African subsistence farmers’ perceptions on rainfall change trends and adaptation strategies on crop production in Tigray Region, North Ethiopia

Water is becoming the most pressing issues for global crop production and food supply and this poses risks on how to feed the rapidly growing global population. The issues of climate and its impacts are now a big challenges for famers that depend mainly on rainfall for crop production. With rainfall on the decrease in Tigray Region of Ethiopia, effective adaption strategies are needed to sustain agricultural production in the ever changing global climate. This study assessed the rainfall trends and how farmers perceive those changes in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Perception is very important to appropriately repond to changing climate . The study also examined the real contributions of adaptation strageies on agriculture productivity. In addition, the research used climate and surveyed data from 400 subsistence farmers to examine rainfall changes and its implications on crops production and farmers adaption strategies used to reduce impacts of climate change. Majority of farmers perceive that rainfall has decreased in the past three decads (1983-2014). Late start and early offset of rainfall had negative impacts on crop production and most of smallholders farmers used 12 adaptation strategies to adapt to the negative impacts of rainfall fluctuation on crop production. The multiple regression model revealed that the most effective adaption strategies in the crop sector were irrigation, planting date adjustment, use of drought tolerant and short gestation crop varieties. Farmers’ decisions on adaptation determines the growth potential of agricultural production in arid and semi-arid areas of the Africa continent. Agricultural production is under the risk of rainfall fluctuations and unprecedented climate changes and variability. More areas specific adapation research is needed to respond to specific adaptation needs and to effectively address the climate impacts. This study results can be used to tackle challenges related to climate change impact in other parts of the world which share the same climate conditions with Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Keywords. Adaptation, climate impacts, crops, Ethiopia, perception, rainfall, Tigray