With multiple drivers of change, these dynamic dryland farming systems face rapid evolution of social, economic and biophysical features. The focus group discussion showed that recurrent drought and resource-based conflicts are the two most critical climate-induced shocks and stressors small-holders face in the study area.It is therefore imperative that small-holders pay most attention to respond to recurrent drought conditions perceived as indicators of recent climate change. The smallholders perceive the recurrent droughts as evidence of changes in local climatic conditions which are harming the performance of rainfed agriculture upon which their livelihood depends . This view is consistent with a parallel study by Debela et al. whereby survey participants identified decreasing rainfall often with extremes to be key feature of changing climate which negatively affected local livelihoods. The study employed farm household surveys,rolling benches focus group discussions, expert consultations and secondary data collation to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data.
The farm household survey employed a multi-stage sampling technique involving selection of five districts and twenty pastoral/agropastoral associations. Five districts were purposely selected from the ten districts of the Borana lowlands which represent diverse agro-climates and heterogeneous farming systems shaping adaptive responses. Within each district farm house-holds were stratified into pastoral and agropastoral production systems depending on the predominant production system leading to stratification into pastoral and agropastoral associations or villages. The strata are aligned with pastoral/agropastoral associations which are the lowest administrative units after district. From each production system or association , two associations were randomly selected whereby each stratum was again represented by an equal size of 24 randomly selected farm households. The sampling yielded a total sample size of 480 sampling units with households represented by their respective heads in the interview. The household interview was held using a semi-structured questionnaire pretested before the formal inter-view. The survey data, comprising farm and household attributes, was fed into, managed and analysed using an SPSS program . Prior to the interviews, participants’ written consent was obtained and ethical consideration for human research was made.
In addition to the household survey, a total of twenty focus group discussions were held representing equally ten pastoral and agropastoral production systems. In each of these focus groups, 6 to 10 farming community members with significant farming experience in the area were randomly selected to take part in the open discussion using a checklist. The focus groups reviewed and reflected on major farming system constraints, ebb and flow bench adaptation options and barriers identified in the farm household survey. The data obtained through focus group discussions on insights and experiences about adaptation options and their characteristics, and barriers were then summarized and described qualitatively to complement the quantitative data obtained from household interviews.
In addition, informal expert consultations and discussions were made at zonal and district levels of agricultural development offices to get broader picture of agricultural adaptation in the study area. The data from consultations and supplement the data obtained from household survey and focus group discussions. In this study, we triangulate between qualitative and quantitative data obtained from different social research data collection methods—individual and household interviews, focus group discussions and expert consultations. Triangulating information from different data collection methods allows for the validation and explanation of options and barriers to adapt, and development of a typology of adaptation responses. The classification assumes that, in the extreme, these strategies are different in terms of their adaptation vision or goal, timing of adaptation in relation to a risk to manifest itself into a hazard , degree of collaboration among actors and its immediate impact on the adaptation unit.