Agriculture in
Ethiopia is an important economic sector upon which the majority of Ethiopians
depend for food, feed and income. However, the sector is
dominated by smallholder agriculture. The smallholder sub-sector
is predominantly comprised of subsistence and traditional rainfed systems which
exhibit vulnerability to various internal and external pressures. Vulnerability
within these agricultural systems can be broadly attributed to a variety of
climate and non-climate factors which include bio-physical, socio-economic and
political elements.
Assistance to
enable these smallholders to successfully adapt to future climate change in
locally relevant ways can be usefully informed by the analysis and better
understanding of past and ongoing adaptation. The study
employed farm household surveys, focus group discussions, expert consultations
and secondary data collation to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data.
The farm household survey employed a multi-stage sampling technique involving
selection of five districts and twenty pastoral/agropastoral associations. The study employed
a combination of Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework to analyze how climate
change put pressure on pastoral and agropastoral farming systems and
livelihoods, and Pelling’s (2011) typological framework to analyze local
adaptation responses.
Results showed that
pastoral and agropastoral households, their communities and institutions
adopted a wide range of adaptation options primarily through adjusting their
farming practices and diversifying into non-pastoral livelihoods. The
smallholders primarily pursued a resilience approach to adaptation with short
term goals intended to avoid system disruptions instead of long-term
transformational approaches that significantly address the root causes of
vulnerability. A range of barriers constrained local adaptive capacity and
shaped routes for adaptation.
In conclusion, smallholders
in the Borana lowlands, at least in the foreseeable future, will continue to
depend on rainfed agriculture as a primary source of livelihood for which they
face considerable uncertainty due to prevalent climate perturbations and eroded
ability to adapt. And climate change adaptation responses must be integrated
into policies and development programs to actively promote local livelihoods
and help reduce vulnerability addressing the shortcomings of conventional
adaptation and development pathways.
Article by Nega
Debela, et al, from University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Full access: http://t.cn/EtkyQc4
Image by AfDB Projects, from
Flickr-cc.
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