Farm level adaptation strategies to climate change among coffee farmers in Northern Uganda: A multivariate probit approach

Abstract

Climate change continues to pose a significant threat to human and animal lives. This is evident in the decline in agricultural productivity, which is attributed to drought and extreme temperatures, resulting in increased food prices across the globe. The adoption of climate change adaptation strategies can reduce the negative effects of climate change. However, there are limited studies on the types of adaptation strategies adopted by coffee farmers and their determinants in Northern Uganda. This study assessed the types of farmers' adaptive strategies as well as the determinants offarmers' adaptation strategies to the effects of climate change in Northern Uganda. Data were collected from 202 smallholder coffee farmers using a multistage sampling by administering a well-developed semi-structured questionnaire. Multivariate Pro bit model was used for the regression analysis. The results showed that agroforestry, cover crops, mulching and crop rotation were the most adopted strategies, while in organic fertilizer and organic fertilizer were adopted by a few farmers. The results of the econometric analysis showed that socio-economic factors such as gender, age, educa-tion, farming scale, household size, farming experience, extension visits, group mem-bership, access to climate change adaptation training, market linkages and market distance had significant effects on the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among the farmers. Farmers need to be trained on climate change adaptation strate-gies while also supporting them through farm inputs. Group membership and partici-pation should be promoted among farmers. Subsidizing farm inputs such as inorganic fertilizers can also result in a high adoption rate.