Adaptation to Climate Variability by Small-Scale Farmers in Jubek State, South Sudan
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Date
2024-02
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Agriculture provides nearly 80% of the world’s population livelihoods. This is heavily affected by climate variability. Climate variability affects agricultural production due to association with drought and floods. This effect had significant influence in South Sudan where nearly 83% of population relies on rain-fed agriculture. Hence, this has led to decline in about of 30-50% on staple crop production. Jubek State was selected for the study due to majority of the farmers’ dependency on rain-fed agriculture and over stayed there for more than eight years. Therefore, the current research aimed to examine farmers’ perception and level of awareness on the crop yield, analyze how socio-economic factors influence adaptation strategies to climate variability and evaluate suitable adaptation strategies against climate variability in Jubek State of South Sudan. The sample size was determined by Yamane formula to be 399. The study used simple random and stratified sampling, purposive sampling and multi-stage sampling procedures. Closed and open-ended questionnaires, interviews, field observations and taking notes. Secondary data and related information were obtained and reviewed from electronic depositories, libraries and institutional offices. The study adopted qualitative and quantitative analyses and the results were presented in tables and graphs. Test for significance was set at p≤0.05 for all hypotheses. The results on farmers perception and awareness showed that there was a reliable consistency of Cronbach’s Alpha (α)=0.63 with the six issues that were scrutinized and most of the farmers were aware with a weighing means scale ranging from 3.00-4.00. The descriptive statistics of socio-economic factors showed that 79% of male households head were using climate adaptation methods and females 21% only. Crop farming was the main farming practiced by the community with 47.6% total compared to pastoral farming 30.4% and mixed farming 22.0%. The majority of married households with 87.7% were using climate adaptation method compared to singles/widows with 68.8%. The majority of farmers with 57.5% work on their own farms while 42.5% had some alternatives. In the descriptive statistics of adoption to climate adaptation strategy, majority of respondents 68.8% used improved seeds as an adaptation method while 31.2% not. The study further established that, choice of farmers’ adaptive capacity to climatic variability and farmers’ socio-economic factors such gender, marital status, code of employment, size of the household and size of the farm were significantly affecting choice of adaptation to adopt p< 0.05. The study analysis deduced that climate was changing and would require adaptive methods to combat. The study recommended that; South Sudan Government should deploy more agricultural extension officers to create more awareness on climate information and to focus on awareness creation of farmers on better production techniques and climate change adaptation strategies. Also, the National Government and NGOs to promote crop insurance to farmers who are affected with floods to adapt to prone areas and establish more extension service centers for practicing good agricultural activities to increase productivity.
Description
A Research 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 Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Kenyatta University February, 2024
Supervisors:
1. James Koske
2. Gladys Gathuru