Sesame Production Climate Change Adaptation And Food Security In Western Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the country mainly vulnerable to climate change which has already posed grave threats tornagricultural production, food security and human wellbeing. The purpose of this study is to examinernsesame production, vulnerability, adaptation and food security relationship of smallholder farmers inrnWest Ethiopia. Specifically, it is to examine the determining factors of farmers’ decision to participate inrnsesame production; to explore adaptation options and identify factors impacting smallholders’ decisionrnin practicing adaptation to climate change measures; climate change; to examine the status andrndeterminants of food security of smallholder farmers’; to evaluate the impact of climate changernadaptation options sesame production and household food security. The research employed key informantrninterviews, focused group discussions and a survey of 400 sampled households to collect data from thernstudy area. Descriptive methods, index, and econometrics models were used to analyze the data.rnDescriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, chi-square, t-tests, and one way ANOVA were used.rnDouble-hurdel model (probit and truncated), rainfall satisfaction index, multinomial logit model,rnhousehold food insecurity access scale, binary logit model and two stage least square model werernemployed to examine the data. The result indicates that sesame production decision is significantlyrnconstrained by farmers’ resource endowment and market information. Smallholders with more education,rnland, food access and credit access are more likely to plant sesame. The study discloses that householdsrnexperienced higher exposure to climate change and variability. The result reveal that agronomicrnpractices, livelihood diversification, soil and water conservation and small-scale irrigation were the mainrnadaptation strategies to overcome the adverse of changing climate in the study area. It is also observedrnthat adopting agronomic practices is significantly and positively impacted by availability of earlyrnwarning system, social capital and number of crop failure experience; while market distance and farmrnsize negatively influenced it. Soil and water conservation practices are influenced positively by farm size,rnmarket distance and existence of early warning systems. Further, access to credit, social capital, andrneducational status of household heads positively affected adoption of small-scale irrigation. The resultsrnrevealed that 65.8% of sampled households are food secure, while the remaining is not. The results showsrnthe effectiveness of climate adaptation strategies namely agronomic practices, small-scale irrigation andrnsoil and water conservation in reducing climatic hazards and ensuring household food security.rnAdditionally, land holding, family size and livestock ownership are significant factors influencingrnhousehold food security. The study further indicates that adoption of soil and water conservation,rnlivelihood diversification and employing different agronomic practices has significant impact on the levelrnof sesame production. The result also implicitly indicated that farmers continued to adapt sesamernproduction under changing climate and it contributes to farmers’ food security enhancement. The resultrnimply programs that endorse farmers’ access to credit, alternative income earning sources, andrnestablishing updated sesame market price information flow and appropriate selling channels would be ofrnparamount importance in improving and shifting rural farming in to market-oriented and export potentialrnhigh value crops like sesame. The study further suggests the importance of developing resilience-buildingrnclimate change adaptation strategies. Accordingly, a policy that promotes the adoption of agronomicrnpractices, livelihood diversification, soil and water conservation and small-scale irrigation practicesrnshould be essential in food security program and improvement of sesame production in the study area.rnMoreover, in order to enhance the role of adoption of adaptation options in reducing the impact ofrnchanging climate the policy should give emphasis for: creating effective early warning system andrnefficient micro-finance institutions, improving infrastructures and increasing farmers’ climate adaptationrnawareness and stand by.

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