Speakers - AFHWC2025

Abstract

This study examines the socioeconomic, institutional, and demographic factors that impact the farmers' adoption of adaptation and mitigation strategies, in addition to important behavioral traits like risk preference, time preference, and climate change risk perception. A three-stage stratified random sampling technique was used along with a suitable statistical procedure to choose 385 respondents from four districts that are prone to drought. The result shows that different livelihood systems use different adaptation and mitigation strategies. Climate-smart crop varieties, livelihood diversification, soil and water conservation, and crop diversification were all adopted by agrarian households. Pastoralist and Agro-Pastoralist (PAP) households, on the other hand, depended on mobility, water harvesting, diversification of livelihoods, and the production and management of fodder. Drivers of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies were analyzed using the Multivariate Probit model (MVP). The MVP model's positive pairwise correlation matrix shows that the farmers' mitigation and adaptation strategies show complementarity. The results also show that access to climate-related information, education, farming experience, and livestock ownership were enabling factors. The behavioral characteristics of risk preference, time preference, and perception of climate change risk significantly influence the adoption of adaptation and mitigation measures. Future-focused, risk-averse households that perceived climate risk were more likely to adopt sustainable practices. Smallholder farmers employed a variety of indigenous coping strategies in response to climate change, including Busa Gonofa, the most popular one among the Borena people. The study suggests that to help vulnerable rural communities become more resilient, climate adaptation policies should include behavioral insights, climate-related information, and rural education.