Press release from Environmental Economics Policy Forum for Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2012-07-09
In the urgency of the issue of climate change,
adaptation remains the short-term conducive solution available to African farm
households, usually characterized by small-scale subsistence farming dependent
on weather conditions and hence extremely vulnerable to climate change. The
question then becomes what factors should be enhanced to make adaptation a
reality and which strategies are best fitting for farm households in Ethiopia? Prof.
Salvatore Di Falco, from London School of Economics, together with his co-authors, reveal their research
findings based on a survey conducted on about 1000 farm households in the Nile Basin
of Ethiopia, an area marked by severe food insecurity.
In their research Prof. Di Falco and his colleagues identify
the driving forces behind farm households’ decision to adapt to climate change
as access to credit and information provision. “Developing credit markets allow
farm households to make important investments that can support food productivity such as soil and water conservations
strategies” claims Prof. Di Falco,
“Information on climate change and extension services also play an important
role in determining farm households’ decision to adapt.”
The results indicate that
adaptation to climate change increases food productivity. In this specific
case, however, the group of farm households that did adapt has systematically
different characteristics than the group of farm households that did not adapt
making them capable of being more productive than the non-adapters. “Even if
the adapters did not adapt,” claims Prof. Di Falco, “these unobserved skills
and characteristics contribute to the productivity of these households leading
to the conclusion that while both groups of farm households would benefit from
the implementation of adaptation strategies, the farm households that did not
adapt would benefit the most from adaptation”. According to this research adaptation
strategies seem to be particularly important for the most vulnerable farm
households, meaning those who have already the least capability to produce
food, by helping them to close the productivity gap.
In addition, the choice of what adaptation
strategy to implement is crucial to support farm revenues. Farm households in
the Nile Basin try to cope by either switching crops or adopting water and soil
conservation strategies. Identifying the best adaptation strategies are context-
dependent implying what might work for a certain area [or even a certain
household] might not necessarily work for another. For instance, in this case the impact of switching crops is higher when
it is coupled with water conservation strategies than soil conservation
measure. “Similarly practicing all the strategies at the same time does
not necessarily secure the highest productivity,” says Prof. Di Falco “but it
all falls on identifying the optimal portfolio and applying it”.
If there is one thing policy
makers should know when trying to alleviate the problem of climate change via effective
adaptation strategies, they should give priority to most vulnerable households
and help them identify and implement the best portfolio possible. Also they
should bear in mind that, information and extension services coupled with
access to credit markets are important drivers of farmers’ decision to adapt to
climate change.
Time and place for public presentation:
09:00am on Monday
9 July 2012 in Jupiter International Hotel, Cazanchis area, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia.
Titles of the research:
Di
Falco, Salvatore, Marcella Veronesi and Mahmud Yesuf, 2011, "Does
Adaptation To Climate Change Provide Food Security? A Micro-Perspective From
Ethiopia", American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 93(3), 829-846, 7
March 2011.
Di
Falco, Salvatore, and Marcella Veronesi, 2012, "How African Agriculture
Can Adapt to Climate Change? A Counterfactual Analysis from Ethiopia",
Working Paper Series 14, Department of Economics University of Verona
More information:
Contact Prof. Salvatore Di Falco, s.difalco@lse.ac.uk, (tel) +44 (0) 2078523778
Press officer:
Tsehay A.
Hailemichael, email tsehayata@gmail.com,
(tel) +251 (0) 11 553 86 32