Coping with climate change: Impacts and adjustments in an Andean agrarian community

This case study examines impacts of recent climate change on agriculture and farmers’ emerging coping strategies in the Ecuadorian Andes. It is based on data from workshops, semi-structured interviews and participant observation over a period of 12 months in Cotacachi County. The results show that several facets of recent climatic trends have altered agricultural conditions. Farmers observe seasonal weather irregularity, increased water scarcity, more intense sunshine, torrential rainfall and higher temperatures, corresponding to scientific analyses of Andean climate data. These processes affect crop and livestock production in a variety of ways, often resulting in reduced harvests. Farmers approach the altered conditions by strategies including searching for new water sources, reducing livestock assets, increasing the use of agrochemicals, moving planting and harvest dates and swapping crops between zones and seasons. While some of these approaches may prove successful also in a long term perspective, others are likely to undermine agricultural sustainability.