Everyday adaptation practices by coffee farmers in three mountain regions in Africa

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

article

Aida Cuni-Sanchez¹  Isaac Twinomuhangi³  Abreham Berta Aneseyee⁴  Ben Mwangi⁵  Lydia Olaka⁶  Robert Bitariho³  Teshome Soromessa⁷  Brianna Castro⁸  Noelia Zafra-Calvo⁹ 

[1] Department of International Environment and Development Studies ,(Noragric), Faculty of Landscape and Society, Norwegian University of Life Sciences;Department of Environment and Geography, York Institute of Tropical Ecosystems, University of York;Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation, Mbarara University of Science and Technology;Department of Natural Resource Management, Wolkite University;Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi;Department of Geoscience and Environment, Technical University of Kenya;College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University;Department of Sociology, Harvard University;BC3-Basque Centre for Climate Change, Scientific Campus of the University of the Basque Country

关键词: adaptation;    Africa;    climate change;    mountain regions;    subsistence farmers;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-13622-270432

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

Mountain environments in East Africa experience more rapid increases in temperature than lower elevations, which, together with changing rainfall patterns, often negatively affect coffee production. However, little is known about the adaptation strategies used by smallholder coffee farmers in Africa. Using the lens of everyday adaptation, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 450 smallholder farmers living near the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia (n = 150), Mount Kenya in Kenya (n = 150), and Kigezi Highlands in Uganda (n = 150). We report similarities in adaptation strategies used (e.g., increased use of improved seeds, inputs, soil-conservation techniques) but also differences across and within regions (e.g., irrigation, coffee-farming abandonment), related to different biophysical, economic, and sociocultural factors. In all regions, access to land, funds, and limited mutual-learning opportunities between farmers and other agents of change constrained further adaptation options. Local people have capacity and means to determine how best they can adapt to climate change, and government agencies and NGOs could implement more participatory engagement with smallholder coffee farmers, attuned to the opportunities and constraints in everyday life to facilitate adaptation to predicted changes in climate.

【 授权许可】

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