Progress and challenges of Guinea’s national service of risk management in building climate-induced disasters’ resilience in Guinea Savanna communities

The increased frequency and magnitude of climate-induced disasters are a huge setback for the world’s economic growth and performance. Addressing such risks has long time motivated many governments to set up disaster-based management strategies, policies, and plans to strengthen their resilience. However, the implementation of such initiatives remains challenging in developing countries due to their specific internal development issues that require timely performance appraisals to offer suitable remedial actions. This motivated the present study to use the Risk Management Index (RMI), to measure Guinea’s risk management performance and effectiveness, focusing on its institutional progress and challenges encountered in building climate-induced disasters’ resilience in Guinea Savanna communities. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with local authorities responsible for implementing prevention measures and emergency responses to disasters in Guinea Savanna, as well as inputs from academia with activities related to disaster risk management, combined with documentary research and field observations. Analyses of the RMI showed very limited progress in risk identification (RMIRI = 0.672 – 1.00), while almost no significant progress was made in financial provision (RMIFP = 0.124 – 0.487). On the contrary, policies of disaster management (RMIDM = 0.600 – 1.934) and Risk Reduction (RMIRR = 0.791 -1.606) have shown incipient progress. While all public policies need to be improved, urgent actions are needed in financial provision and risk identification policies. Therefore, the study suggests that local authorities should be more committed to risk identification and risk financing approaches to address the priority needs for effective disaster risk management in Guinea Savanna communities

Barriers and adaptation strategies to climate change among farming households in Guinea Savanna

Identifying appropriate climate policy interventions that improve the resilience of Guinea Savanna farming systems to extreme weather conditions is crucial to reducing food insecurity and poverty. This study explored rural farming households’ encountered adaptation barriers and strategies used toward climate change. Participatory research tools and methods were used to collect data, including household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and field observations. A multistage sampling procedure was employed in selecting 1,500 respondents in nine livelihood zones prone to drought and floods. Problem confrontation index (PCI) and relative importance index (RII) estimations were used to rank small-scale farmers’ climate adaptation barriers and strategies. Results showed that key barriers to successful climate change adaptation practices included limited access to farm inputs (PCI = 3203), poor access to agricultural machinery (PCI = 3161), and shortage of farm labour and its high cost (PCI = 3026), while the most prioritized adaptation strategies were crop diversification (RII = 0.59), planting early maturing crop varieties (RII = 0.47), and changing the timing of planting (RII = 0.42). This study provides decision-makers insights into farmers’ most adaptation barriers and prioritized strategies toward climate change to design effective and context-specific policies that aim to improve farming resilience to the adverse effects of changing climate

Farmers' perceptions of climate change and its impact on gum Talha (Acacia seyal var. seyal) production in Bahar Alarab locality, East Darfur State, Sudan

Acacia seyal var. seyal is an essential source of income to farmers in the Bahar Alarab locality in Sudan. Farmers’ perceptions of current climate conditions and their subsequent repercussions on Gum Talha (Acacia seyal var. seyal) production remains poorly investigated and understood. To fill this gap, a survey was carried out within six villages at Bahar Alarab locality in East Darfur State, Sudan, and a total of 391 randomly selected farmers were included in the study. Moreover, rainfall and temperature data over 30 years (1988 – 2020) were analysed. The results revealed that climate change signs were perceived by farmers based on the size of gum production (27.4%), early falling of leaves (26.1%), decline in production (24.3%), and persistent insect attack (22.3%). Moreover, farmers also reported increases (65%) and decreases (19%) in temperature. In contrast, 46.5% of farmers reported that rainfall deficiency was a decreasing factor of production. Accordingly, 69% of respondents perceived an increase in temperature, whereas 49.4% reported a decrease in rainfall frequency. Additionally, the results showed that there was long-term variability in temperature over the past three decades. The results of multinomial logistic regression highlighted that household size is an important factor contributing to the increasing trend of temperature. In addition, the growth and productivity of acacia trees were found to be determinants of farmers’ perception of temperature and precipitation change over the past 30 years. The study suggests a tailored policy that could reduce climate-induced impacts on gum Talha productivity and increase farmers’ gain to avoid poverty in this locality

Small-scale farmers’ coping strategies to extreme weather events in Upper Guinea

Extreme weather events pose a serious threat to subsistence farming and food security in Upper Guinea, where most farmers rely heavily on rain-fed agriculture. Following crop failures, farmers use what is available to them to try to maintain household food security. This paper investigated the coping strategies chosen by farmers in Upper Guinea and the motivating factors behind them. A multistage sampling method was used to select a purposive random sample of 1,500 farm households within nine selected livelihood zones (Bassando, Dion-Niandan Inter-River, Fié basin, Foutanian Piémont, Kolokalan High Valley, Middle Plateau, Solima's High Plateau, Soudanese Plateau and Woulada plateau) of Upper Guinea affected by extreme weather events. Approaches including household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and field observations were used to collect data. The multivariate probit regression (MVP) model was used to identify factors influencing small-scale farmers’ choice of coping strategies during periods of extreme weather events. Results from the MVP model showed that differences in the perception of risk factors and socioeconomic characteristics of farm households determined these choices. The main factors motivating farmers’ choice of coping strategies were awareness of extreme weather events, gender, the experience of crop failures, and ownership of assets. Other factors such as age, farming experience, household size, and educational level, were also determinants of farmers’ choice of coping strategies. Local institutional support to farmers that could drive widespread adoption of climate-smart agriculture could improve livelihood production and community resilience in this region