CLIMATE VARIABILITY, IMPACTS ON MAIZE (Zea mays L.) YIELD, AND SMALL HOLDER FARMERS’ PERCEPTION AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN WEST BADAWACHO DISTRICT OF HADIYA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Climate variability affects crop productivity at both global and local scales, and adaptation of agricultural practices against this variability helps to translate perception of the farmers to decision-making process. This study was initiated to analyze climate variability, examine its effect on maize productivity, and assess perception and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers to climate variability in West Badawacho District. Climate and crop data from 2000-2019 were collected from the National Meteorology Agency of Ethiopia (NMA) and agriculture and natural resource development office of the district respectively. Data on farmers’ perception of climate variability and adaptation strategies used in the study area were collected from 147 household heads using focus group discussion, key informant interview and questionnaire. Inferential statics were used to check the relationship between climate variables and maize yield. Meteorological analyses of climate variability results, which demonstrated a statistically significant increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall in the study area. Also, the results of Correlation Coefficients indicated that duration of rainy season rainfall, max. Temperature and min. temperature had strong positive, moderate negative and weak positive relationship with maize yield (r = 0.79, - 0.2 and 0.013) respectively in the study area. It was also observed that 62.3 % of total variance of maize yield is explained jointly by rainy season rainfall total (R2 = 62.2%). The result shows that annual average min and max temperature increased by 0.21°C and 0.13°C per year respectively. Annual rainfall decreased by 0.63 mm per year with a coefficient of variation of 16.9%. The CV for Kiremt season and Belg season rainfall were 18.31% and 35.5% per decade respectively. Perception analysis indicated that most of the respondents perceived long-term variability in pattern of rainfall and temperature. Therefore, farmers have been undertaking different adaptation practices in the study area including: planting trees, soil and water conservation, mixed cropping, changing crop varieties and small scale irrigation. Therefore, farmers have been undertaking different adaptation practices in the study area including: planting trees, soil and water conservation, mixed cropping, changing crop varieties and small scale irrigation. I recommended that the Crops Research Institute of Ethiopia develop that heat resistant maize crop that can withstand the pressures of the climatic variations especially high temperatures and low rainfall.