Socio-Economic Impacts of Climate Change Management on Rice Production Farmers in Bugarama Wetland, Rwanda
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Date
2021
Authors
Nyirandorimana, Esther
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Rice production is mainly carried out in wetlands, and which are a major source of livelihood for many people practicing farming globally, Africa and specifically in Rwanda. Presently, there is limited literature on the impacts of climate change on rice production in wetlands. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the socio-economic factors that determine the effects of climate change on rice production and consequently how level of farmers‟ perceptions and awareness determined their choice of adaptations strategies. Specifically, the study analyzed climate trend of Bugarama from 1981-2017, assessed the extent of awareness among rice farmers about climate change, identify the climate-change adaptation strategies adopted by rice farmers, and determined the factors that influence the adoption of adaptation strategies in rice production, finally the study calculated the marginal cost for farmers‟ rice production. The study was conducted in Bugarama Wetland, Rwanda and stratified sampling technique was employed. The Bugarama area was stratified into administrative villages and farmers were non-randomly chosen regardless of their scale of farming where the Rice agriculture production cooperative of 1600 farmers operating their agro-business with a sampling size calculated of 320 farmers; the Descriptive survey design was used in this study with quantitative and qualitative based on primary data; A stratified sampling technique was employed to systematically select farmers during data collection. Secondary data of temperature and precipitation were collected from Rwanda Meteorology Department. Climate data were analyzed in a modified Mann-Kendall trend test (mkttest), farmers‟ awareness and analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) in Likert scale, determinants of adaptation strategies among farmers were analyzed in Hackman step-two model and lastly margins were calculated from total revenue over total cost. The results showed that there were no significant statistical trends (p > 0.05) in the amount of rainfall during 1981-2017, though there was a small decrease in the amount of rainfall. Generally, there were increasing temperatures in Bugarama (p<0.05) during 1981-2017, the study realized that 38% and 34% of the farmers were aware and perceived climate change respectively in respect to 5 level of Likert scale. The results deduced that the level of education (p =0.019) extension access (p=0.001), market distance (p=0.002) and rice income (p < 0.001) had a high probability of influencing farmers‟ perceptions about climate change thus the need to adapt. Based on outcome model, results showed that extension access (p < 0.001), household size (p= 0.098), market distance (p= 0.047), rice income (p =0.032), farmers-to-farmers (p < 0.001) and effects of climate change on rice (p=0.038) had a greater probability of influencing farmer‟s choice of adaptation method used to improve rice yields. The results showed that farmers a profit margin 0.296. To conclude, the study found that access to informational facilities, rice income, influenced farmers‟ perceptions while extension access, rice income, market distance, farmers-to-farmers contact and effects of climate change on rice yield strongly had a probability of determining farmers‟ choice of adaptation. This study recommends that government and local administrators need to develop a strategy that would allow farmers to access information facilities about new technology to adapt climate change thus improves rice production yields.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Environmental Studies (Climate Change and Sustainability) in the school of Environmental Studies of Kenyatta University, October 2021
Keywords
Socio-Economic Impacts, Climate Change Management, Rice Production Farmers, Bugarama Wetland, Rwanda