Africa Adapts

Sub-Saharan Africa is considered to be especially vulnerable to the affects of climate change, with the indigenous tribes of this region being particularly defenseless.  The complete dependence on agricultural production, limited adaptive capacity and comparatively poor health outcomes exhibited here place these communities at the greatest risk.

A paper by Schlenker and Lobell, 2010 suggests that staple crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, groundnut and cassava are expected to decrease in yield by somewhere between 8% and 22% by 2050 if the median temperature of Africa rises between the expected amount of 3°C to 4°C!  These consequences are somewhat exacerbated in countries such as Kenya, where the poverty rate is at a staggering 52% and 73% of the labor force relies on agricultural production for their livelihood.

On national scales strategies such as irrigation systems, disaster relief, insurance and cohesive policies to reduce livelihood risks should be adopted.  However, considering the current political instability of Africa, relying on near future implementation of policies such as these would not be wise. Adjustments at the farm household and community scale is a more reasonable and achievable approach, where significant improvements can be made in order to help communities to adapt to climate change.

Actual perception of climate change within these communities may be a much larger factor than previously thought.  Do farmers think it necessary to adapt? The behavior of farmers’ depends more on their perceptions of climate change and climate risk, rather than climate patterns as measured by scientific methods.

A household survey conducted in 2011 indicated that that farmers adopted a range of practices in response to perceived climate change. The most common responses included changing crop variety (33 %), changing planting dates (20 %), and changing crop type (18 %). Other responses included planting trees (9 %), decreasing the number of livestock (7 %), diversifying, changing, or supplementing livestock feeds (7 %), changing fertilizer application (7 %), and soil and water conservation practices (5 %).

This Report looks into how other indigenous communities are adopting strategies for adaptation in the face of climate change, with a focus on Namibia. 

 Sources-

E. Bryan, C. Ringler, B. Okoba, C. Roncoli, S. Silvestri, M. Herrero, 2012, Adapting agriculture to climate change in Kenya: Household strategies and determinants.

Little, P.D., McPeak, J., Barrett, C., Kristjanson, P., 2008. Challenging orthodoxies: understanding pastoral poverty in East Africa. Development and Change.

Maddison, D., 2007. The Perception of and Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa. .

Nhemachena, C., Hassan, R., 2008. Determinants of African farmers’ strategies for adapting to climate change: multinomial choice analysis. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Di Falco, S., & Veronesi, M. (2013). How Can African Agriculture Adapt to Climate Change? A Counterfactual Analysis from Ethiopia.

Kristjanson, P., Mango, N., Krishna, A., Radeny, M., Johnson, N., 2009. Understanding poverty dynamics in Kenya. Journal of International Development 22 (7), 978e 996.