WOMEN’S ADAPTATION STRATEGY TO CLIMATE VARIABILITY: THE CASE OF GEMECHIS DISTRICT, WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Climate variability is recognized as one of the greatest challenges of our world today. It is predicted to have adverse consequences on the world’s ecosystems, economies and societies. The severity of adverse effects varies across countries, regions, and socio-demographic groups due to differences in exposures, sensitivities and adaptive capacities. The thesis was conducted on Women’s Adaptation strategy to Climate Variability in Gemechis District, West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess major climate variability adaptation strategy of women. To achieve the objectives set, appropriate data was collected from three sample Kebeles, which were selected through purposive sampling method based on their agro-ecological conditions and 399 women headed households were selected from the three sample Kebeles. The study was used both qualitative and quantitative types of data that were generated from both primary and secondary sources of data through mixed research design. Primary data were collected through focus group discussion, household survey, key informant interview and field observation. Secondary data were collected from different research, journal articles, books and office records. The collected qualitative data were analyzed using content and discourse analyses whilst quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential analyses. To identify the factors influencing women’s decisions to adapt to climate change in the study area, multinomial logistics regression model and Chi square test were applied. The results of the multinomial logistic regression model showed that the decision to choose a certain adaptation strategy to climate variability depends on sex of the household head, age of the household head, family size, and education level of the household head, access to climate information and frequency of extension visits. For example, result of this study depicted that a one percent increase in the age level of women results in a 0.02% increase in the probability of adapting soil and water conservation, a 0.04% increase in afforestation, a 3.41% increase in short season varieties and a 0.1% increase in mixed farming. The results also showed that if woman farmer perceives there is a change in climate then her probability of adapting soil and water conservation increased by about 7.41%, short season varieties increases by about 1.76%, water harvesting increases by about 9.167% and mixed farming practices increases by about 6.31% as compared to all adaptation options. Based on the findings the following recommendations are forwarded: provision of climate information for farmers, provision of extension services, introduce new agricultural technologies and inputs, diversifying source of income and empowering women.