Assessing vulnerability to drought risk and dry spells amongst small holder farmers in bowe extension planning area dowa Malawi

Abstract

Effects of climate change such as drought and dry spells directly affect farmers through reduced farm and livestock productivity which makes them vulnerable. The use of the livelihood vulnerability econometric assessment approaches provides a tool for measuring vulnerability among farmers. Therefore, a study was conducted to assess the vulnerability of farmers to drought risk from 377 farmers in Bowe EPA, Dowa district, Malawi. Level of livelihood vulnerability was analyzed using Microsoft excel 2019. Household and key informants’ interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data for the study. The beta regression approach was used at identifying key factors affecting vulnerability of farmers to drought and dry spells. Results from the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) had a score of 0.54 which means that farmers livelihoods in Dowa are highly vulnerable to dry spells. The sub-components of natural disaster and climate change had a higher index score of 0.95 which entail that farmers in the study area are extremely exposed to dry spells. The beta regression analysis identified farm size, education, sex, participation in microfinance, access to drought information, aid availability, experience in conservation agriculture practices, as major determinants of livelihood vulnerability. Besides, the effect of drought and dry spells had a significant impact on food security in the area, Stata version 15 for descriptive statistics of frequencies was applied to analyse coping strategies being used. Limited use of the agricultural technologies of crop rotation and intercropping are being adopted by the farmers as a tool for coping strategies in reducing vulnerability. The use of PICSA approach is recommended to improve farmers information, Dorward et, al., (2015). Further effort should be rendered for improved information sharing about weather forecast. Village Savings and Loan Associations should be strengthened for Households to build their income and as a source of credit.