Are subsistence farmers coping with climate change?
Is climate change taking place? This is indeed a very difficult question to answer. One must appreciate that climate scientists are wary of pronouncing a definite answer because observations of the daily weather over a very long period of time are needed if underlying changes in climate are to be revealed. Certainly changes in weather patterns have been physically observed in recent years. In addition, extreme weather events have occurred at greater frequency in practically all parts of the globe. On the African continent in particular, the occurrence of droughts and flooding has become more frequent. How are Africa’s subsistence farmers coping? With over 80 per cent of the population engaged in rain-dependent agriculture, changes in the climate are very important and a real threat to millions of rural livelihoods. Already Africa takes the lion’s share of the 800 million plus people faced with starvation worldwide. But more food aid is not the answer. Often it arrives well after the ca
