Influence of women empowerment on adoption of agroforestry technologies to counter climate change and variability in semi-arid Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

Climate change has become a major concern in Africa, where many climate models predict that it will cause among other things; decreasing rainfall especially in arid areas, warmer temperatures and increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events. Subsistence farmers in developing world are unable to cope with such climate variability since they do not have the capital to invest in new adaptive practices. They are also especially sensitive to climate change since they rely almost entirely on rain- fed agriculture. This study was carried out at Nguumo and Makindu locations in Makindu sub-county, Makueni County. The main objective of the study was to examine the role of women in agroforestry technologies as an adaptation strategy to climate change and variability in Makindu and Nguumo locations, Makindu sub county, Makueni County, Kenya. Information was gathered using Semi- structured questionnaires which had some fixed/closed and open ended questions. Answers for these questions were gathered through in-depth interviews with respondents, visiting various focused groups and obtaining their views through discussions and also observations on various farms. Information was generally gathered from both men and women without necessary targeting the women alone to avoid biased answers. For example women may feel that they carry most of household chores, therefore ignore the participation of men. Linear regression analysis done to investigate the degree to which women empowerment in and access to agroforestry technologies help in adapting to climate change and variability was fitted for both locations. Results obtained indicated that there was a positive and a significant relationship between women empowerment and agroforestry technologies (p<0.05) in Makindu Location and Nguumo Location. For the empowerment coefficient in Women for Makindu location and increment in women empowerment by one unit increases the adoption rate by 0.432 units. For the coefficient in Nguumo location an increment of women empowerment by one unit increases the adoption of agroforestry by 0.232 units. The study recommended enhancement of women capacity to make decisions, access resources equitably and benefit from development initiatives like agroforestry. The Study concluded that empowering women in their challenges is very critical in women adoption of agroforestry technologies.