Household Indigenous Drought Coping and Adaptation Strategies in Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

Coping and adaptation to the impacts of climate change such as drought is increasingly necessary. Due to the expanding global impacts of climate change coping and adaptation agenda among various agencies, it is of primary importance to understand the coping and adaptation strategies in order to generate the most appropriate and effective interventions. The study established drought coping and adaptation strategies employed by households in Baringo County and this was based on Pressure and Release (PAR) model which grounds the framework for understanding vulnerability to disasters and adaptation. The 224 household heads were selected by simple random sampling out of which 204 completed the questionnaire. The study adopted description research design. Data was analyzed by both descriptive and qualitative statistics where the SPSS package version 22 was used in the analysis where the chi – square and percentages were obtained. The study established that households had various drought coping and adaptation strategies where 77 (37.7%) informed the study that during drought season they normally shift to other ways or sources of livelihoods, herd splitting were 58 (28.4%) while 44 (21.6%) do herd and crop diversification. A calculated chi – square (χ2 =79.186, p–value=0.000 df=4) of the main coping mechanisms indicated that the variation was statistically significant. The study provided baseline information for further research. However, there is need for outside intervention or strategies for effectiveness since the community does not have well laid down strategies for climate change coping and adaptation.