Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 2019, 7, 13-22 http://www.scirp.org/journal/gep ISSN Online: 2327-4344 ISSN Print: 2327-4336 DOI: 10.4236/gep.2019.71002 Jan. 18, 2019 13 Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection The Use of Indigenous Knowledge in Predicting Changes in Seasonal Rainfall by Smallholder Farmers of Ruteete Subcounty, Kabarole District Kandida Nyakaisiki 1 , Isaac Mugume 2,3 , Triphonia Ngailo 4 , Rhoda Nakabugo 2 1 Department of Forestry, Biodiversity & Tourism, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda 2 Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics & Climatic Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda 3 Hub for Environmental & Atmospheric Research, Kampala, Uganda 4 Department of General Studies, Dar es Salaam Technical Institute, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Abstract Climate change has become a serious global challenge. Developing countries are the worst affected due to poor response mechanism to associated disas- ters. This study examined the application of the indigenous knowledge (IK) methods to predict the changes in seasonal rainfall. The study used data col- lected through individual interviews using a structured questionnaire. The study found vegetation changes (i.e. shading off leaves, excessive branching); changes in animal behavior (i.e. eating soil, restlessness), and other atmos- pheric indicators (i.e. changes in wind, color of stars and moon, earthquake, migrating of birds, swarming of bees, cold windy mornings and warm nights) being used to observe and monitor the changes in rainfall over the season. The study recommends a more detailed study to validate the IK and integrate it with the scientific knowledge so as to reduce local farmers’ vulnerability, increase resilience and strengthen their adaptive capacity to cope with climate change effects. Keywords Indigenous Knowledge, Predictors of Seasonal Rainfall, Climate Change Adaptation, Indicators of Changes in Climate 1. Introduction The global climate is changing due to anthropogenic factors which are contri- How to cite this paper: Nyakaisiki, K., Mugume, I., Ngailo, T., & Nakabugo, R. (2019). The Use of Indigenous Knowledge in Predicting Changes in Seasonal Rainfall by Smallholder Farmers of Ruteete Sub- county, Kabarole District. Journal of Geos- cience and Environment Protection, 7, 13-22. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2019.71002 Received: August 20, 2018 Accepted: January 15, 2019 Published: January 18, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access