Browsing by Author "Kihupi, Mary L"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies to Impact of Climate Change in Semi-arid Areas of Iringa District Tanzania
(International Institute for Science, Technology & Education (IISTE), 2015) Kihupi, Mary L; Mahonge, Christopher; Chingonikaya, Emmanuel E.
The current climate is already marginal with respect to precipitation in many parts of Africa, especially in semiarid areas. Impact of climate change will bring substantial losses especially to smallholder farmers whose main source of livelihood derives from agriculture. Such impacts can be significantly reduced through adaptation. Given the high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and prevailing drought condition of semi-arid areas of Iringa district, the area may be quite vulnerable to the current and future climatic changes. The frequency supply of food relief from the Tanzania government to smallholder farmers in Ismani, emphasizes its vulnerability to climate changes. Therefore, this study determined adaptation measures carried out in semi-arid areas of Iringa District Ismani and Pawaga Divisions in particular. The research design was cross sectional. A multistage sampling procedure was applied in selecting divisions, wards, villages and households. Ismani and Pawaga divisions were purposeful selected basing on their climatic condition. A total of 240 respondents were selected randomly from eight villages. Data were collected through household survey, key informant interview, observation and focus group discussion methods. Quantitative data analysis was done using SPSS whereby descriptive statistics were computed. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that smallholder farmers in Pawaga and Ismani divisions were adapting to impact of climate change through irrigation, crop diversification, planting early maturing maize varieties, planting drought resistant crops, changing of planting dates, and agriculture diversification and non-farm activities. It can be concluded that the smallholder farmers in both divisions used various adaption strategies against climate change impact. However, the farmers in the two divisions still face the impact of climate change in their livelihoods. Based on the conclusion made in this study, there are required efforts from various stakeholders including government to improve the adaptation strategies to be appropriate and effective.
Smallholder Farmers’ Perception of Climate Change Versus Meteorological Data in Semi-arid Areas of Iringa District, Tanzania
(2015) Kihupi, Mary L; Chingonikaya, Emmanuel E; Mahonge, Chritopher
The ongoing changes in global climate threaten the sources of livelihood, especially among smallholder farmers in poor parts of the world. Smallholder farmers need to recognize the changes in climate already taking place in their areas and undertake appropriate investments towards adaptation. The coping and adaptation strategies of the farmers are linked to a very large extent with their perception on climate change and its impacts. The main objective of this study is to examine smallholder farmers’ perception of climate change vis-á-vis meteorological data. Specifically this paper answers the following research questions: how smallholder farmers perceive climate change, what are the meteorological data of the study area, and how meteorological data link with smallholder farmers’ perception to climate change. The study was carried out in semi-arid areas of Iringa District. The research design was cross sectional. A multistage sampling procedure was applied to select divisions, wards, villages and households. Ismani and Pawaga Divisions of Iringa District were purposefully selected based on their climatic conditions. A total of 240 respondents were drawn randomly from eight villages. Data were collected through household survey, key informant interviews, observation and focus group discussions methods. Meteorological data were collected from Tanzania Meteorological Agency. Quantitative data were analyzed through SPSS and qualitative data through content analysis. Instant Statistical Packages for Agro-climatological data was used in analyzing the 54 years meteorological data of Nduli meteorological station in Iringa District. The findings revealed that smallholder farmers perceived climate change in terms of change in temperature, changes in rainfall, increase in drought condition and increase in malaria and crop pests and diseases. Change in rainfall pattern, temperature pattern and occurrence of pests and diseases had significant impact on smallholder farmers’ households whose livelihood depends on rain fed farming. Therefore smallholder farmers need to adapt to the changing climate. It is recommended that there is need for development of appropriate adaptation strategies to climate change of which smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas of Iringa District perceived. This can be achieved by helping smallholder farmers use their local knowledge in combination with introduced innovations to enhance adaptation to the impact of climate change