Adaptation to Climate Change by Rice Farmers in Central and Northern Benin

Abstract

This research investigated rice farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in two rice production zones in Benin, Malanville in the extreme North zone and Glazoué in the Centre zone of the country, basing on a gender analysis and a multinomial logit regression model. A total of 294 rice farmers, including 144 in Glazoué and 150 in Malanville, have been sampled and interviewed. The findings showed that men were more prone to adopt a single adaptation strategy whereas women were keen on adopting double adaptation strategy. These strategies included irrigation, crop diversification, dyke construction, variety diversification, early planting and late planting. The main barriers were financial and information barriers and the low irrigation potential. Livestock ownership, receiving extension services, credit access, access to climate information and soil fertility degradation positively affected the likelihood of farmers’ adaptation to climate change. Supportive policy measures should consider strengthening farmers with rice irrigation facilities, rice varieties resistant to water and heat stresses, digitizing climate information through local social networks, rural credit services, and in particular taking into account gender differences.