文章基本信息

标题：Perceptions and Response Actions of Smallholder Coffee Farmers to Climate Variability in Montane Ecosystems
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作者：Frank Mugagga
期刊名称：Environment and Ecology Research
印刷版ISSN：2331-625X
电子版ISSN：2331-6268
出版年度：2017
卷号：5
期号：5
页码：357-366
DOI：10.13189/eer.2017.050505
语种：English
出版社：Horizon Research Publishing
摘要：The study investigated the perceived impacts of climate variability, response actions, as well as the physical and socio-economic factors influencing adaptation to climate variability by smallholder coffee farmers in Kaato sub-county, Manafwa District, Eastern Uganda. Data was collected from 157 proportionately sampled households, using Open Data Kit (ODK) Software installed on handheld Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Tablets and analysed by using the SPSS (version 18) software to derive descriptive statistics, notably, frequencies and percentages as well chi square tests to establish relationships between variables. A severity scale (1-5) was used to establish farmers' perceptions about variations in selected weather elements (specifically rainfall, temperature, wind and droughts) over the last ten years; with responses triangulated with meteorological data from Buginyanya Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute. Farmers generally perceive rainfall and temperature to have moderately increased, while, winds and droughts were noted to have significantly increased over the period. Available meteorological data (2007-2009) depicted decreasing trends in annual rainfall receipts while temperature minimally varied. Such variations significantly affected coffee production (p=0.003) with early rainfall onsets perceived to cause early ripening of coffee berries, while short rainy seasons resulted into reduced yields. Longer dry seasons led to drying of coffee berries and ultimately reduced crop yield. The common response actions included agronomic practices such as, planting shade trees, pruning, replacement, planting drought-resistant varieties and application of organic fertilizers. Several socio-economic factors influence response actions with the most significant being access to climate change information (p= 0.029), level of education (p= 0.029), access to credit (p= 0.019). The study recommends enhancement of adaptive capacity of the coffee farmers through provision of timely and accurate weather forecasts. Smallholder coffee farmers also need to organize themselves into farmer groups/cooperatives that will uplift their marketing and negotiation power to access credit. However, this will require concerted and collective efforts by all stakeholders including the technical personnel, local political leadership as well as the farmers themselves.
关键词：Climate Variability; Manafwa District; Perceptions; Response Actions; Smallholder Farmers