ABSTRACT
Farmers living and working in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of Africa and Asia are acutely vulnerable to climate variability and change due to their limited natural and financial resources coupled with poor infrastructure, institutional support, and governance (World Bank 2008). Coping with variability is nonetheless a way of life for many of these farmers, and farmers in many different regions of the world have adopted or adapted strategies to manage variability. In this chapter we first describe the impacts of climate change on crop and livestock production, water resources, and prices, poverty, and malnutrition in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Secondly, we examine adaptation strategies, focusing on the social/institutional aspects needed to support farmers’ adaptation strategies as well as describing briefly strategies used by farmers.
