IMPACTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON MAIZE (Zea mays L.) YIELD AND HOUSEHOLD ADAPTATION STRATEGIES; THE CASE OF KERSA DISTRICT OF EAST HARARGE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The impacts of climate variability are adversely affecting crop productivity of farmer’s household of Ethiopia in general and study area in particular. The variability in amount and time of rainfall and rising temperatures affecting the livelihood farmers in the study area. The intended goal of this study was to assess climate variability, its impact on maize (Zea mays L.) yield and farmers’ adaptation strategies in Kersa district. Primary data, used to assess the farmers’ perception of climate variability and adaptation strategies, were collected from 291 household heads using focus group discussion, key informant interview and house hold questionnaire. Secondary data (Climate and maize data from 1991-2020) used to assess the climate impacts on maize yield were collected from the National Meteorology Agency of Ethiopia (NMA) and agriculture and natural resource development office of the district respectively. The collected data were analyzed and interpreted by using XLSTAT, Pearson correlation and linear regression, Microsoft Office Excel 2019 and SPSS software version 26 and other descriptive statistics were used to analyze this data. Meteorological analyses of climate variability results significant increase in annual and belg season minimum and maximum temperature. While the kiremt maximum temperature did not statistically significant. The total annual rainfall in Kersa District from 1991-2020 was ranged between 230.3mm and 1700.7mm. The mean average, SD and CV of annual rainfall was 516.6 mm 361.5 mm and 70% respectively. Furthermore, the results of Pearson Correlation Coefficients indicated that the max temperature during the belg (r=-0.216) and kiremt (r=- 0.150) season shows weak negative relationship with maize yield. While the annual rainfall (r=0.136) belg rainfall (0.203) and kiremt rainfall (r= 0.185) shows weak positive relationship with maize yield. farmers have been undertaking different adaptation practices in the study area including: crop diversification, Fertilizer application, altering planting date, changing crop varieties, soil and water conservation practices, irrigation farming and planting tree. I recommended that the district agricultural sector with different research institute should have developed that heat resistant maize crop that can withstand the pressures of the climatic variations especially high temperatures