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Over the coming decades, global change will have an impact on food and water security in significant and highly uncertain ways, and there are strong indications that developing countries will bear the brunt of the adverse consequences, particularly from climate change. This is largely because poverty levels are high, and developing-country capacity to adapt to global change is weak. Furthermore, the rural populations of developing countries—for whom agricultural production is the primary...

This paper analyzes the vulnerability of South African farmers to climate change and variability by developing a vulnerability index and comparing vulnerability indicators across the nine provinces of the country. Nineteen environmental and socio-economic indicators are identified to reflect the three components of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The results of the study show that the regions most vulnerable to exposure to extreme events and climate change and...

In southern Africa, by the middle of the 21st century climate change is expected to cause temperature increases of 1–3°C, broad summer rainfall reductions of 5–10 percent, and an increase in the incidence of both droughts and floods. Consequently, climate change has significant potential to negatively affect crop production in South Africa, and in turn the well-being of the country’s farmers. This brief is based on a study that examines the level of vulnerability to climate change in...

In southern Africa, by the middle of the 21st century climate change is expected to cause temperature increases of 1–3°C, broad summer rainfall reductions of 5–10 percent, and an increase in the incidence of both droughts and floods. Consequently, climate change has significant potential to negatively affect crop production in South Africa, and in turn the well-being of the country’s farmers. This brief is based on a study that examines the level of vulnerability to climate change in...

Ethiopia is susceptible to frequent climate extremes such as disastrous droughts and floods. These disastrous climatic events, which have caused significant adverse effects on the country’s economy and society, are expected to become more pronounced in the future under climate change. To identify the potential threat of climate change to the Ethiopian economy, this study analyzes three major factors that are changing under global warming: water availability under higher temperatures and...

Two factors critical to assuring food security, whether at the local or the global level, are increasing crop productivity and increasing access to sustainable water supplies. These factors are also vital to the economic success of agriculture, which is particu­larly important in Ethiopia given that the sector accounts for about 41 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), produces 80 percent of its exports, employs 80 percent of the labor force, and is a major source of income and subsistence for the nation’s poor.

Two factors critical to assuring food security, whether at the local or the global level, are increasing crop productivity and increasing access to sustainable water supplies. These factors are also vital to the economic success of agriculture, which is particu­larly important in Ethiopia given that the sector accounts for about 41 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), produces 80 percent of its exports, employs 80 percent of the labor force, and is a major source of income and subsistence for the nation’s poor.

SUMMARY The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings. Factors significantly affecting adaptation to...

SUMMARY The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings. Factors significantly affecting adaptation to...

SUMMARY The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings. Factors significantly affecting adaptation to...

SUMMARY The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings. Factors significantly affecting adaptation to...

SUMMARY The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings. Factors significantly affecting adaptation to...

SUMMARY The present study employed the Heckman sample selection model to analyse the two- step process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmers' perception that climate is changing prior to responding to changes through adaptation. Farmers' perception of climate change was significantly related to the age of the head of the household, wealth, knowledge of climate change, social capital and agro-ecological settings. Factors significantly affecting adaptation to...

This study analyzes the vulnerability of Ethiopian farmers to climate change based on the integrated vulnerability assessment approach using vulnerability indicators. The vulnerability indicators consist of the different socioeconomic and biophysical attributes of Ethiopia's seven agriculture-based regional states. The different socioeconomic and biophysical indicators of each region collected have been classified into three classes, based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's...

Ethiopia remains one of the least-developed countries in the world: 50 percent of the population lives in abject poverty, and average life expectancy is only 43 years. Agriculture-the main sector of the Ethiopian economy-employs about 80 percent of the population and is dominated by small-scale, mixed crop and livestock production with very low productivity, which can be attributed to obsolete farming techniques; soil degradation caused by overgrazing and deforestation; poor complementary...

Maize is the primary food staple in southern Africa, and 50 percent of the total maize output in the area is produced in South Africa, where maize constitutes approximately 70 percent of grain production and covers 60 percent of the country's cropping area. Climate change could have a significant impact on South African maize production. The scientific community has established that the temperature in South Africa increased significantly between 1960 and 2003 (by 0.13 degrees Celsius), and...

agricultural sector, which is dominated by smallscale, mixed crop, and livestock farming, is the mainstay of the country’s economy. It constitutes more than half the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), generates more than 85 percent of the foreign exchange earnings, and employs about 80 percent of the population. Ethiopia’s dependence on agriculture makes the country particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change on crop and livestock production. This brief is...