The causes, effects and challenges of Sahelian droughts: a critical review

Epule, Epule Terence; Peng, Changhui; Lepage, Laurent; Chen, Zhi

doi:10.1007/s10113-013-0473-z

Cited by 98 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…The findings above are consistent with those from other studies [37,43,[83][84][85][86]. Vulnerability to droughts in South Africa is linked to the degree of socio-economic development; assets, whether financial, human, natural, physical and social aspects do greatly affect the ability of a community to cope with climate change-related problems [37,43,[83][84][85][86].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Vulnerability to droughts in South Africa is linked to the degree of socio-economic development; assets, whether financial, human, natural, physical and social aspects do greatly affect the ability of a community to cope with climate change-related problems [37,43,[83][84][85][86]. Socially, Pretty [87] argues that in the face of droughts, well-connected households rely on their friends and families for sustenance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, much of the spatial and temporal variations in the response of different crops to climate change across east Africa have been attributed to changes in temperature and to a lesser extent changes in water resource distribution [82,93,94]. Even though precipitation is reported to have begun recovering from the 1990s [39], in most of Africa, droughts still remain recurrent due to problems of timing and distribution of the precipitation increase [37,40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agricultural systems in Uganda are highly sensitive to climatic conditions, and major droughts in the last decade have had significant impacts, including in 2006 that resulted in higher food prices and droughts in 2008,2009,2010 and 2011, which compromised hydro-power generation and livestock and food production. The damages associated with the 2010 and 2011 droughts led to population movements inter alia [37]. Since the 1990s, the continent has witnessed a relative increase in precipitation and greenness as evidenced by normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The damages associated with the 2010 and 2011 droughts led to population movements inter alia [37]. Since the 1990s, the continent has witnessed a relative increase in precipitation and greenness as evidenced by normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vulnerability of Maize Yields to Droughts in Uganda

Epule

Ford

Lwasa

et al. 2017

Water

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Climate projections in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) forecast an increase in the intensity and frequency of droughts with implications for maize production. While studies have examined how maize might be affected at the continental level, there have been few national or sub-national studies of vulnerability. We develop a vulnerability index that combines sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity and that integrates agroecological, climatic and socio-economic variables to evaluate the national and spatial pattern of maize yield vulnerability to droughts in Uganda. The results show that maize yields in the north of Uganda are more vulnerable to droughts than in the south and nationally. Adaptive capacity is higher in the south of the country than in the north. Maize yields also record higher levels of sensitivity and exposure in the north of Uganda than in the south. Latitudinally, it is observed that maize yields in Uganda tend to record higher levels of vulnerability, exposure and sensitivity towards higher latitudes, while in contrast, the adaptive capacity of maize yields is higher towards the lower latitudes. In addition to lower precipitation levels in the north of the country, these observations can also be explained by poor soil quality in most of the north and socio-economic proxies, such as, higher poverty and lower literacy rates in the north of Uganda.

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