Impact Of Climate Change On Gender Roles In Agropastoralists Community In Mvomero District, Tanzania

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Climate change is expected to influence of water flow, crop and livestock production, availability of pastures and other components of agricultural systems. On the contrary, the agro-pastoral gender roles are no longer sustainable due to the impact of climate change, resulting in changes of water flow. The main objective of this study was to determine the impact of climate change on gender roles in agro-pastoralists community in Mvomero District, Tanzania. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design.Quantitative data were collected by using questionnaire which was administered to a sample of 135 households. Focus group discussions were used to get qualitative data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed. Likert scale was used to analyze the perceptions of agro-pastoralists on climate change. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to analyze agropastoralists, awareness on climate change. An independent sample T-test was used to compare perceptions of the two groups (women and men).The results revealed that, gender differences on the level of awareness about climate change were found. However, the relationship was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The perceptions on climate change differed between men and women although the relationship was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Adaptation strategies used by agro-pastoralists in the study area including, timing andto reduce the number of livestocks. However, such coping strategies were not sustainable and some household became more vulnerable to climate change due to their ineffective coping strategies. Therefore, the study recommendstogovernment to espouse agro-pastoralists for improving their livelihood by accessing to extension services for the access of reliable information and knowledge on weather forecast using both local/indigenous, improving means and how to mitigate climate change impacts. Gender sensitive approaches should be introduced when training and assisting rural households’ decision making towards adopting coping and mitigating strategies to positively impact on gender roles and wellbeing.