Small holder farmers’ perceptions and adaptation on climate change: The case of Ward 6 Chipinge district.

Abstract

Agricultural production in Chipinge is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The study focused on understanding farmers‟ perceptions on climate variability and change and linking it to different strategies adopted by farmers to deal with it. Farmers perceived a change in the general climate, decrease in annual rainfall, and also temperature increase. It was found that this concur with meteorological data. Different crop varieties that mature early and drought resistant, staggering planting dates, storing water in big tanks or filling pits, planting more than one crop, and livestock ownership were the commonly preferred adaptation strategies to deal with climate variability. With this, it is plausible to conclude that perceptions cause farmers to adopt strategies to cope with climate variability, and among them are integration of nutrient and time management, increased farmer access to timely weather information, particularly with the starting of rains, which all are very critical in enhancing adaptive capacity to increased climate variability and change.