Patrick Luganda

Chairman
Network of Climate Journalists in the Greater Horn of Africa

Perspective

Are subsistence farmers coping with climate change?

Is climate change taking place? This is indeed a very difficult question to answer. One must appreciate that climate scientists are wary of pronouncing a definite answer because observations of the daily weather over a very long period of time are needed if underlying changes in climate are to be revealed. Certainly changes in weather patterns have been physically observed in recent years. In addition, extreme weather events have occurred at greater frequency in practically all parts of the globe. On the African continent in particular, the occurrence of droughts and flooding has become more frequent. How are Africa's subsistence farmers coping?

With over 80 per cent of the population engaged in rain-dependent agriculture, changes in the climate are very important and a real threat to millions of rural livelihoods. Already Africa takes the lion's share of the 800 million plus people faced with starvation worldwide. But more food aid is not the answer. Often it arrives well after the calamity is over and, in any case, rarely gets to those who need it. Fortunately, ordinary African farmers realise that if they wait for food aid, they will be wiped out. Where possible climate changes are being seen to take place subsistence farmers are taking action to survive.

Several years ago it was possible for local farming communities in Uganda to determine the onset of rains and their cessation with a fair amount of accuracy. These days there is no guarantee that the long rains will start, or stop, at the usual time. Are African farmers noticing changes in the climate around them? Yes, very much so. Farmers have told me that they have not only noticed changes in the daily weather but also that certain natural resources are becoming scarce or disappearing altogether. One example that the Ateso people in the mid Northern region of Uganda report is the disappearance of 'asisinit' a special grass that they use to thatch their houses because it makes strong, beautiful roofs that last for a long time. However these days it is becoming rare. The reason is that the grass does very well at the edge of swamps but farmers have invaded the swampy areas to grow rice and millet because the swamps are cooler and store water for longer. This is a coping mechanism that the farmers in Teso have taken as a result of increased frequency of droughts over the years. As an alternative to 'asisinit' grass, they are using 'ebiya' or elephant grass. This grass is not so beautiful neither does it last so long.

Farmers in Uganda, as elsewhere in Africa, are coping with the changing weather patterns by growing a variety of crops. En masse planting of crops at the same time is no longer the 'in' thing to do. Rather farmers say that they stagger the planting over a few weeks so that if the first crops fail the ones planted later may do better. Finally there is a mass migration from the rural areas to the urban centres. Consistent crop failures against a background of free-swinging market forces are not very conducive to scratch a living from the soil.

The harsher conditions that climate change may bring could lead to major changes to the African farming scene because only those farmers who have access to finance to manage high input farming using mechanisation, agrochemicals and irrigation will succeed. In such a scenario, the survival of subsistence farmers, who currently dominate agriculture on the continent, lies in the balance. This points to a likely swelling in number of the urban poor and urban services bursting at the seams. Scientists may indeed need decades to be sure that climate change is taking place but, on the ground, farmers have no choice but to deal with the daily reality as best they can.

Back to top

1st November 2003