Exploring climate service for food and nutritional security and health outcomes of socially differentiated smallholder farmers in moisture stress Weredas of Sidama

Résumé

Smallholder agriculture has historically dominated Ethiopia's agricultural production. To boost crop output and productivity, agrochemicals and agricultural equipment have proven indispensable. However, climatic information has received minimal consideration from agricultural interventions in food production and health development programmes. The heterogeneous qualities of smallholder farmers were likewise ignored by conventional agricultural extension services. The objective of this study is to assess the susceptibility of different groups of smallholders in the moist stress zones of Boricha and Bilate Zuria Woreda, Sidama National Regional State, to food and health risks associated with climate variability. To acquire data, a qualitative research design employing focus group discussions and interviews with key informants was utilised. The data indicate that climate variability affects the vulnerability of smallholder farmers differently. Climate information on spring rainfall (January to April) becomes a window period affecting food and nutrition and the health state of smallholder farmer categories. Rich and middle-class farmers were better able to obtain climate information from radio and television than the poor and women smallholders in order to lessen their climate susceptibility. In addition, the data indicate that women and the poor were disadvantaged in their ability to participate in communities where climate-related knowledge was shared due to their lack of economic resources and cultural factors. In the study areas, women and the impoverished are predisposed to health epidemics due to climate change, including scabies, marasmus, kawashiorkor, typhoid, typhus, and malaria. Establishing pro-poor and gender-responsive delivery of climate information services at the home level should be incorporated into agricultural and health extension programmes to improve food, nutrition, and health in moisture-stressed rural communities.

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