Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in Western Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s agricultural production has been declining due to climate change stresses manifested by extreme weather events, exacerbating food insecurity over the past few decades. The main objective of the study was to investigate farmers' perception and adaptation to climate change using cross-sectional data collected from 588 randomly selected households in western Ethiopia. The study employed descriptive and bivariate probit model to analyze data using STATA software version 15. Notably, about 94% (555) of households perceived climate change as occurring, with decreasing rainfall about 83% (486) and rising temperatures about 85% (498) as key indicators. About 68% (400) of the farmers adopted various adaptation strategies. The bivariate probit model analysis identified common underlying factors significantly affecting both perception and adaptation, including sex, education, family size, farm size, market distance and fragmentation at less than 10% probability levels. However, agro-ecology effect only farmers’ perception to climate change at 5% probability level. To enhance farmers’ perception and adaptation decision, policymakers should focus on improving education, providing climate information, and strengthening the capacity of farmers to adapt to climate change.