ASSESSING PARTICIPATION IN AND IMPACTS OF ADAPTATION PRACTICE TO CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPLICATION FOR FOOD SECURITY IN MISHA DISTRICT OF HADIYA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Climate change has serious consequences for food production of smallholder farmers in poor countries including Ethiopia. Farmers exercise various adaptation strategies to counter the negative impacts of climate change, but the level of participation and impact of adoption of adaptation practices against climate change on food security has not been the focus of scientific studies. Therefore, the obj ective of this study was to assess farmers’ participation in climate change adaptation practices and its implication for food security in Misha district of Hadiya zone, South Ethiopia. Data on farmers’ perception of climate change and participation in adap tation practices employed in the study area were collected from a total of 346 household heads through household survey. Additionally, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and personal observations were employed to supplement data gathered through survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The major findings of the study indicate that 83% of the adaptors and 44% of non adaptors of climate change adaptation practices were found to be food secure, while 17% of adaptors and 56% non adaptors were food insecure. Perception analysis indicated that 82% and 76.8% of the respondents strongly agree in the existence of climate change with its attributes, temperature and rainfall, respectively. The results indicated that increase in temperature and reduction in rainfall had major effect on food security in study area. The study found that 92.5%, 88%, 86% and 85% of the farmers in the study area participated in afforestation, soil water conservation, crop diversification and reforestation to reduce climate change impacts in the area respectively. The results indicate that an adaptation practices are among the viable solutions to secure household food needs and diversify their diet composition in the study area. Finally, stakeholders should collaborate to improve farmers’ awareness of climate change adaptation practices, while better adaptation technologies should be introduced to enhance farmers’ resilience to climate change and improve food security in the study area.