Adaptation strategies of cattle farmers in the dry and sub-humid tropical zones of Benin in the context of climate change

Yaya Idrissou; Alassan Seidou Assani; Mohamed Nasser Baco; Afouda Jacob Yabi; Ibrahim Alkoiret Traoré

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04373

Adaptation strategies of cattle farmers in the dry and sub-humid tropical zones of Benin in the context of climate change

Heliyon. 2020 Jul 20;6(7):e04373. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04373. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Yaya Idrissou¹, Alassan Seidou Assani¹, Mohamed Nasser Baco², Afouda Jacob Yabi³, Ibrahim Alkoiret Traoré¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Santé et Production Animales (LESPA), Faculté d'Agronomie (FA), Université de Parakou, 01 BP 123, Parakou, Bénin.
² Laboratoire Société-Environnement (LaSEn), Faculté d'Agronomie, Université de Parakou, 01 BP 123, Parakou, Bénin.
³ Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Recherches sur les Dynamiques Economiques et Sociales (LARDES), Faculté d'Agronomie, Université de Parakou, BP 123, Parakou, Bénin.

Abstract

Cattle farming is directly impacted by climate change (CC), as it utilizes resources whose seasonality and productivity are strongly climate-dependent. Farmers respond to the negative influence of CC by implementing different adaptation strategies, where choices are informed by many factors. This study aims at analyzing the adaptation strategies of cattle farmers in the dry tropical zone (DTZ) and sub-humid tropical zone (STZ) of Benin with regard to climate change, as well as the determinants for the choice of these strategies. For that matter, 360 cattle farmers were surveyed. Data collected were related to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the cattle farmers, their perception and adaptation to CC. The data collected were subjected to frequency analysis and binary logistic regression. The results showed that livestock farmers were partly aware of climate related with CC, especially the increase of temperature. The most important adaptation strategies mentioned by cattle farmers were mobility, integration of livestock and crop husbandry, provision of concentrate feed, reduction of herd size, diversification of livestock, and forage cropping. Farming experience, cattle herd size, membership in an organization, number of farm assets, level of education, and climate zone were the major variables affecting farmers' adaptation strategies. From this study, we recommend that any program promoting adaption of climate change resilience among farmers, especially cattle farmers, should take the identified factors into account.

Keywords: Adaptation strategies; Agricultural science; Benin; Biological sciences; Climate change; Earth sciences; Environmental science; Livestock; Social sciences.