Assessment of economic impacts of climate change on livestock and crop returns in the coastal region of Kenya

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Date
2017-09
Authors
Wachira, Phyllis Wambui
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Abstract
The overall objective of this study was to assess the economic impacts of climate change on agriculture in Kenya’s coastal region. To achieve this, specific objectives were used: to assess which impact climate change has on crop net revenue; to evaluate the impact of climate change on livestock net revenue; and to estimate the impact of climate change on combined net revenue. The study was conducted in all the six counties in the coastal Kenya: Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Lamu, Tana River and Taita Taveta. A total of 631 respondents were interviewed to obtain the cross-sectional survey data. The secondary data on temperature, precipitation and evaporation for 40 years was obtained from Kenya Meteorological Department. Using the Ricardian model to analyze the data, both the linear and quadratic effects of change of climate on crops, livestock net revenue and the combination were calculated. Results from the study show that climate change significantly (p<0.05) affects net revenues from crops, livestock and a combination of both livestock and crops. The other socioeconomic variable that were found to also significantly (p<0.05) affect net revenue from crops, livestock and a combination of crops and livestock were, access to media, credit services access, farmer to farmer extension services, size of land owned, climate change awareness, education level, age and gender of household head. According to the results, a nonlinear relationship exists between climate variables and net revenues from crop, livestock and agriculture as a whole. This study concludes that a unit increase in precipitation increases crop revenues while a unit increase in mean annual temperature significantly reduces crop and total farm income. Marginal effect of a unit increase in precipitation is a reduction of livestock net revenue. An increase in livestock production revenue from a unit increase of temperature (linear) can be attributed to the livestock breeds in Coastal region that are inherent to dry weather. However, results show that an increase in quadratic temperature would reduce livestock net revenue. This study recommends enhancement of awareness on climate change and adaptation strategies for crop, livestock and combined agriculture. Also important is the access of credit facilities. This can greatly help farmers to acquire the necessary inputs in time for crop production. Further, training of groups of farmers would be appropriate in the study area since the trained farmers are likely to transfer the learned technologies to others through farmer-to-farmer extension services. Access to media should be enhanced whereby information on appropriate livestock and crop production technologies may be communicated to farmers
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A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of master of environmental science of Kenyatta University Nairobi (Kenya)
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