Article Published In Vol.3 (May-June-2015)

Role of Rural Institutions in Determining Farmers Adaptation to Climate Change: The case of Kilte-Awlaelo District, Northern Ethiopia

Author : Temesgen Bezabh, Tewodros Tadesse, Henok Shiferaw and Amdom Gebremedhin

Adaptation to climate change (ACC) is a serious challenge to farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia. The efforts towards ensuring ACC are highly local, and their effectiveness depends on local institutions. Studying the role of rural institutions in determining households’ ACC is vital to developing countries like Ethiopia, where role of rural institutions are seldom recognized in official adaptation strategies. In this study, household data were collected from Kilte-Awlaelo district in order to identify and analyze the relationship among choice of adaptation strategies, household features and rural institutions. Principal component analysis and Multinomial Logit models were used for analysis. Multinomial Logit result showed that education, land size, access to irrigation, farm income, livestock ownership, access to credit were factors that significantly affected farmers’ choice of major adaptation strategy at P<0.10. Principal component index of role of rural institutions positively affected the choice of crop diversification and food storage at P<0.10 and P<0.05 respectively; while negatively affected the choice of shifting planting date as major adaptation at P<0.10. Rural institutions were found to be crucial in shaping households’ adaptation efforts. Therefore, enhancing the financial and technical capacity of rural institutions could amplify their role in facilitating ACC at household level.

Keywords: Major Adaptation Strategy, Rural Institutions, Multinomial Logit, Principal Component Analysis, Index.