Climate Variability in the Sudanian Zone of Côte d’Ivoire: Weather Observations, Perceptions, and Adaptation Strategies of Farmers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript sent to the journal raises important and current issues related to the impact of climate change on agriculture and adaptation measures taken by farmers in the studied part of Africa. Both the selection of the topic and area of research deserves recognition and, in my opinion, may arouse the interest of a wide group of researchers. The results of the surveys conducted among farmers are very interesting, and I think they can inspire similar research in other regions of the world. Before publishing, I suggest the Authors take into account the following remarks and comments:

- Keywords - please limit the number of words repeated with the words in the title of the article.

- Methodology - the first paragraph (lines 147-160) is introductory, I propose to move it into the introduction or delete it. Similarly, lines 171-175 and 199-202.

- “Analysis of interannual variability of precipitation and temperature ”, lines 183-191: the Authors cite the Nicholson index and then provide a well-known statistical formula for data standardization. Please explain what is the relationship between own calculations and Nicholson index? How is it different from the formula in this work? It is also not clear whether the authors used or only cite a different method, i.e. second-order Hanning non-recursive low-pass filter? If they did not use it, please delete this comment (lines 189-191).

- please explain why the surveys were not anonymous, i.e. farm owners were asked for their names? Were there any cases of refusal to participate in the survey? How is this sensitive data collected during the survey protected?

- please provide the formula of the chi-square test (line 236) or indicate the place of its publication,

- I haven't come across the term "dry pocket" (lines 249 and 252) in meteorology, please explain its meaning in the article.

- Conclusions, in my opinion, should be more concise and not duplicate the results. I propose to delete lines 486-490 which are a repetition of the description of what was done in the work. Lines 525-531, in my opinion,  are better suited to the discussion part.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript sent to the journal raises important and current issues related to the impact of climate change on agriculture and adaptation measures taken by farmers in the studied part of Africa. Both the selection of the topic and area of research deserves recognition and, in my opinion, may arouse the interest of a wide group of researchers. The results of the surveys conducted among farmers are very interesting, and I think they can inspire similar research in other regions of the world. Before publishing, I suggest the Authors take into account the following remarks and comments:

- Keywords - please limit the number of words repeated with the words in the title of the article.

Thank you for your comment. We have taken your suggestion into account in line 25 of the new document.

- Methodology - the first paragraph (lines 147-160) is introductory, I propose to move it into the introduction or delete it. Similarly, lines 171-175 and 199-202.

Thank you for your suggestion. We found it interesting to move the paragraph (lines 147-160) in the introduction into line 96-116. However, we found it necessary to delete lines 171-175 and 199-202 because it was indeed a repetition.

- “Analysis of interannual variability of precipitation and temperature, lines 183-191: the Authors cite the Nicholson index and then provide a well-known statistical formula for data standardization. Please explain what is the relationship between own calculations and Nicholson index? How is it different from the formula in this work? It is also not clear whether the authors used or only cite a different method, i.e. second-order Hanning non-recursive low-pass filter? If they did not use it, please delete this comment (lines 189-191).

Thank you for your suggestion. Indeed, this is not a different method. Instead, in this study we used the Lamb rainfall index cited by Nicholson et al. 1988. In the new paper especially in lines 167-176, we have better illustrated this. As for the non-recessive Hanning low-pass filter of second order, it was used in this study to better observe the interannual fluctuation (lines 177 to 190 of the new document).

- please explain why the surveys were not anonymous, i.e. farm owners were asked for their names? Were there any cases of refusal to participate in the survey? How is this sensitive data collected during the survey protected?

In each locality, before administering the questionnaire, a detailed description of the survey was presented to the participants in the presence of local officials. After the various discussions, the questionnaire was administered. It should be noted that the questionnaire was administered to all adult farm managers (at least 30 years old), both men and women. Thus, all 287 farm managers interviewed gave verbal consent and participated in completing the questionnaire. However, for reasons of confidentiality, more detailed information such as the names of those who participated in the survey and their telephone contacts were not disclosed. We wanted to keep them anonymous. We have detailed this in the new version of the document in lines 218 to 225.

- please provide the formula of the chi-square test (line 236) or indicate the place of its publication,

Thank you for your contribution to improve the document. This is an error and has been corrected in lines 236-238. Instead, in this study, we used a one-factor Anova test at the 5% probability level to determine if there were differences between the means of the three locations.

- I haven't come across the term "dry pocket" (lines 249 and 252) in meteorology, please explain its meaning in the article.

Thank you for your contribution to the improvement of the document. Indeed, in this part we talk about dry spells which are the succession of dry days during the cropping season. The calculation of dry spells is based on the use of daily rainfall data from a station. See lines 205 to 210.

- Conclusions, in my opinion, should be more concise and not duplicate the results. I propose to delete lines 486-490 which are a repetition of the description of what was done in the work. Lines 525-531, in my opinion, are better suited to the discussion part.

Thank you for your suggestion and contribution to the improvement of the document. We have corrected this part of the conclusion in lines 502 to 507 of the new version of the document.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript tries to understand the evolution of climate variables and their impacts on crops in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire. Although the results are supported by literature review and the statistical analysis, it will be great if authors can consider the following comments in the manuscript.

1. In line 182: Check the format of the manuscript.

2. In line 197: Check the format of the manuscript.

3. In line 253: Check the figure format.

4. In line 239: In the results section, it will be great if authors can address the impacts of the climate change on crops (or agriculture) in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire. In each figure, authors only address trends of weather. But, regarding the goal of paper, authors should enable to clearly address the impact on existing agricultural activies (or crop production). 

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript tries to understand the evolution of climate variables and their impacts on crops in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire. Although the results are supported by literature review and the statistical analysis, it will be great if authors can consider the following comments in the manuscript.

1. In line 182: Check the format of the manuscript.

Thank you for your suggestion. We have corrected this in the new version of the document (lines 165).

2. In line 197: Check the format of the manuscript.

Thank you for your suggestion to improve the document.

3. In line 253: Check the figure format.

Thank you for your suggestion to improve the document. We have corrected this in the new version of the document (lines 255).

4. In line 239: In the results section, it will be great if authors can address the impacts of the climate change on crops (or agriculture) in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire. In each figure, authors only address trends of weather. But, regarding the goal of paper, authors should enable to clearly address the impact on existing agricultural activities (or crop production). 

Thank you for your suggestion. We think your suggestion is very good, however, agricultural data for the main crops cited are difficult to obtain for our study area during this period. As we stated in the document, our study area is a very marginalized area. This area has suffered greatly from the political-military crisis that Côte d'Ivoire experienced from 2002 to 2011. Thus, some data are difficult to obtain, especially with regard to data on some agricultural products in the study area. For this reason, in this study we have based ourselves on the perception of the impacts of climate variability observed by farmers. If possible, we will take this into account in future studies.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper considers a topic which is in line with the aims of the journal and dramatically actual in the scientific and geopolitical context.

In general terms, the authors explain better the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods which are clearly stated.

However, it needs to be revised in order to improve its quality. Urgently, the paper must include a critical theoretical analysis. It lacks totally of this part and this reduces the comprehension of the reasons of the choices of the area, as well as the farmers as individuals to considers, agriculture as sector to consider, etc.

The risk is that the reader will be lost in the text without any precise reference to the structure and narrative existing in the current debate. They also must add more bibliographical references. Many sentences are included in the text without any reference to concrete and recent data or literature evidence.

I suggest adding a specific paragraph including the theoretical background.  The starting point could be this paper:

Cattivelli, V. Climate Adaptation Strategies and Associated Governance Structures in Mountain Areas. The Case of the Alpine Regions. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2810. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052810

This article includes very interesting and appropriate bibliographical references which can help authors to start writing this part.

Discussion and conclusions should be strengthened and connected with those emerged from the analysis of the literature identified and included in the theoretical background section.

Comparison with other African countries should be more detailed, specifying the reasons why the authors choice these countries. More detail about the reasons that suggest considering the three area in Sudanian areas will be appreciate.

Please, specify in all maps/graphs etc the source of data and the authors.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript concerns the vital issue of agriculture adaptation to climate change. However, it is more a report than a scientific paper. It is not clear if the article is about climate variability or its perception among the farmers. Even though the aim of the study is being clearly stated, there are two separate topics equally important. Authors should decide about what the story is.

The introduction does not provide adequate context to the study. It should relate to the discussion section, for instance:

• The consequences of climate change for agriculture and adequate adaptation measures in the same climatic conditions.
• Other studies on farmers' perception of climate variability and their response to them.

Lines 41-63 – fit rather to the description of the study area,

The methods of the interview analysis have not been sufficiently presented.

In the discussion section, there are citations that were not mentioned in the literature review.

Conclusions are more summary than conclusions. It would be interesting to know the input of the study to global knowledge, the limitation of the research.

The last sentence is interesting but not supported by the study (in particular the introduction and discussion)

Some citations are not correctly used, lines: 28, 33, 119, and similar.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments to the authors

Overall, I think the topic addressed in this research study is interesting and the empirical framework is appropriate to achieve the objectives. The article investigates farmers' perceptions of climate variability in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire and determines the adaptation strategies adopted by farmers to cope with the impacts of rainfall and temperature variability. However, I have the following suggestions that could improve the scientific quality of the paper.

Main comments:

1. The contribution and novelty of this paper is not clear, the authors should make their contribution more clearly for the reader and the scientific community.
2. The authors should add a paragraph describing the structure of the paper at the end of the introduction section.

1. Analysis of climate data: why the authors did not use the same station location s to collect both rainfall and temperature data. it is not clear, any explanation about this point.
2. Equation 1: L113: it would be better using X Bar Symbol (x̄) to refer to the average value.
3. Figure 4: please add the complete legend to understand the figure: unit measurement and variable name for the vertical axis. This should be checked for all figures presented in the paper, when it is necessary.
4. Is there any explanation of the importance of women in Tienko compared to other zones? This could depend on the type of activities carried out by women in each region or could be related other social and cultural drivers. The paper is silent here.
5. L253-254: other factors could explain the yield decrease: e.g., changing practice and efficiency level of farmers regarding the use of inputs (labor, fertilizers, capital etc.), among other factors. More explanation is needed here based on the interviews you have carried out with farmers and the previous studies.
6. I think one important adaptive strategies should be best management practices with respect to the soils and water resources. What about the contribution of water and soil conservation practices? Several previous studies show the importance of such activities to deal with climate change and to improve the performance of famers. The paper is also silent here.

Specific comments:

1. Abstract: L14: et should be and.
2. Abstract: L18: the p value should remove from the abstract; it is not necessary.
3. Finally, the style of the list of references should be revised. Authors should use the same formatting for all references cited in the manuscript including uppercase and lowercase characters of the authors names.

Sincerely

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

Review ‘Climate variability in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire: reali-2 ties, perceptions, and adaptation strategies of family farms’

 

-Problem statement / embedding in extant literature

In lines 64-65 the authors state ‘This study aims to analyze farmers' perceptions of the manifestations of climate variability 64 in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire. It is based on the following hypotheses: (…)’. The problem statement needs more elaboration:

(1) Why does this study focus on perceptions, what is the relevance?

(2) Moreover, what is the basis of the predictions that the authors make?

(3) By achieving the research goal, what do we gain? What contribution do the authors aim to make with this paper?

I think this needs more work to further justify the current paper.

-As I’m no expert in climate data I limit myself to the part of the study that focuses on perceptions among farmers. Section 2.2.2 needs more details: what kind of questions were asked, how did the interview protocol look like? Now the study will not be possible to replicate so more information is needed here!

-Discussion

The paper offers a case study and is very descriptive in nature. It is hard to identify a conceptual contribution that may be relevant for the broader Climate audience. I would like to encourage the authors to reflect on this in the discussion section. So: what (theoretical) lessons can be learned that may transfer to other parts of the world beyond Côte d’Ivoire?

 

Minor

Line 14: ‘and’ instead of ‘et’.

Figure 1: please acknowledge the source of this map.

Table 4: how is educated vs uneducated operationalized?

Table 5: please use superscripts to indicate differences between groups

Author Response

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Reviewer 5 Report

I believe this to be an important and valuable piece of research but it needs to present itself in a more effective manner. Insofar as the authors 
emphasize the human dimension of climate change (farmers' perceptions and adaptive strategies) I expect to learn more about their practice and less 
about the specifics of the climate. Indeed, in my opinion, quite a lot of the statistical analysis can go into a long Appendix. 

I want to know more about the farming practice (especially its economic structure) and some photos would be enormously useful, allowing the reader to understand a little more of the socio-economic structure of the region and the basics of farming adaptation: basically, more ethnography, less statistical analysis. 

In consequence, much more detail about adaptation would be highly desirable, and particularly more details about yields, and knock-on effects--are villages shrinking, is migration increasing and so forth. 

The language and organization of the paper is essentially good (although see earlier comments about the surfeit of statistical information), 
but some comments are offered below in order to improve the presentation. 

• 'West Africa in particular will suffer the worst impacts of climate change compared to 34 other continents, based on its high vulnerability:  that is a tautology--what makes it vulnerable?
• give author names in the text rather than using numeric refs. : "[1] 
  have shown that agriculture will be one of";
• explain 'Sudanian zone' : as Sudan is on the east coast, this needs discussion; what makes it a zone?
• 65 these are not really hypotheses and are not really being accepted or rejected; 
• line 27 singular not plural-- 'its impacts'
• lines 59-63 seem unanchored;
• high [rainfall and thermal variability] or [high rainfall] & [high thermal variability]?
• 109 index is singular of indices; 
• lines 147-8 is this a heading? if so give it a heading # 
• 227 'half are' not half is;
• 'decrease in agricultural yields, particularly in Tengréla (92.16%) and Tienko (96%)' ; are these % responses or %decreases?;
• Oangolodougou, the majority of farmers (91.76% and 27% respectively) 273; respectively to what?
• manure made from oxen purses; do explain.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear all,

I suggested to improve the introduction with a more robust theoretical background. Most references could be find in this article, which could represented a good starting point:

Cattivelli, V. Climate Adaptation Strategies and Associated Governance Structures in Mountain Areas. The Case of the Alpine Regions. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2810. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052810

 

Oppositely, the authors do not quote this article and do not improve adeguately the theoretical background.

For these reasons, I suggest that the paper will be revised in order to improve the theoretical part.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper was improved. However, the authors did not address all my remarks adequately. In particular, I was referring to the introduction section. As a result, the structure of the manuscript is partially incorrect.

According to the authors' response, their study "aims to analyze farmers' perceptions of the manifestations of climate variability and the strategies adopted to cope with them in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire."

1. The intense focus of the paper is on climate variability. There is a disproportion of the issues regarding the aim of the study (the introduction still does not provide adequate context to the results, which is why new citations in the discussion section appear).
2. The study area is located In the dry tropical climate zone (line 114), so thinking globally, there are undoubtedly examples of climate change adaptation strategies and measures to compare and cite.
3. While the farmers are the subject of the study, we don't know anything about them (descriptions of the study area). We know only this:" three locations in the Sudanian zone were selected to conduct the study, based on the main activity of the populations, the crops grown, the heterogeneity of the ethnic groups, and socio-cultural criteria "(lines 129-130). The authors should provide the demographic data at least. The agricultural practice of the selected ethnic groups and other socio-cultural criteria could be less enigmatic.

 

4. iIntroduction (line 30)
5. In conclusion, are the references to the literature

Author Response

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Reviewer 5 Report

It is a reasonable expectation that if reviewers request clarification then the authors will provide them. In places the authors seem close to being dismissive in some of their comments. 

It is also customary for authors to be precise about their responses. In this instance it is hard to tell whether the authors are responding or not responding to comments. They provide lengthy didactic statements but fail to indicate if or where changes have been made. [In some instances the authors state that changes have been made but in other cases no such reassurance is offered.] 

As it is not my job to trawl through the manuscript to see what has changed, I request either a full track changes version or a full table with all text changes for all reviewers to study.

Author Response

It is a reasonable expectation that if reviewers request clarification then the authors will provide them. In places the authors seem close to being dismissive in some of their comments. 

It is also customary for authors to be precise about their responses. In this instance it is hard to tell whether the authors are responding or not responding to comments. They provide lengthy didactic statements but fail to indicate if or where changes have been made. [In some instances the authors state that changes have been made but in other cases no such reassurance is offered.] 

As it is not my job to trawl through the manuscript to see what has changed, I request either a full track changes version or a full table with all text changes for all reviewers to study.

Thank you for your comment. It is probably a misunderstanding on the part of the authors. Please find below the point by point response to your previous concerns. Kind regards,

I believe this to be an important and valuable piece of research but it needs to present itself in a more effective manner. Insofar as the authors 
emphasize the human dimension of climate change (farmers' perceptions and adaptive strategies) I expect to learn more about their practice and less 
about the specifics of the climate. Indeed, in my opinion, quite a lot of the statistical analysis can go into a long Appendix. 

I want to know more about the farming practice (especially its economic structure) and some photos would be enormously useful, allowing the reader to understand a little more of the socio-economic structure of the region and the basics of farming adaptation: basically, more ethnography, less statistical analysis. 

In consequence, much more detail about adaptation would be highly desirable, and particularly more details about yields, and knock-on effects--are villages shrinking, is migration increasing and so forth. 

The current study is a preliminary study to understand climate variability, farmers' perceptions and the adaptation strategies adopted. Economic factors were not really addressed. However, at the end of this study, we stated in perspective to identify the factors determining the choice of adaptation strategies by farmers so we will be able to integrate other factors by taking into account labor, inputs and capital, etc. Regarding the suggestion of ethnography, we have taken into account in the new version of the document line 507 to 509.

The language and organization of the paper is essentially good (although see earlier comments about the surfeit of statistical information), 
but some comments are offered below in order to improve the presentation. 

• 'West Africa in particular will suffer the worst impacts of climate change compared to 34 other continents, based on its high vulnerability:  that is a tautology--what makes it vulnerable?

Africa is considered the most vulnerable continent to the effects of climate change because of the strong dependence of its economies on rain-fed agriculture, which accounts for 95% of production, and because of the difficulties of the populations to adapt to climate change. Agricultural production is strongly impacted by major phenomena such as the frequency of heavy rainfall, rising temperatures, the shortening of the agricultural season and prolonged dry spells. We have corrected this in the lines 40 to 46.

• give author names in the text rather than using numeric refs. : "[1] 
  have shown that agriculture will be one of";

This suggestion has been taken into account in the new version of the document. For example in line 38 of the new version of the document, we wrote Folefake et al [7] and Faye et al [8] instead of [7] and [8].

• explain 'Sudanian zone' : as Sudan is on the east coast, this needs discussion; what makes it a zone?

Côte d'Ivoire is a country in West Africa. It is subdivided into several phytogeographic zones and our study area is located in the Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire, not to be confused with Sudan which is a country located in North Africa. The Sudanian zone of Côte d'Ivoire has been better described in the section "description of the study area" line 130 to 148.

• 65 these are not really hypotheses and are not really being accepted or rejected; 

We have taken this suggestion into account in introduction section in the new version of the document.

• line 27 singular not plural-- 'its impacts'

We have taken this suggestion into account in the new version of the document line 31.

• lines 59-63 seem unanchored;

Thank you for your comment. This paragraph has been moved to the "description of the study area" section of the new document. Line 136 to 148.

• high [rainfall and thermal variability] or [high rainfall] & [high thermal variability]?

We have taken this suggestion into account in the new version of the document line 382.

• 109 index is singular of indices; 

We have taken this suggestion into account in the new version of the document line 198.

• lines 147-8 is this a heading? if so give it a heading # 

We have taken this suggestion into account in the new version of the document line 253.

• 227 'half are' not half is;

We have taken this suggestion into account in the new version of the document line 325 to 328.

• 'decrease in agricultural yields, particularly in Tengréla (92.16%) and Tienko (96%)' ; are these % responses or %decreases?;

These are the percentage of respondents to this variable in the different localities.

Ouangolodougou, the majority of farmers (91.76% and 27% respectively) 273; respectively to what?

In this section it was stated that 91, 76% of the farmers in Ouangolodougou use improved varieties and 27% diversify their crops.

• manure made from oxen purses; do explain.

Approximately 22.64% of farmers surveyed use manure made from ox dung to optimize their production. Farmers with oxen park them on a plot in the field or in another area. Then, when the agricultural season approaches, this portion of land is recovered and dumped on the crop plot. The manure dumped on the agricultural plot acts as a fertilizer, since according to the farmers, the crops grown on these plots have higher yields than those that are not. See line 469 to 478 for strategy description and line 507 to 509 for images, in the new version of the document.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx