Heliyon 6 (2020) e04373 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Heliyon journal homepage: www.cell.com/heliyon Research article Adaptation strategies of cattle farmers in the dry and sub-humid tropical zones of Benin in the context of climate change Yaya Idrissou a,*, Alassan Seidou Assani a, Mohamed Nasser Baco b, Afouda Jacob Yabi c, Ibrahim Alkoiret Traore a a Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Sante et Production Animales (LESPA), Faculted’Agronomie (FA), Universite de Parakou, 01 BP 123, Parakou, Benin b Laboratoire Societe-Environnement (LaSEn), Faculte d'Agronomie, Universite de Parakou, 01 BP 123, Parakou, Benin c Laboratoire d’Analyse et de Recherches sur les Dynamiques Economiques et Sociales (LARDES), Faculted’Agronomie, Universite de Parakou, BP 123, Parakou, Benin ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Cattle farming is directly impacted by climate change (CC), as it utilizes resources whose seasonality and pro- Adaptation strategies ductivity are strongly climate-dependent. Farmers respond to the negative influence of CC by implementing Climate change different adaptation strategies, where choices are informed by many factors. This study aims at analyzing the Livestock adaptation strategies of cattle farmers in the dry tropical zone (DTZ) and sub-humid tropical zone (STZ) of Benin Benin with regard to climate change, as well as the determinants for the choice of these strategies. For that matter, 360 Agricultural science Biological sciences cattle farmers were surveyed. Data collected were related to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics Earth sciences of the cattle farmers, their perception and adaptation to CC. The data collected were subjected to frequency Environmental science analysis and binary logistic regression. The results showed that livestock farmers were partly aware of climate Social sciences related with CC, especially the increase of temperature. The most important adaptation strategies mentioned by cattle farmers were mobility, integration of livestock and crop husbandry, provision of concentrate feed, reduction of herd size, diversification of livestock, and forage cropping. Farming experience, cattle herd size, membership in an organization, number of farm assets, level of education, and climate zone were the major variables affecting farmers' adaptation strategies. From this study, we recommend that any program promoting adaption of climate change resilience among farmers, especially cattle farmers, should take the identified factors into account. 1. Introduction will suffer more from the effects of climatic variations, with expected decreases in productivity. Climate change is a global phenomenon that causes warming of both Adaptation therefore remains one of the policies for addressing the the earth and sea surface, droughts, floods and exhaustion of natural climate challenges that prevail in the livestock sector (Deressa et al., resources (Naqvi and Sejian, 2011; Feleke et al., 2016). It has a direct 2009; Di Falco et al., 2012), especially cattle. This is of great importance impact on agricultural production, since agricultural systems depend on for developing countries such as Benin, where livestock production the nature of the climate (Boko et al., 2007; Bambara et al., 2013). This contribute significantly to food and nutrient security plans (Di Falco impact is most felt in developing countries (Enete and Onyekuru, 2011) et al., 2012; Tubiello, 2012). Socio-economic and environmental factors where capital investment in farming activities is relatively low compared influence the choice of adoption of an adaptation strategy by farmers to developed countries. Benin, a developing country in West Africa, is not (Taruvinga et al., 2013). According to Feleke et al. (2016), the most immune to the threats of climate change. Studies carried out in 2011 vulnerable farmers to the negative impacts of CC are those with low indicated that rainfall will remain more or less stable (þ0.2%) in the adaptive capacity. Understanding their adaptive response behavior is southern part of the country but will be reduced by 13–15% in the North therefore critical in developing programs that would be yield optimum by 2100 (MEHU, 2011). According to the same study, the temperature is output in building their resilience. expected to increase between þ2.6 C and þ3.2 C by 2100. Under these Several research projects have been conducted in Benin to assess the scenarios, cattle farms located in these climatic zones of the northern part perception of cattle farmers of climate change, as well as the adaptation of Benin, the country's favorite cattle production zone (Djenontin, 2010), strategies put in place (Djenontin et al., 2009; Zakari et al., 2015; Dossa * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Idrissou). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04373 Received 5 March 2020; Received in revised form 12 April 2020; Accepted 29 June 2020 2405-8440/© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-nd/4.0/). Y. Idrissou et al. Heliyon 6 (2020) e04373 et al., 2017; Idrissou et al., 2020). The results from these studies revealed and Banikoara in the DTZ. Within each municipality, three (3) villages that farmers are aware of CC and adapt through various strategies. were selected based on their importance in cattle breeding and accessi- Although a wide diversity of adaptation strategies for cattle farmers with bility (Figure 1, Table 1). In the DTZ, which includes the municipality of climate change has been reported, the analysis of the factors that affect Gogounou and Banikoara, the soils are ferruginous and the vegetation is the choice of these strategies is still neglected. However, identification dominated by savannah and dry woodland. The STZ, which consists of and understanding of these factors are essential to improving the effec- the municipality of Tchaourou and Nikki, is characterized by ferruginous tiveness of support of cattle farmers confronted to climate change (Mabe soils, savannah and dry woodland. et al., 2014; Folefack and Tenikue, 2015). The present study thus seeks to fill this gap, by first identifying the adaptation strategies implemented by 2.2. Data collection the farmers, and then analyzing the determining factors. Data collection was carried out from November 2018 to April 2019 in 2. Material and methods two stages that include: the exploratory phase and the in-depth research phase. 2.1. Research area This study was conducted in two climatic zones of Benin; these are the 2.3. Exploratory investigation dry tropical zone (DTZ) and sub-humid tropical zone (STZ). The choice of these zones was based on the fact that climate forecasts indicate that they During this phase, the villages and cattle farmers to be surveyed were are the most vulnerable in the country (Gnangle et al., 2011; MEHU, defined. Interview sessions were conducted with technicians of the ATDA 2011), and yet the cattle herd is more than 85% concentrated (Alkoiret to identify the villages to be investigated. The criteria for choosing vil- et al., 2011) in these two zones. In each zone, two (2) municipality were lages were the accessibility and importance of cattle breeding among the chosen on the basis of their importance in cattle breeding and pre- activities of the population. On the basis of these criteria, the villages of liminary interviews with the technicians of the “Agence Territoriale pour Koubou, Papane and Agbassa were chosen in the municipality of le Developpement Agricole” (ATDA). Thus, the municipality of Tchaourou; the villages of Tebo, Biro and Sakabansi in Nikki munici- Tchaourou and Nikki were retained in the STZ and those of Gogounou pality; the villages of Bagou, Fana and Lougou in the municipality of Figure 1. Location of the villages surveyed in the dry tropical zone (DTZ) and sub-humid tropical zone (STZ) in Benin. 2 Y. Idrissou et al. Heliyon 6 (2020) e04373 Table 1. General characteristics of the Tchaourou, Nikki, Gogounou, Banikoara municipalities in Benin where the study was based. Municipalities Villages Vegetation zones Climatic zones Annual rainfall (mm) Daily temperature (C) Estimates of total cattle (n)* Tchaourou Koubou SGZ STZ 1100–1200 23–32 47,000 Papane Agbassa Nikki Tebo SGZ STZ 1100–1300 28–35 125,000 Biro Sakabansi Gogounou Bagou SZ DTZ 1051 28.2 139,000 Fana Lougou Banikoara Founougo SZ DTZ 850 27.5 218,800 Goumori Soroko SGZ: Sudano-Guinean Zone; SZ: Sudanian Zone; STZ: Sub-humid Tropical Zone; DTZ: Dry Tropical Zone. * FAOSTAT (2019). Gogounou and finally the villages of Founougo, Goumori and Soroko in square test (X2) and presented in tabular and graphical form. The com- the municipality of Banikoara. parison was made according to the climatic zone. After the villages were identified, focus groups of 6–15 people were Subsequently, a binary logistic regression with a stepwise backward formed, with one focus group per village. This stage helped to test and elimination of predictors was performed to identify the most determinant corrects the questionnaire that was used during the in-depth phase. The variables affecting cattle farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies. The interviews conducted during this exploratory survey allowed us to equation of the binary model is as follows: randomly select 30 breeders per village to whom questionnaires were Yi ¼ β0 þ Xi βi sent individually for the rest of the study. Thus, a total of 360 cattle (1) farmers were surveyed during this study. Breeders'