SMALLHOLDER FARMERS’ PERCEPTION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY IN GEMECHIS WOREDA OF WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Because climate change is a global issue that directly impacts their lives, particularly those of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are reliant on agriculture, researching smallholder farmers' perceptions and adaptations to climate change and variability in Gemechis Woreda was crucial .The findings of this study could provide evidence-based adaptation strategies to be capitalized on in the study area. This study sought to understand how smallholder farmers perceive and respond to climate change in Gemechis Woreda. Primary and secondary data were employed in the study. Through a multi-stage sampling approach, primary data were gathered from 198 randomly chosen smallholder farmers from six kebeles. Interview schedule, focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used to gather primary data, while published and unpublished sources were used to gather secondary data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a multivariate probit model. The results showed that crop diversification, use of soil and water conservation measures such as bench and hillside terraces, level or graded soil bunds, cut-off drain and contour farming; and conservation tillage and mulching, integrated crop and livestock production, adjusting planting and harvest times were the main climate change adaptation strategies in the research area. The findings showed that 56.58%, 82.5%, 40.78%, and 51.55% of the smallholder farmers were more likely to embrace crop diversification, soil and water conservation, integrated crops and livestock, and adjusting planting and harvest times as an adaptation strategy for climate change. The occurrence and duration of drought and rainfall were the major indicators for climate change in the study area. Crop diversification, use of soil and water conservation, integrated crop and livestock production, and adjusting plantation and harvesting time were the major climate change adaptation strategies determined. Choice of climate change adaptation strategies were influenced by age of the household head, sex, marital status, education status, access to credit, climate change related trainings, frequency of extension contacts, crop failure, and amount of resources invested in a plot of land. There is a need to support smallholder farmers in the study area through gender consideration, provision of access to education, access to training, access to credit, and increased crop and livestock production to help them build more effective climate change adaptation strategies. For the success and strengthening of climate change adaptation strategies, there is a need to put integrated effort from different actors on the socio-economic, institutional, and economic factors that determine the choice of climate change adaptation strategies by household heads.