Mercy Abutsa, Nigeria, 26 y.o.

Mercy Abutsa, a graduate student in Global Development at Cornell University, focuses on integrating local knowledge into adaptation programs led by development agencies to create inclusive and effective measures tailored to the needs of rural farmers. She advocates for bottom-up approaches, merging traditional adaptation practices with current innovations. Using participatory action research (PAR), she engages smallholder farmers to tell their lived experiences on climate change and traditional adaptation measures. She advocates for PAR grounded in trust, acknowledging the gradual nature of adaptation.

In the project “Planning Adaptation to Climate Change: Practices and Perspectives of Farmers and Development Agencies in Northern Nigeria,” Mercy investigates how smallholder farmers and development agencies frame climate change. Through qualitative methods, she highlights farmers’ nuanced perspectives shaped by firsthand experiences and cultural contexts. She promotes participatory approaches, exploring farmers’ unique ecological indicators for predicting extreme weather and their shift towards climate-resilient practices like greenhouse farming. Despite challenges, such as adapting to rising temperatures within greenhouses, her work aims to develop inclusive adaptation strategies that prioritize the needs and realities of smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria.