Smallholder farmers' perception and coping mechanisms towards climate change

Agriculture is the foundation of the Ethiopian economy, but the productivity and competitiveness of this sector are increasingly constrained by the temporal and spatial variability of climate change. Thus, this study was carried out to assess smallholder farmers' perceptions and coping mechanisms toward climate change in mixed farming systems in selected districts of Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Data were collected from 150 sample smallholder farmers through a questionnaire, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. The survey results showed that households differ in terms of perceiving and coping capability with climate change. In this regard, about 21.4% noticed climate change, 62.3% felt a decline in the amount of rainfall, 56.2% stated late onset of rain, and 17.5% showed early cessation of rainfall. Subsequently, to cope with the impacts of climate change some farmers use crop diversification, planting early maturing varieties, livestock sales, and changing planting dates. In general, there is a perceptive gap between farmers about climate change, and the coping mechanisms were not effectively implemented in the study area. Therefore, farmers and other stakeholders should contain the adverse effects of climate change, and enable the community to exercise effective coping practices.