Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Climate change is expected to increase weather variability and incidences of extreme events, which will have an impact on livelihoods and wellbeing. This study was intended to assess the role of livestock diversificationin minimizing climate change impacts on livelihood assets and it was conducted at Dangila district of Awi Zone in Amhara region, Ethiopia. A random sampling technique was used and 107 sample households were selected. Primary data were collected through field visit and interview; whereas secondary data were collected from the district agricultural office, and meteorological station. To analyze the data, SPSS version 25, descriptive statistics, correlation test,&multiple linear regressions were used for testing the hypotheses. The direct variable hypothesis test results revealed that weather shocks affect livelihood assets negatively and significantly (B= -.157, p< 0.05), whereas other shocks had a negative but insignificant effect on livelihood assets. There is a significant positive interaction effect (β =.197, p< 0.05) between Adaptive Capacity and Weather shock, suggesting that a household’s Adaptive Capacity (through livestock diversification) counteracts the adverse effects of Weather shocks on Livelihood Assets. The interaction of Adaptive Capacity and Other shock, however, is significant but its beta value is negative (β = −.304, p< 0.05) which shows that Adaptive Capacity does not counteract. Cattle population size has decreased by 19.8% from 2008 to 2017, suggesting that reduction in the rainfall amount and variation drive. the downward trend in cattle number. The overall finding indicated that there was little effort so far achieved in terms of sustainable adaptation practices that enhance the resilience of household’s livelihood assets. Therefore, to further enhance households’ adaptive capacity, the improvement of livestock diversification through provision of farmers a package of livestock species and improvement of accesses to credit for youths were suggested for Dangila district.
Key words: Adaptation, Climate change, Dangila, Ethiopia, Livelihood assets, Livestock, Shocks