation.