Title of the thesis

Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies to

Climate Change in Simada Woreda, South Gonder
Zone, Northwest, Ethiopia
By:
Fentaye Gashaw
Principal Advisor: Menberu Teshome (phD, Associate Prof.)
Co-Advisor: Endalkachew Sisay

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Presentation outlines

Background of the study

Statement of the Problem
Objective of the Study
Basic Research Questions
Study Area and Research Methods
Method of data analysis
Major findings of the study
Conclusions and recommendations

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 Introduction
Background of the study
 Climate change is a global issue because it affects all countries
in the world (Watson. 2010)
 Depending upon emission scenarios, IPCC predicts an increase
in temperature from 0.3–4.8°C by the end of the 21st century
 Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate
variability and change (Ozor et al., 2011)
 It is aggravated by the multiple stresses such as natural
resources degradation, high dependence on rain-fed agriculture,
widespread poverty (Ozor et al., 2011)
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 Cont...
 Ethiopia is the hardest hit by climate change with a relatively low
capacity to absorb the shocks of events (Fikreyesus et al., 2014)
 According to Shepherd et al. (2013),
 The report highlights high dependence on climate sensitive
sector (agriculture)
 Lack of the necessary capital to invest in adaptation

Therefore, the issue of climate change is a major concern in

Ethiopia
 Hence, this study intended to investigate Smallholder Farmers’
Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in Simada woreda of
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South Gondar Zone 3/12/22
 Statement of the problem


Climate change in Ethiopia is presenting a unique challenge for societies

and the current development process (Hameso, 2015)


The reason for this is that the economy of the country depends largely on

rain-fed agriculture (Yimam and Mohammed, 2016)


Climate change can also affect the non-income facets of poverty

(Emerta, 2013)


In Ethiopia most of climate change adaptation research focused on the

farmers of Nile Basin as a case study (Yesuf et al., 2008; Deressa et al.,

2010)
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 Cont.…

 But a one size fits all recommendation is inappropriate given

difference in agro ecologies

 Legese et al., (2013) studies on smallholder farmers’

perceptions and adaptation to climate change in western

Harerghe, But the study did not include the determinant factors

of adaptation strategies

 Moreover, adaptation strategies vary contextually and

spatially within communities and even within individual

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 Cont...

Until now, there is no research on the determinant

factors choice of adaptation methods to climate

change in Simada Woreda


Hence, considering this knowledge gap, the

researcher planned to study on the smallholder

farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change

in Simada woreda of South Gondar zone 3/12/22 7

 Objective of the Study

General objective
 The main objective of the study is to investigate smallholder
farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in Simada
Woreda of South Gonder Zone, Northwest Ethiopia

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 Cont...
Specific objectives were to:

Examine the trends of climate change in terms of temperature and

rainfall

 Identify the existing adaptation strategies used by smallholder

farmers in response to climate change in the study area

 Identify the determinant factors that influence smallholder farmers’

choice of adaptation strategies to climate change in simada woreda

 Identify the barriers of adaptation strategies to the changing climatic

conditions
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 Basic research questions

To achieve objectives of the study, the following basic research questions

were raised:

What looks like the climate characteristic (temperature and rainfall) in the

study area?

 What are the major adaptation strategies used by smallholder farmers in

response to climate change in the study area?

What are the determinant factors that influence smallholder farmers’ choice

of adaptation strategies to climate change in the study area?

What are the major barriers encountered by smallholder farmers to employ

different adaptation strategies in response to climate change

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 Conceptual framework of the study
Climate change and its impact

Associated factors of Perception of

adaptation strategy to climate
climate change
 Social demography
(age, sex, family size Intention to
of household, adaptation
education Adaptation strategies to
 Access to climate
climate change
information
 The education level of The barrier of climate
households change adaptation
 Distance to market strategies
 Access to credit  Lack of information
 Extension service  Shortage of capital
 Farm size  Shortage of labor
 Temperature and  Shortage of farming land
 Precipitation  Lack of skill
 Agro ecological  Give less emphasis
setting  No observed problems
 No support from
No adaptation
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 Map of the study area

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 Research Methods
No Methods used Type
1 Research design Cross sectional and longitudinal
2 Sampling procedure
2.1 Study area selected Convenience sampling
technique
2.2 Sample kebele Stratified and simple random
2.3 Sample respondents Systematic random
3 Data sources Primary and Secondary
4 Method of data collection Questionnaire, FGD &KII
5 Method of data analysis Both quantitative and
qualitative
5.1 For objectives one SPI &SLR supported with DS
5.2 For objective two and four Descriptive statistics
5.3 For objective three Binary logistic
3/12/22 regression model
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 Major findings of the study

Trends of temperature and rainfall

A. Trends of temperature
 The temperature of the woreda is characterized by an
increasing trend and high inter annual variability for the last
three decades.
 Both Annual maximum, minimum and average temperatures
shows an increasing trend. However,
 This also supported with FGD, KII, Household survey and
empirical finding
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 Cont.…
B. Annual rainfall variability and trends
 Annual rainfall shows a decreasing trend and inter annual
variability over the past 31 years
 This decreasing trend and inter annual variability results also
supported with empirical findings, FGD, KII and household
survey
C. Meteorological drought in the study area
 Out of 31 years observation,
 18 years (58.06%) recorded below the long-term average
annual rainfall 3/12/22 15
 Cont.…

 While 13 (41.94%) recorded above the average annual rainfall

 The year 2009 rainfall amount was the lowest record in the
observation period SPI value (−2.83)
 While, 2001 was the wettest year SPI value (1.83)
 There were three drought years from 1988 to 2018 in the study
area
 One extreme drought (2009), and
 Two moderate (1989 and 2017) drought years

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 Adaptation strategies to climate change

 The household head were asked to identify their major

adaptation strategies
 More than 65% of the surveyed households engaged with
 Soil and water conservation, changing in planting date,
planting tree and borrowing money
 Less than 30% engaged with
 water harvesting, irrigation, use improved livestock
varieties

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 Cont.…
 Between 30-80% engaged with the remaining adaptation
practices
 Such as stop cultivation of sloppy area, use improved
crop varieties, growing high value crops, seasonal
migration and family planning
 This study supported with FGD, KII, Household survey and
empirical finding

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 Determinant factors of adaptation strategies to
climate change
 Bi variable logistic regression was conducted to select potential
candidate with p-value ≤ 0.25
 Except marital status, religion and number of visit; other satisfied
for multivariable binary logistic regression
 Smallholder farmers who had primary and above educational
level were 5.6 times more likely to practice adaptation strategy
 This study was supported by (Gbetibouo, 2009) and (Deressa ,
2009)
 This is because educations provides access to and conceptualize
information 3/12/22 19
 Cont.…
 The probability of the farmers used adaptation strategy
increased by 5.22 times as one hectare increases in the farm size
 This study in lined with study conducted in in Dejen District,
Nile Basin of Ethiopia (Zerihun et al., 2018)
 On the contrary, study done by Deressal farm size is not a
significant determinants (Deressal, 2009; 2010)
 The possible reason may be due agro ecology
 The odds of adaptation strategies to climate change of farmers
who accessed for extension service increased by 5.05 times

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 Cont.…
 This study supported by study conducted at Dejen District,
Nile basin of Ethiopia (Zerihun et al, 2018) and in Dera
woreda, South Gondar Zone (Atinkut and Mebratu, 2016)
 The probability of adaptation strategies to climate change of
smallholder farmers with climate change information increased
by 3.93 times
 This study agree with study conducted in Dire Dewa
(Betelhem, 2014) and Nile Basin of Ethiopia Temesgen, et al.
(2009)

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Cont.…

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 Barriers of adaptation to climate change in the study area

 To identify some of the barriers of adaptation strategies to climate

change by smallholder farmers were, asked to identify their major
barriers that hinder adaptation strategies
70 65.5
Household respondents in %

60
50
40
32.5
30 23.55 25.3
20 15 19
10
0

Major barriers that hinder adaptation strategies

 This study supported by Marye (2011) and Workie

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(2018) 23
 Conclusions and recommendations
Conclusions
 In the study area local farmers perceive long-term climate
change/variability, such as increasing temperature and
increasing number of hot days,
 Due to increase temperature and erratic rainfall, the area
become prone to drought and experienced a number of
drought years
 Farmers have done different adaptation strategies to
overcome climate change induced hazards

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 Cont.…
 Some of them are practiced soil and water conservation practice,
irrigation and water harvesting, planting tree, use improved crop
variety, changing in planting date
 Education level, farm land, farm size, access of extension
service, access to information on climate change, and
communication device have a significant impact on smallholder
farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change

 Major challenge of farmers to adapt climate change are lack of

weather information, lack of capital, shortage of labor, shortage

of farm land, give less emphasis and lack of skill 3/12/22 25

 Cont.…

Recommendations

Based on the findings &conclusions drawn the following measures

should be taken to :

 Counter attack the impacts of climate change

 Improve the adaptive capacity of the local people

1. Supporting indigenous adaptation practices

 Proper assessment of locally available adaptation options should be
considered
2. Mainstreaming climate change
 Any intervention needs to mainstreaming climate change 26
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Cont.…

3. Provision of early warnings and weather forecasts

 Access to weather forecast and early warning information
have important role in reducing climate impacts

4. manipulate improved technologies

 The worda agriculture office, NGOs support to the farmers’
used to improved technologies to adapt climate change
5. Empower the farmers’ to educate
 Educated farmers’ have taken higher adaptation measures
to tackle climate change than uneducated farmers’
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THANK YOU!!!

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