Evaluation of Farmers' Perceptions of and Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change in GamoGofa Zone, SNNPR of Ethiopia

The primary objective of this study was to identify factors influencing the perceptions of and choice of adaptation measures to climate change and quantify the extent to which these identified factors influence perceptions of and adaptation to climate change in Gamo Gofa Zone of SNNP Regional State in Ethiopia. The primary data was collected from 482 farmers from thirteen locations (kebeles) sampled out through a multistage purposive and simple random sampling procedure. In addition to descriptive statistics, Heckman two stage sample selection model was employed to examine farmer’s perceptions and adaptations of climate change. The descriptive analysis revealed that 93.78 % of farmers in Gamo Gofa Zone were perceived the change in climate and as a result, 84.51% of these farmers had responded by adapting. With regard to the Heckman two stage sample selection model result, gender, education level, climate information, off farm income, household size, market distance, agro-ecology, and number of relatives were significantly affecting the likelihood of climate change perception of farmers. Similarly, age, gender, education level, climate information, farm size, and off farm income were significantly affecting the likelihood of farmers’ adaptation to climate changes.