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Climate Change Perceptions and Adaptations by Smallholder Farmers in East Africa
Type of Session
Individual Paper Presentation
Abstract
Smallholder farming in East Africa is a fundamental aspect of life in a region where smallholder farmers are responsible for two-thirds of all food production. Today, smallholder farmers face uncertain risks associated with climate change. These risks, such as such as drought, increased temperatures, pests, and diseases, have the potential to result in food and economic insecurity. As these climate risks become increasingly prevalent, an understanding of farmers’ perceptions of those risks, and how farmers are responding to those perceptions through adaptation and mitigation strategies, including agroforestry methods, minimum tillage, and the introduction of improved and more diverse crop varieties, could inform policies seeking to improve smallholder livelihoods today and in the future.
Our research seeks to understand the degree to which human, social, economic, and natural assets influence farmers’ understanding of climate change risks and their ability to adopt effective climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. This research explores (i) perceived climate risks, (ii) adaptation and mitigation strategies, and (iii) individual climate risks using a household survey completed by Bioversity International in 2016. Survey data were collected from 1,001 respondents in four study sites: Nyando, Kenya, Hombolo, Tanzania, Singida, Tanzania, and Hoima, Uganda.
Our results suggest that demographic, economic, and geographic factors, such as gender, education level, farm assets, and country can all influence how smallholder farmers perceive climate change and its related risks and whether they adopt climate change adaptation strategies. In order to combat food insecurity in the face of climate change, policymakers could ensure that policy interventions reflect the gendered reality of smallholder agriculture. Education should be made more accessible to smallholder farmers, and the creation of farmer community groups should be incentivized so that farmers are able to share valuable information regarding threats associated with climate change and climate change mitigation strategies.