*3.1. Socio-Demographic and Farm Characteristics*

This section presents some key characteristics of the subset of respondents who participated in the questionnaire survey. Of the 40 respondents, 62% were females and 38% males. The ages of the respondents ranged from 20 to 75 years. More than 50% of the respondents have some form of formal education, with junior high school/middle school being the most common form of education completed by the respondents. In general, the respondents have large household sizes, with an average of seven people. The total farm size of the respondents in the last five years ranged from <2 to more than 6 ha. Average maize farm size in the last five years ranged from <2 to 4 ha. Except for vegetable production, where irrigation is practiced, the growing of crops, including maize, is done under rain-fed conditions. This probably explains why most of the farmers (88%) indicated that they do not practice irrigation farming (Table 1). The results show that, in general, there were no significant differences between the study communities in terms of the demographic and farm characteristics of the farmers interviewed. The identical demographic and farm characteristics offered an excellent platform to better understand the 2020 minor season maize production failures, impacts, and agronomic adaptations.
