Weather Variability in Context of Agriculture based Livelihoods of the Community in Arsi and East Shewa Zones of Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Weather variability risks are testing phenomenon in natural ecosystems influencing world to look for responsive measures, where in Ethiopia, weather variability risks were common affecting Agricultural livelihoods. However, while weather variability related disasters are critical problem in Ethiopia, location specific study is limited to summarize distinguishing conclusion about the effects.

The study was designed to determine weather variability in selected districts of Oromia region. Secondary data were collected from five weather stations located in Arsi and East shewa Zones. Descriptive statistical tools and Mann-kendall trend test were employed where primarily, trends and inter-seasonal weather variability were emphasized in context of precipitation and temperature.

The results indicated a significantly decreasing trend in annual rainfall for last two decades, considerably higher for majority of the seasons in each year. Aggregately, a decline of 14.5% for highland and 12.3% for lowland were identified in annual precipitation, while annual Temperature maintain increasing trends in several scenarios. Furthermore, Mann-kendall trend test estimated sen’s slopes of -1.41, -0.45 and -0.55, for pre-main season, main season and post main season respectively, indicating declining trends. These illustrates a need to establish adequate strategies to promote adopted options through sustainable programs/ projects along with locally fitted environmental policy. Therefore, policy level managers and technical leaders should readdress current policies and strategies in perspective to weather variability risks management.