| dc.description.abstract | Climate change characterized by rainfall variability is a major constraint to Uganda’s agricultural sector. It has adversely affected the farmers mostly in the semi- arid and arid communities and the situation is expected to worsen in the future. There is therefore a need to develop climate –resilient livelihoods especially at the local level’s society. The objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the existing adaptation strategies and suggest other better measures to adapt to rainfall variability in Lwampanga sub county, Nakasongola district. The study was based on both primary and secondary data, collected through household survey, key informants’ interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. The qualitative data were subjected to content and trend analysis while quantitative data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software. Results indicate a decline in the annual rainfall trend from 2011-2022. Regarding the seasonal rainfall totals, there was a stable and slightly decreasing trend for MAM while for the SOND it was decreasing rapidly. The main reasons for these changes included anthropogenic factors (deforestation, charcoal burning, and continuous increase in the population). Implications of these changes included increasing food insecurity, cattle starvation and death, loss of income, reduced water availability, wilting of crops, reduced grass for cattle, and reduced water availability. However, farmers employed a number of adaptation strategies which included mulching, small scale irrigation, mixed cropping, planting drought resistant crops, diversifying livestock feeds, cover cropping among others. However, their adoption was determined by factors like level of incomes, availability of weather information, farmers’ experience, age, gender, support programs, land tenure system, degree of land fragmentation, shifting livelihood, among others. The effectiveness of adaptation strategies, shows that 59 respondents (73.8%) are very effective, 20 respondents (25.0%) are fairly effective and 1 respondent (1.3%) are not effective. The study therefore confirms that the existing measures are effective and recommends enhanced knowledge of climate change to the people to enhance their resilience. | en_US |
