LIVELIHOOD RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE WITHIN HOUSEHOLD FARMING SYSTEMS: EVIDENCE FROM THE KOGA WATERSHED OF THE ABBAY BASIN, ETHIOPIA

Enhancing the resilience of livelihoods as a critical response option to climate change is cited in the literature, and assessment of livelihood resilience within the household farming systems to climate change in the Koga Watershed of the Abbay Basin is the focus of this study. The study compares the resilience of two distinct farming systems (irrigation-supplemented downstream and rain-fed upstream) created due to the introduction of the Koga irrigation scheme. Data are collected from 373 sample smallholder farmers using household-level survey questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with farmers and agricultural experts. The livelihood resilience index estimates created by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) demonstrate that the downstream farm households are more resilient to climate-related shocks compared to their upstream counterparts. The difference in livelihood resilience between downstream and upstream suggests the need to have location-specific response to enhance the livelihood resilience to climate change.