Implication of Climate Change on the Livelihood of Rural Farmers - An Enquiry

Abstract

Climate change and variability worsened the situation by increasing moisture stress in the growing seasons of most cereal crops. Agricultural production among the farming rural adults in the country is adversely affected by climate change. As a result of this, the livelihood of large numbers of the rural poor is at risk and their vulnerability to food insecurity will be increased. Though many interventions are undertaken by different stakeholders, still the problem is worsening in the study area. Hence the main focus of this paper is assessing the climatic characteristics and the effects of climate change on the livelihood of rural farmers in the study area. To achieve the objectives, relevant data was collected from 123 sample rural farmers from three villages through stratified random sampling technique based on the agro-ecological conditions. In addition, focus group discussion and key informant interview were also carried out to elicit the relevant information. The collected data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages and standard deviation while inferential statistics like multiple linear regression and correlation to determine the effect of climate on the status of livelihood. The major findings reveal that there is high perception of farmers about climate change and mainly the factors which affecting were found to be population growth, overgrazing, deforestation, improper land use, etc.  Some elements of climate, temperature, rainfall and humidity show inter annual and seasonal variability with slightly increasing trend. The study recommends that awareness creation on climate mitigation strategies, diversifying the livelihood options, capacity building through training to adopt different technologies is essential.