UC Santa Barbara

Climate change and variability pose incredible challenges to the livelihoods of resource-dependent, smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Smallholder farmers are resilient, knowledgeable, and capable of adapting their practices to new and changing environmental conditions. If, however, climatic conditions move outside the range of past experience, farmers may be unable to adapt rapidly enough. As such, farmers across agroecological zones in forested regions of Tanzania may turn to forest resources to supplement and sustain their livelihoods. This makes understanding the current and future vulnerabilities of smallholder livelihoods imperative. One way we can do this is by exploring the environmental and climatic perceptions of smallholder farmers. Several studies have been conducted on farmers perceptions of climate change and variability in semi-arid Tanzania, but little attention has been paid to forest adjacent households across agroecological zones. This study addresses this gap by assessing forest adjacent farmers perceptions of climate change and variability in one semi-arid, irrigated village and two humid/alluvial plain, rainfed villages in south-central Tanzania. Data collection involved a household questionnaire, which was administered to n = 202 total respondents. This questionnaire was analyzed using qualitative (theme identification) and quantitative (chi-square, logistic regression) techniques. Results suggest that farmers perceive changes in their environment, including increased temperature, decreased precipitation, and increased incidence of crop pests and diseases. These perceptions differed significantly between the semi-arid (irrigated) and humid/alluvial plains (rainfed) zones, where irrigated farmers are insulated from negative impacts of climate change. Results also demonstrate that farmers’ environmental perceptions are strongly associated with their socio-economic, livelihood, and agroecological contexts. This study concludes that there are changes in climate and variability occurring across Tanzania’s diverse landscapes, and calls for locally situated, farmer-informed agricultural and livelihood policies that increase resilience in these vulnerable systems.