IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY ON MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L) PRODUCTION AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES OF THE FARMING COMMUNITY IN HAWASSA ZURIA WOREDA, SIDAMA REGION

Abstract

Climate change which is one of the challenges facing the world and is increasingly affecting peoples’ food security and livelihood specially in developing countries including Ethiopia. This research assessed the impacts of climate change and variability on Maize production and adaptation strategies of the farming community in Hawassa Zuria Woreda. The study used multi stage sampling procedure. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select study area. Primary data were collected using key informant interviews, focus group discussions and household surveys with 184 households. Similarly, secondary data were collected from NMA and HZWANO. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, Mann Kendall trend test, MNL, ASI and SPI were used to analyze the collected data. According to the survey results, about 81% of the respondents perceive that, the rainfall amount in the study area is decreasing. However, long-term recorded rainfall data showed that the annual rainfall is increasing by the rate of 2.216 mm annually over the past 33 years despite statistically non-significant. The mean annual rainfall was 968.5mm with 14% of coefficient of variation which is less variable based on degree of variability. Similarly, 85.30% of interviewed farmers said that temperature is in increasing trend, which confirms the results from the analysis of long-term recorded data by NMA that indicated the mean average minimum and maximum temperatures are increasing by 0.062 oC and 0.028 oC per annum respectively. The data obtained from HZWANO and NMA also showed that, the rainfall of the spring (Belg) season was positive and significantly correlated with Maize production. However, negative relationship was observed between long-term maximum temperature and Maize production. The study had also shown that farmer’s adaptation measures include; using improved crop variety, mixed crop livestock system, use of irrigation, soil and water conservation, adjusting planting date and income diversification activities. The marginal effects of MNL model results also indicated that, the adaptation strategies used by farmers were significantly (p< 0.05) influenced by age, family size, farm land size, monthly income and livestock ownership, whereas; sex, access to extension service, access to credit service and farming experience did not have significant impact. Therefore, to increase and sustain farmers Maize productivity under changing climatic conditions; improving the agricultural production policy measures like: developing drought resistant crop varieties, improving farmers’ perception of climate information, and promoting farm-level adaptation measures such as the use of new agricultural technologies and adjusting planting date must be strengthened in the study area.