Farmers’ Perception of and Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability: The Case of Assosa District, Western Ethiopia

This study identified farmers’ perception of and adaptation to climate change and variability in Assosa district, western Ethiopia, which is severely affected by climate change stresses. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected from a randomly selected 140 sample households using interview schedule. Relevant secondary data were also obtained from NMA (National Metrology Agency), Assosa district office of agriculture and different reports. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage and graph were used to describe the farmers’ perception of and adaptation to climate change and variability. In addition, trend analysis (simple linear regression) was used to analyze secondary obtained on temperature and rainfall from NMA. The descriptive statistics result pointed out that the majority (96.3%) of the farmers in the study area perceived a change in temperature and it also indicated that 90.7% of the farmers’ perceived a change in the amount and timing of annual rainfall pattern over the past 15 years. In addition, the trend analysis indicated that the average annual temperature in the study area increases by about 0.096oC each year. It also found that the annual rainfall in the study area decreases by about 46.75 mm each year. Furthermore, the study also pointed out that, 57.1%, 55%, 50.7%, 49.3% and 36.4% of the household heads used crop diversification, irrigation, improved crop varieties, adjusting planting date and soil conservation techniques, respectively, as climate change and variability adaptation measure in the study area. Thus, actions directed towards reducing the impact of climate change and variability should focus on creating awareness on the impact of climate change and variability, ensuring availability and dissemination of improved crop varieties, improving the availability of irrigation facilities, etc. Keywords: Climate change and variability, Perception, Adaptation, Assosa district, Western Ethiopi