Climatic trends, risk perceptions and coping strategies of smallholder farmers in rural Uganda

Smallholder farmers in Uganda face a wide range of agricultural production risks, with climate change and variability presenting new risks and vulnerabilities. Climate related risks such as prolonged dry seasons have become more frequent and intense with negative impacts on agricultural livelihoods and food security. This paper assesses farmers’ perceptions of climate change and variability and analyses historical trends in temperature and rainfall in two rural districts of Uganda in order to determine the major climate-related risks affecting crop and livestock production and to identify existing innovative strategies for coping with and adapting to climate-related risks, with potential for up-scaling in rural districts. The traditional coping strategies that have been developed by these communities overtime provide a foundation for designing effective adaptation strategies. Drought, disease and pest epidemics, decreasing water sources, lack of pasture, bush fires, hailstorms, changes in crop flowering and fruiting times were the major climate-related risks reported across the two districts. Farmers use a wide range of agricultural technologies and strategies to cope with climate change and climate variability. Mulching, intercropping and planting of food security crops were among the most common practices used. Other strategies included water harvesting for domestic consumption, other soil and water conservation technologies and on-farm diversification. Farmers often use a combination of these technologies and practices to enhance agricultural productivity. The average maximum temperatures increased across the two districts. Trends in average annual rainfall showed mixed results with a general decline in one district and a relatively stable trend in the other district. Perceived changes in climate included erratic rainfall onset and cessation, which were either early or late, poor seasonal distribution of rainfall and little rainfall. Farmers also reported variations in temperatures. Farmers’ perception of changing rainfall characteristics and increasing temperatures were consistent with the observed historical climatic trends from meteorological data

Lablab purpureus—A Crop Lost for Africa?

In recent years, so-called ‘lost crops’ have been appraised in a number of reviews, among them Lablab purpureus in the context of African vegetable species. This crop cannot truly be considered ‘lost’ because worldwide more than 150 common names are applied to it. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this paper aims to put forward four theses, (i) Lablab is one of the most diverse domesticated legume species and has multiple uses. Although its largest agro-morphological diversity occurs in South Asia, its origin appears to be Africa. (ii) Crop improvement in South Asia is based on limited genetic diversity. (iii) The restricted research and development performed in Africa focuses either on improving forage or soil properties mostly through one popular cultivar, Rongai, while the available diversity of lablab in Africa might be under threat of genetic erosion. (iv) Lablab is better adapted to drought than common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) or cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), both of which have been preferred to lablab in African agricultural production systems. Lablab might offer comparable opportunities for African agriculture in the view of global change. Its wide potential for adaptation throughout eastern and southern Africa is shown with a GIS (geographic information systems) approach

Summary of household baseline survey results: Hoima District, West Central Uganda

Hoima District, in West Central Uganda, is predominantly agricultural. A baseline survey, supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) was undertaken in late 2010 aimed at describing the characteristics of farming systems and better understanding how they have changed over time. It also gathered information on the socio-demographic characteristics of these farming communities, basic livelihood and welfare indicators, agriculture and natural resources management practices and strategies, access and use of climate and agricultural-related information, and current risk management, mitigation and adaptation practices. Randomly selected households were the units of analysis and a face-to-face questionnaire was the primary tool that was used for data collection

Survival of Escherichia coli in stormwater biofilters

Biofilters are widely adopted in Australia for stormwater treatment, but the reported removal of common faecal indicators (such as Escherichia coli (E. coli)) varies from net removal to net leaching. Currently, the underlying mechanisms that govern the faecal microbial removal in the biofilters are poorly understood. Therefore, it is important to study retention and subsequent survival of faecal microorganisms in the biofilters under different biofilter designs and operational characteristics. The current study investigates how E. coli survival is influenced by temperature, moisture content, sunlight exposure and presence of other microorganisms in filter media and top surface sediment. Soil samples were taken from two different biofilters to investigate E. coli survival under controlled laboratory conditions. Results revealed that the presence of other microorganisms and temperature are vital stressors which govern the survival of E. coli captured either in the top surface sediment or filter media, while sunlight exposure and moisture content are important for the survival of E. coli captured in the top surface sediment compared to that of the filter media. Moreover, increased survival was found in the filter media compared to the top sediment, and sand filter media was found be more hostile than loamy sand filter media towards E. coli survival. Results also suggest that the contribution from the tested environmental stressors on E. coli survival in biofilters will be greatly affected by the seasonality and may vary from one site to another.</p

Heavy precipitation events over East Africa in a changing climate: results from CORDEX RCMs

The study assesses the performance of 24 model runs from five COordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) regional climate models (RCMs) in simulating East Africa’s spatio-temporal precipitation characteristics using a set of eight descriptors: consecutive dry days (CDD), consecutive wet days (CWD), simple precipitation intensity index (SDII), mean daily annual (pr_ANN), seasonal (pr_MAM and pr_OND) precipitation, and representatives of heavy precipitation (90p) and very intense precipitation (99p) events. Relatively better performing RCM runs are then used to assess projected precipitation changes (for the period 2071–2099 relative to 1977–2005) over the study domain under the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario. The performance of RCMs is found to be descriptor and scope specific. Overall, RCA4 (r1i1p1) forced by CNRM-CERFACS-CNRM-CM5 and MPI-M-MPI-ESM-LR, REMO2009 (r1i1p1) forced by MPI-M-MPI-ESM-LR, and RCA4 (r2i1p1) forced by MPI-M-MPI-ESM-LR emerge as the top four RCM runs. We show that an ensemble mean of the top four model runs outperforms an ensemble mean of 24 model simulations and ensemble means for all runs in an RCM. Our analysis of projections shows a reduction (increase) in mean daily precipitation for MAM(OND), an increase(decrease) in CDD(CWD) events, and a general increase in SDII and the width of the right tail of the precipitation distribution (99p–90p). An increase in SDII and 99p–90p implies a possibility of occurrence of heavy and extreme precipitation incidences by the end of the twenty-first century. Our findings provide important information to support the region’s climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts