article · Environmental and Sustainability Indicators
This study investigated farmers' perceptions of climate change, variability, and adaptation strategies in wheat-based farming systems in Northwest Ethiopia. Long-term data showed significant annual temperature increases in the Debark and Dabat regions. Farmers primarily perceived acute heat stress and soil deterioration as key factors affecting production, despite favourable historical rainfall trends. The research identified a clear gender-based difference in adaptive behaviours. Male-headed households preferred capital-intensive inputs like inorganic fertilisers and stress-tolerant seeds. Conversely, female-headed households, facing labour and credit constraints, favoured low-input intercropping. The study also highlighted that severe gaps in climatic information and limited access to extension services hinder farmers' adaptive capacity. It concludes that geographically focused, gender-responsive, and digitally connected advisory frameworks are essential for building smallholder resilience.
Understanding how smallholder farmers perceive and adapt to climate change is crucial for ensuring food security and agricultural sustainability in vulnerable regions. This research highlights specific challenges and gender-based differences, providing insights necessary for developing targeted and effective support programmes to build resilience against climatic warming.
The abstract suggests a need for improved advisory frameworks that are geographically focused, gender-responsive, and digitally connected. This could lead to the development of tailored agricultural extension services or digital platforms providing climate information and adaptation guidance. There is also an indication of demand for capital-intensive inputs like inorganic fertilisers and stress-tolerant seeds, particularly from male-headed households, and low-input solutions for female-headed households. This research is early-stage, identifying needs rather than offering a specific product or service.
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Bread wheat production in high-altitude East African agro-ecosystems is confronted by both chronic institutional barriers and significant climatic warming. The adoption of climate-smart agriculture, farmer risk perceptions, and microclimatic dynamics in Northwest Ethiopia are all examined in this study. Mean yearly temperature rises of +1.19 °C in Debark and +1.61 °C in Dabat are revealed by long-term meteorological data (1981–2018). Smallholders perceive acute heat stress (33.0%) and soil deterioration (20.5%) as the main determinants of production, despite favorable historical rainfall trends. Adaptive behavior has a clear structural split according to a gender-disaggregated Multivariate Probit model. Capital-intensive inputs, such as inorganic fertilizers (β = +0.126, p < 0.05) and stress-tolerant seeds (β = +0.142, p < 0.05), are preferred by families headed by men. On the other hand, low-input intercropping is preferred by households headed by women due to severe labor and credit constraints (32.0% adoption rate (β = -0.108, p < 0.05). Severe gaps in climatic information (82.5%) and lack of access to extensions (63.0%) continue to limit adaptive agency. Advisory frameworks that are geographically focused, gender-responsive, and digitally connected are necessary to build smallholder resilience.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.indic.2026.101484
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