Endogenous Farmer Practices of Adaptation to Climate Variability in the Town of Banikoara, Benin

Abstract

Background: Agriculture is an activity that provides more than 70% of employment in sub-Saharan African countries. However, climate variability has significant negative impacts on agricultural productivity, particularly in countries such as Benin that are highly dependent on rainfall. The objective of this research is to highlight the different perceptions and endogenous strategies of adaptation to climate variability adopted by farmers. It took place in Benin's largest cotton production area, the commune of Banikoara located in the northern region of the country. Methodology: The surveys were conducted on a sample of 120 farmers randomly selected in four (4) villages, all of which are large agricultural producers, i.e. 30 farmers per village. In addition to descriptive statistics based on the calculation of proportions and averages, a multivariate probit model was estimated in order to identify the factors that influence the choice of endogenous adaptation strategies to climate variability. Results: Approximately 50% of the respondents stated that they had practiced early seeding in order to cope with the consequences of climatic variability, 38% stated that they practiced ridge tillage, 28% indicated that they practiced late seeding while 15% declared that they practiced agroforestry. The results show that farmers use different combinations of endogenous strategies to drastically mitigate the adverse consequences of climate variability. Each farmer takes a number of parameters into account when defining the strategy to adopt.