Assessment of Research and Technology Needs for Climate Change Adaptation Among Farmers in Nebbi District

Abstract

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our society today. This is because of its impacts like prolonged drought and unpredicted precipitation patterns which increase vulnerability of small scale farming communities. The ability of the local communities to adapt to the impacts is influenced by access to relevant research information and technology advancements. However, intervention measures are often hindered by lack of information about research and technology needs of affected communities. Therefore, this research sought to generate information on research and technology needs for climate change adaptation among farmers in Nebbi district. This was achieved by assessing the research and technology needs among farmers in the district. The total household population for six villages was determined, three each from two parishes to determine the sample size. During a two months’ study, a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the research and technology needs of the farming communities. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data to determine distribution and associations among the variables. The results show over 90% of the farmers’ research needs included; information on resilient crop species to grow under wet and dry conditions, availability of fast maturing crop varieties, and techniques for harvesting and storage of excess water. Over 90% of the farmers’ technology needs included; irrigation, use of waste water and water harvesting and irrigation because they either didn’t know how they are done or didn’t have the resources to carry out the practices. Information from this research will therefore be useful in guiding new climate change support activities and promote possible strategies and approaches that will build capacity on community resilience to climate change. For this to be successful, there is need for proper coordination among government and support institutions to come up with strategies that aim at disseminating relevant research information to the farming communities for effective climate change adaptation. Activities aimed at providing financial support to the farming communities should also be organized so that the farmers are able to afford the various adaptation technologies.