Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: A Microeconomic Analysis of Livestock Choice

39 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by S. Niggol Seo

S. Niggol Seo

Lamajel Ling

Robert O. Mendelsohn

Yale University - School of Forestry & Environmental Studies; Yale University

Date Written: July 1, 2007

Abstract

This paper uses quantitative methods to examine the way African farmers have adapted livestock management to the range of climates found across the African continent. The authors use logit analysis to estimate whether farmers adopt livestock. They then use three econometric models to examine which species farmers choose: a primary choice multinomial logit, an optimal portfolio multinomial logit, and a demand system multivariate probit. Comparing the results of the three methods of estimating species selection reveals that the three approaches yield similar results. Using data from over 9,000 African livestock farmers in 10 countries, the analysis finds that farmers are more likely to choose to have livestock as temperatures increase and as precipitation decreases. Across all methods of estimating choice, livestock farmers in warmer locations are less likely to choose beef cattle and chickens and more likely to choose goats and sheep. As precipitation increases, cattle and sheep decrease but goats and chickens increase. The authors simulate the way farmers' choices might change with a set of uniform climate changes and a set of climate model scenarios. The uniform scenarios predict that warming and drying would increase livestock ownership but that increases in precipitation would decrease it. The climate scenarios predict a decrease in the probability of beef cattle and an increase in the probability of sheep and goats, and they predict that more heat-tolerant animals will dominate the future African landscape.

Keywords: Livestock & Animal Husbandry, Wildlife Resources, Peri-Urban Communities, Rural Urban Linkages, Climate Change

Suggested Citation

Seo, S. Niggol and Mendelsohn, Robert O., Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: A Microeconomic Analysis of Livestock Choice (July 1, 2007). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4277, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=999487

S. Niggol Seo (Contact Author)

Lamajel Ling ( email )

Chiang Mai
Thailand

HOME PAGE: http://www.lamajel-ling.com

Robert O. Mendelsohn

Yale University - School of Forestry & Environmental Studies ( email )

195 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States

Yale University ( email )

493 College St
New Haven, CT CT 06520
United States
2034325128 (Phone)

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