Characterizing and tailoring climate change adaptation practices into a diversified agroecosystem: an evidence from smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

Smallholder farmers require viable adaptation strategies for addressing climate change. Climate change adaptation project might be maladapted unless it considers the local context. This paper argued challenges of agriculture in developing countries in general and Ethiopia in particular, are highly diversified, and thus any intervention requires embarrassing the specific agroecosystems. Cognizant of this fact, the research investigated locally viable climate change adaptation strategies (CCAS) specific to Rib watershed in Ethiopia by using agroecosystem analysis framework. The study used primary data collected from 383 randomly selected farm-households complemented with data collected with key-informant interviews and focus group discussions. The study area was characterized and mapped in two groups of agroecosystems: Fogera plain and Libo-Farta highlands. The finding portrayed that across agroecosystems, there were considerable differences in terms of productivity potential, inherit constraints, crop varieties, income level and soil type. The study found the blanket application of similar CCAS irrespective of the heterogeneities. Farmers in the plain land witnessed less income inequality that stood at a Gini coefficient of 38.3 as compared to the highlanders of 42.8. The study further identified prioritized CCAS for the respective agroecosystems. It is imperative to consider local diversities before any intervention efforts.