This paper aims at identifying whether and how sustainable land management practices and livelihood diversification strategies have contributed to moderating the impacts of the El Niño-related drought in Zambia. This is done using a specifically designed survey called the El Niño Impact Assessment Survey, which is combined with the Rural Agricultural Livelihoods Surveys, as well as high resolution rainfall data at the ward level over 34 years. This unique panel data set allows us to control for the time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity to understand the impacts of shocks like El Niño, which are expected to become more frequent and severe as a result of climate change. We find that maize yields were substantially reduced and that household incomes were only partially protected from the shock thanks to diversification strategies. Mechanical erosion control measures and livestock diversification emerge as the only strategies that provided yield and income benefits under weather shock.

中文翻译：

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赞比亚农村的气候复原力：评估农民对厄尔尼诺现象引起的干旱的反应

本文旨在确定可持续土地管理实践和生计多样化战略是否以及如何有助于缓解赞比亚厄尔尼诺相关干旱的影响。这是通过一项名为厄尔尼诺影响评估调查的专门设计的调查来完成的，该调查与农村农业生计调查以及 34 年以上的区级高分辨率降雨数据相结合。这个独特的面板数据集使我们能够控制时间不变的未观察到的异质性，以了解厄尔尼诺等冲击的影响，预计由于气候变化，厄尔尼诺现象将变得更加频繁和严重。我们发现，由于多样化战略，玉米产量大幅下降，家庭收入仅部分免受冲击。