Resource information
This paper measures the economic impact
of climate on crops in Kenya. The analysis is based on
cross-sectional climate, hydrological, soil, and household
level data for a sample of 816 households, and uses a
seasonal Ricardian model. Estimated marginal impacts of
climate variables suggest that global warming is harmful for
agricultural productivity and that changes in temperature
are much more important than changes in precipitation. This
result is confirmed by the predicted impact of various
climate change scenarios on agriculture. The results further
confirm that the temperature component of global warming is
much more important than precipitation. The authors analyze
farmers' perceptions of climate variations and their
adaptation to these, and also constraints on adaptation
mechanisms. The results suggest that farmers in Kenya are
aware of short-term climate change, that most of them have
noticed an increase in temperatures, and that some have
taken adaptive measures.
