Farmers’ adaptation to climate change and crop yield: a case of Amuru and Apac districts of Northern Uganda

Abstract

With increasing incidences of the negative impacts of climate change to smallholder farming, an understanding of the effects of farmers’ adaptation options to climate change on crop yield is critical in designing practical measures and policies for increasing food production and food security. This study assessed the effects of smallholder farmers climate change adaptation intensity on crop yield with focus on maize, groundnuts and beans in Apac and Amuru districts, northern Uganda. Cross-sectional survey design was employed for data collection. Data were analysed using both descriptive and econometric approaches. Results showed that the most common climate change adaptation strategies used by smallholders related to varietal adjustments including planting different crop varieties each time, drought-resistant varieties, early maturing varieties, improved seeds and changing the time of planting. Yield comparisons between adapters and non-adapters for the three major crops showed that adapters realized significantly higher yields than non-adapters for most of the climate change adaptation strategies. This study suggests that farmers who used more adaptation strategies realized higher yields than the non-adapters. Our findings call for increased efforts by stakeholders to strengthen agricultural extension services and coverage to enhance smallholder farmers capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Keywords

• adaptation capacity
• adaptation intensity
• adapters
• non-adapters
• varietal adjustments