Adaptive capacity to climate change and food security among artisanal fisher folk in Rorya district, Tanzania

Abstract

This research was carried out in the inshore of Lake Victoria, Rorya District in particular, to examine determinants of gendered adaptive capacity to climate change and its role in enhancing food security among artisanal fisher folk. The specific objectives were: to examine fishers perception on climate change by gender; to determine the adaptive capacity of artisanal fishers by gender; and to determine factors affecting the adaptive capacity to climate change by gender. A total of 90 small scale fishers were sampled. The sample was drawn from three villages from three wards, and it comprised of 30 respondents per village. Data were collected using the following methods: questionnaire survey, Focus Group Discussion and key informants‟ interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 16.0, whereby descriptive analysis was done Likert scale was applied to facilitate inferential analysis and adaptive capacity index (ACI) was developed. Qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The results showed that the majority (80%) of the respondents had a positive perception towards climate change, while one-tenth of the respondents had a negative perception. Moreover, artisanal fisher folk adaptive capacity index was at a lowest average as its overall ACI was 18.54. However, it plays a vital role in enhancing food security among artisanal fishers and the fishing community. The study concludes that, Artisanal fishers are aware of climate change and how it affects food security but have a low adaptive capacity to fight against climate change risks and crisis. The study recommends that there should be improved provision of training to enhance fishers‟ ability over climate change and the government should intervene in fishing communities to improve their adaptive capacity.