American Journal of Rural Development, 2017, Vol. 5, No. 4, 110-116 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajrd/5/4/4 ©Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/ajrd-5-4-4 Smallholder Farmers’ Perceptions and Responses to Climate Change in Multi-stressor Environments: The Case of Maasai Agro-pastoralists in Kenya’s Rangelands Chemuliti Judith 1,* , Stephen G. Mbogoh 2 , Ackello-Ogutu Chris 2 , Irungu Patrick 2 1 Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Kikuyu Kenya 2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nairobi, Nairobi Kenya *Corresponding author: chemuliti@gmail.com Abstract Farmers in Kenya‟s rangelands have been responding to simultaneous multiple sources of change in their socioeconomic and environmental conditions for some time. Under such conditions, it is not clear how the increasing effects of climate change are being perceived and reacted to. This paper presents the results of a study that was carried out in the Trans Mara sub-County in the southern rangeland of Kenya to assess the farmers‟ perceptions and adaptation to climate change and the constraints that they encountered. An open-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from 206 randomly selected farmers in Kilgoris and Lolgorien administrative Divisions of the sub-County. The results showed that the farmers had reasonable perceptions of climate variability and change and had taken steps to adjust their farming activities. These perceptions were based on their observed changes in rainfall pattern and intensity over the last couple of decades. Diversification of farm enterprises, changing of crop varieties, reducing flock sizes and changing of livestock breeds were the most common adaptation strategies. Lack of financial resources, insufficient labor and limited access to information were the major constraints that impeded adaptation. The results suggest that the farmers are able to discern and to some extent disaggregate the climate stimuli from other stressors. However, the adaptation strategies were closely intertwined with other stressors that go beyond the climate dimension. Keywords: farmers’ perceptions, climate change, climate adaptation, Maasai agro-pastoralist, Kenyan rangelands Cite This Article: Chemuliti Judith, Stephen G. Mbogoh, Ackello-Ogutu Chris, and Irungu Patrick, “Smallholder Farmers‟ Perceptions and Responses to Climate Change in Multi-stressor Environments: The Case of Maasai Agro-pastoralists in Kenya‟s Rangelands.” American Journal of Rural Development, vol. 5, no. 4 (2017): 110-116. doi: 10.12691/ajrd-5-4-4. 1. Introduction Empirical evidence suggests that climate change is compromising food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) [1,2,3,4]. This is principally because of their heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture, agriculture being their main economic activity, and limited adaptive capacity that is aggravated by factors such as high levels of poverty and poor market access [5]. Adaptation to climate change to reduce its impacts on smallholder farmers‟ livelihoods is necessary. However, across much of Africa, adaptation to climate change is primarily in response to short-term motivations, is occurring autonomously at the individual/household level, and lacks support from government stakeholders and policies [6,7,8]. Farmers adapt to climate change depending on how they perceive the risk in consideration of their environmental conditions and socioeconomic circumstances. Personal experience is thought to be a key driver of risk perceptions. The perceived likelihood of a risk is found to increase with recent experience or if it can readily be imagined [9]. Adaptation is a complex process that begins with the perception of a risk or threat, followed by attaching of importance to the threat and assigning of scarce resources and capacities to taking action in response to the perceived threat [10,11,12]. The complexity in the process of response lies in part with the fact that most vulnerable populations experience multiple sources of stress that tend to change simultaneously. Adaptation to climate variability is not new amongst farmers in most parts of SSA, particularly those living in marginal lands, which are the areas of high variability of rainfall or high risks of natural hazards. In the past, farmers were able to discern climate trends from their casual observations and employed a diversity of strategies to sustain agricultural productivity and secure their livelihoods [13,14]. However, in the past several years, the nature of climate variability has changed. The magnitude of variability, frequency of extreme weather events (floods and drought) and the rate of change within climate systems have affected the ability of farmers to respond, cope and adapt [15,16]. Furthermore, the nature of climate variability being experienced currently is occurring in an environment that is characterized by major shifts in socio-economic and ecological conditions that compromise the traditional adaptation strategies.