EFFECTS OF AGROFORESTRY ON CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND LIVELEHOOD RESILIENCEIN HAWASSA ZURIA WOREDA, SIDAMA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

<strong>ABSTRACT</strong> <em>This</em><em> </em><em>study assessed the </em><em>’Effects of AF on CC Adaptation and Livelihood Resilience in Hawassa Zuria Woreda, Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia</em><em>. The study employed multistage</em><em> </em><em>sampling</em><em> </em><em>to</em><em> </em><em>get</em><em> </em><em>147</em><em> </em><em>households</em><em> </em><em>from</em><em> </em><em>AF</em><em> </em><em>adopters and</em><em> </em><em>114</em><em> </em><em>households</em><em> </em><em>from</em><em> non-adopters of </em><em>AF</em><em> </em><em>totally</em><em> </em><em>261 sample respondents were interviewed. Both primary and secondary sources of data sources were used. Primary data were obtained by interviewing 261 smallholder male and female household heads, FGDs and KIIs. Secondary data were obtained from published and unpublished materials. Descriptive and inferential statistics</em><em> </em><em>such as table, multiple linear regression, Chi-square test, independent t-test were used. Mann-Kendal trend analysis of climate data from Ethiopian Meteorology showed that, average maximum temperature of Hawassa Zuria Woreda for the past 30</em><em> </em><em>years was increased by 0.043</em>^<em>o</em><em>C annually,</em><em> </em><em>whereas the average minimum temperature was increased by 0.0549°C. The CV of rainfall in the study area were 15.84%, 21.19%, and 29.63% for annual,</em><em> </em><em>Kiremt and Belg rainfall respectively, which indicate that there was high inter-annual variability of rainfall</em><em> </em><em>between</em><em> </em><em>1991-2023.</em><em> </em><em>The results showed that adoption of AF improved maize productivity by 25.43 % than NAF households. The independent t-test</em><em> </em><em>showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the yield of Enset and Maize crop between AF and NAF households in the study area (p&lt;0.05), implying AF is better than NAF to minimize the effects of CC</em><em> </em><em>related shocks. The comparative</em><em> </em><em>analysis</em><em> </em><em>of</em><em> </em><em>income</em><em> </em><em>level</em><em> </em><em>between</em><em> </em><em>AF</em><em> </em><em>and</em><em> </em><em>NAF households was 5,349.32±1871.51 and 2,567.64±</em><em> </em><em>1138.12 Birr</em><em> </em><em>than</em><em> </em><em>agroforestry</em><em> </em><em>participants</em><em> </em><em>().</em><em> </em><em>Birr, respectively. The independent t-test</em><em> </em><em>showed that there was a significant variation in the income between AF and NAF in the study area (p&lt;0.05). This is related with high diversity in AF that tends to enhanced</em><em> </em><em>production year round, generated food for sale and consumption, minimize production cost of fertilizer. The</em><em> </em><em>ultimate importance of</em><em> </em><em>AF</em><em> </em><em>is</em><em> </em><em>reducing susceptibility</em><em> </em><em>and</em><em> </em><em>enhance</em><em> </em><em>resilience</em><em> </em><em>of</em><em> </em><em>farmers</em><em> </em><em>to the impacts of climate variability and change is through reducing erosion intensity,</em><em> </em><em>increasing crop yield and assets such as trees, livestock, and crop production. Therefore AF adopters had more assets and crop yield in their stock, less exposure and had advanced</em><em> </em><em>resilience</em><em> </em><em>to</em><em> </em><em>CC</em><em> </em><em>compared</em><em> </em><em>to</em><em> </em><em>the</em><em> </em><em>NAF adopters.</em><em> The study recommended that </em><em>Since agroforestry is one of the core pillars of CSA and enhances CC adaptation and mitigation, GOs and NGOs should give due attention, provide incentives promotion and create of awareness for the farm households about the importance of AF practices and AF incentive to initiate the farmers to adopt and practice agroforestry practices </em>