Dissertations

Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices and their Impact on Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience to Climate Change: The case of Gubalafto Woreda, Ethiopia

2026-09-04T07:31:07Z

Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices and their Impact on Smallholder Farmers’ Resilience to Climate Change: The case of Gubalafto Woreda, Ethiopia sete, Melkamu Ethiopia, including the study area, is highly affected by drought, floods, erratic rainfall, and land degradation, which reduce agricultural productivity, threaten food security, and weaken rural livelihoods. As a result, many households continue to experience low resilience capacity and food insecurity. However, previous studies have provided limited evidence on resilience dimensions, the intensity of climate-smart agriculture adoption, and the synergies and tradeoffs among different climate-smart agriculture practices. Thus, this study aims to assess climate-smart agriculture practices and their impacts on smallholder farmers‘ resilience and food security in Gubalafto Woreda, Ethiopia. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design using a mixed-methods approach. Primary data were collected from 355 farm households and supplemented by 3 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews. The data were analyzed using principal component analysis, the food consumption score, the multidimensional food security index, the multivariate probit model, and the multinomial endogenous switching regression model. The top 5 climate-smart agriculture practices adopted by households were chemical fertilizers (50%), improved crop varieties (33%), small-scale irrigation systems (27%), agrochemicals (23%), and compost (22%). Conversely, about 30% of households did not adopt any top climate-smart agriculture practice. About 44% of the households were found to have a low resilience capacity index. Lowland households demonstrated a higher average resilience score than did midland and highland households, with p values of P<0.01. About 10.42% of households were classified as food secure, 60.28% as mildly food insecure, 23.1% as moderately food insecure, and 6.2% as severely food insecure. The partial, multiple, and full climate-smart agriculture adopters improved their resilience capacity by 7.4%, 12%, and 17%, respectively. Multiple- and full-package climate-smart agriculture practices were associated with 12.3% and 34.7% greater food consumption scores (food secure), respectively, while partial, multiple, and full adopters were achieving higher quality scores of 9.7%, 16.9%, and 13.2%, respectively. In contrast, households adopting multiple and full practices had 7.3% and 10% lower quantity scores. Small-scale irrigation shows a strong synergistic effect on both food security and resilience (0.99). Compost also has strong synergy, contributing to both food security (0.72) and resilience (0.74). In contrast, agrochemicals show a moderate positive effect on food security (0.38) but create a trade-off by reducing resilience (0.19). In conclusion, despite the high levels of food insecurity and low resilience in the study area, the adoption of diverse combinations of climate-smart agriculture practices was found to improve the food security and resilience of rural households. Therefore, relevant institutions should prioritize investments in communication infrastructure, institutional support services, and social safety nets. Particular emphasis should be placed on highland and midland agroecological zones, where household resilience capacities are relatively low. In addition, stakeholders should promote the adoption of diverse climate-smart agriculture practices to strengthen household food security and resilience capacity.

Nvestigating Households’ Disaster Risk Management Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices: in the Case of Fogera, Ebenat, and Estie Woredas of South Gondar Administrative Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

2026-09-04T07:23:21Z

Nvestigating Households’ Disaster Risk Management Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices: in the Case of Fogera, Ebenat, and Estie Woredas of South Gondar Administrative Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia Alemu, Temesgen The increasing impact of disasters, juxtaposed with significant advancements in the field of disaster risk management, reveals a troubling paradox. This discrepancy is largely attributed to a lack of disaster knowledge, flawed conceptualization and perception of risk management, and limited community participation in disaster risk management practices. This mixed-method study examines the disaster risk management Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of households in the Fogera, Ebenat, and Estie woredas. Explanatory approach was employed using cross-sectional quantitative design followed by qualitative methods to organize and analyze data from a total of 653 respondents. Descriptive statistics revealed that 77% of households possess low levels of knowledge. While 53% exhibited constructive attitudes, only 33% actively participated in risk management practices. Knowledge, attitude, and practices were notably lower in rural kebeles with high prevalence of hazards. Inferential statistical analysis indicated significant level of differences (p < 0.05 at 95% CI) in disaster knowledge and practices across kebeles (K-p = 0.001, P-p = 0.001), woredas (Kp = 0.03, P-p = 0.001), and economic strata (K-p = 0.0001, P-p = 0.004). Attitudes also differed significantly across kebeles (p = 0.0237), age groups (p = 0.0001), education levels (p = 0.0016), and exposure to indigenous risk management practices (p = 0.00001). Using qualitative analysis, eight socio-demographic and contextual factors were identified in addition to the strengths, limitations, roles and responsibilities of households in risk management activities. Statistically significant level of differences was found within all the factors and the combined knowledge, attitude and practices of households (p = 0.001). However, sex (f (3, 347.0) = 1.23, p = 0.29), religion (f (2, 694) = 1.65, p = 0.12), economic status (f (4, 918.4) = 1.5, p = 0.11), awareness of vulnerability (f (2, 694) = 0.84, p = 0.53), and indigenous practices (f (2, 694) = 1.75, p = 0.10) were not individually different. Even though households have shown a constructive attitude, they have very low levels of disaster knowledge and practice. This situation is highly evident in rural, and disaster affected areas with preparedness being a major concern. The results highlight an evident need to enhance disaster literacy through integrating in regional education curricula from grade levels and foster households’ active participation in disaster management activities. Households’ engagement should be supported by clearly defined roles, practical and scalable actions, which can positively shape attitudes and bridge existing gaps in risk management practices. Special attention must be directed toward enhancing disaster preparedness and creating accountability mechanisms among households with a focus on rural areas frequently exposed to hazards.

The Effectiveness of Conflict Early Warning Systems in Ethiopia: The Case of Ataye Town, North Shewa Administrative Zone, Amhara National Regional State

2026-09-04T07:15:29Z

The Effectiveness of Conflict Early Warning Systems in Ethiopia: The Case of Ataye Town, North Shewa Administrative Zone, Amhara National Regional State Asnake, Negesse Early warning systems serve as the eyes and ears in conflict risk management. This study examines the effectiveness of the Ethiopia Conflict Early Warning System (CEWS), with a specific focus on conflicts in Ataye Town, located in the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region. Using a mixed-methods research approach and a sequential exploratory design, the study targeted several groups, including peace actors, security personnel, disaster risk management officials, and the communities within Ataye Town. Data were collected from 385 respondents who completed questionnaires using stratified simple random sampling. In addition, the study engaged 39 purposively selected interviewees and 32 focus group discussion participants, Qualitative data were analyzed thematically, while quantitative data were processed using percentages, means, standard deviations, the Friedman Test, and linear regression. The findings indicate that first, regarding conflict risk knowledge, vulnerability factors including unresolved victimization (90%), ethnic federalism (75.8%), informal armed groups (66.6%), resource competition (66.3%), poor law enforcement and boundary disputes (63.7%), and historical grievances (61.1%) significantly contribute to conflict, with ethnic extremism (86.1%) and firearm trafficking (58.4%) identified as primary threats. Second, concerning conflict monitoring, the study reveals a significant lack of uniform indicators among monitoring actors, with varying agreement levels across interreligious councils (76%), peace committees (61%), peace clubs (53%), and field monitors (55%), and while data were scientifically analyzed, warning mechanisms proved very weak. Third, with respect to conflict communication, the study found that communication exacerbates rather than mitigates tensions due to inaccessibility (73.7%), low media coverage (64.7%), lack of planning (54.7%), insufficient credibility (40.3%), inadequate twoway communication (45%), and polarized narratives that deepen inter-ethnic mistrust. Fourth, regarding early response actors, effectiveness varied considerably, with traditional conflict resolution mechanisms scoring highest (6.82), followed by De Jure Command Post (6.54), Security Council (6.21), Ministry of Peace (5.87), DRM Council (4.95), Security Task Force (4.78), Criminal Justice System (4.12), House of Federation (3.45), and De Facto Command Post (3.26). Fifth, concerning the effect of early warning on early response, regression analysis revealed that conflict communication, monitoring, and risk knowledge collectively account for 69% of response effectiveness, yet a persistent gap between warning and response remains, indicating that early warning does not consistently translate into timely and effective early response due to structural, institutional, and political barriers. Therefore, the Ministry of Peace should establish a dedicated Conflict Communication Department, and the criminal justice system must ensure the rule of law on the masterminds behind these conflicts. The House of People‘s Representatives should also pass legislation that integrates peace, security, and disaster risk management actors during armed conflict responses. Finally, the Police Commission, Disaster Risk Management Commission, and Ministry of Peace should collaboratively develop a conflict risk profile, a conflict mitigation strategy, and a contingency plan for Ataye Town.