article · Climate Services
Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia face substantial vulnerability to climatic hazards and utilise varied proactive and reactive approaches to manage these risks. Anticipatory methods include early planting, expanding savings, diversifying income sources, improving water management, and planting drought-resistant crop varieties. Following climatic shocks, farming households frequently respond by reducing living expenses, drawing on savings, altering consumption patterns, borrowing money, selling assets, seeking help from family, or migrating for work. However, effective responses are hindered by critical constraints such as limited access to innovations, inadequate weather information, high poverty, weak institutional backing, and insufficient agricultural extension support. The adoption of proactive measures improves with land size, perceived cost-effectiveness, and targeted climate training, whereas factors such as older age and restricted market access create barriers. Improving institutional support and access to climate information is vital for building resilience.
Smallholder agriculture supports rural livelihoods across sub-Saharan Africa, yet climatic shocks constantly threaten food security and economic stability. Understanding the real-world choices, limitations, and socioeconomic barriers farmers encounter allows development agencies, extension providers, and policymakers to deliver tailored interventions, such as accessible weather information and targeted training, that genuinely reinforce community resilience.
The findings can inform the design and deployment of agricultural support tools, such as digital climate advisory platforms, micro-savings services, and drought-tolerant seed distribution channels targeting smallholder farmers. Because this is empirical survey research outlining user behaviours and barriers rather than testing a specific technology, the work sits at an early stage. It primarily offers market and user insights for agritech developers, seed providers, and financial institutions seeking to design accessible rural services.
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Climate change poses significant challenges for smallholder farmers worldwide, particularly in regions like sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, requiring effective coping strategies for resilience. This study examines farmers’ exposure to climatic shocks and their adoption of coping strategies. Findings from a survey of 646 farm households and qualitative discussions revealed farmers’ high vulnerability to climate-related hazards. Smallholder farmers rely on ex-ante coping strategies, including early planting (48.5%), income diversification (41.3%), increasing savings (42 %), water management (39.2%), and sowing drought-resistant varieties (37%). Similarly, they resort to ex-post coping techniques, such as reducing expenses (46.1%), utilizing savings (41.6%), changes in consumption patterns (39.5%), seeking assistance from relatives (23.5%), borrowing (17.6%), selling assets (11.9%), and migration for employment (8.7%). Farmers also encounter constraints such as limited access to weather information, inadequate extension services, weak institutional support, insufficient skills, high poverty levels, and limited access to innovations. Factors like land size, climate training, self-efficacy, cost-effectiveness perception, and hazard consequence perception positively influence farmers’ adoption of proactive strategies against climate change, while being male, older, less educated, owning a farm, limited access to extension services, and market constraints hinder anticipatory measures. Additionally, household head being male, education level, farm experience, land ownership, and access to climate information positively impact the implementation of ex-post strategies, whereas age, agroecology, infrequent extension worker visits, and limited road access have negative effects. Enhancing access to climate information, institutional support, and design policy with an understanding of these multifaceted contexts could substantially improve smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.cliser.2024.100509
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