Climate Change Exposure, Adaptation, and Rice Production in the Ruzizi Plain, Eastern DRC: Determinants and Impacts Using an Endogenous Switching Regression Approach

Climate Change Exposure, Adaptation, and Rice Production in the Ruzizi Plain, Eastern DRC: Determinants and Impacts Using an Endogenous Switching Regression Approach | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Climate Change Exposure, Adaptation, and Rice Production in the Ruzizi Plain, Eastern DRC: Determinants and Impacts Using an Endogenous Switching Regression Approach ELYSEE SMITH KITUNGANO, Mulumeoderhwa Munyakazi Fidèle, Erhahamoba Mweze Pascal, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8679821/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Climate change is having a significant impact on rice cultivation in tropical and subtropical areas, where it is reducing productivity. This study analyzes the exposure and adaptation strategies of rice farmers in the Ruzizi plain (South Kivu, DRC) based on surveys conducted among 196 households in the Luvungi and Sange communities. Producers are mainly affected by flooding (60.82%), water erosion (57.22%) and high temperatures (50%). Their vulnerability is exacerbated by high labor costs, reduced working hours due to heat, longer dry seasons, and water shortages. To cope with these constraints, the main strategies adopted are fertilization of plots (77.84%), varietal change (69.07%), access to inputs and markets, and improvement of access roads. Luvungi appears to be more exposed than Sange. Exposure is mainly influenced by group membership, level of education, access to credit, and membership in farmers' associations, while no sociodemographic factors explain the adoption of strategies. Finally, yields show a combined effect of exposure and adaptation: households with low exposure that adapt their practices achieve the highest yields (> 2 t/ha), while exposed households that do not adapt have the lowest yields (< 0.3 t/ha). The study recommends the dissemination of improved varieties and adapted technologies to strengthen rice resilience to climate change. Rice farming Climate change Exposure Adaptation Vulnerability Full Text Additional Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Ethical approval was not required for this study. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing Interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Author contributions Elysée Kitungano Smith designed the study and developed the methodology. Budurha Miranyo Jean and Claude Kahindo Richard collected and analyzed the data. Mulumeoderhwa Munyakazi Fidèle and Erhahamoba Mweze Pascal contributed to data interpretation and drafting of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Funding This research received no external funding. Availability of data and materials The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 04 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 28 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 27 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8679821","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":585964293,"identity":"5e3e610d-df13-49c6-9698-65ba2dcee0bb","order_by":0,"name":"ELYSEE SMITH KITUNGANO","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACdijNxsDD/OBDBZDFzNyAXwszTAsbD5vhjDMgEUYitTCw8TBI87aBWAS08DPzGH/4UFEXzSffe8CYd15tNH87UMuPim04tUg285hJzjhzOLeNjS/h4dxtx3NnHGZsYOw5cxunFoPDPGbMvG0HgFp4DAzebjuW2wDUwszYhluL/WEe489//9WBtUjwzjmWO5+QFgNmHgNpoBqwFknehprcDYS0SBxmK5PsOQbyS46Z4YxjB3I3ArUcxOcX/vbmzR9+1NTlzm8+Y/zgA5Ax7/zhgw9+VODWwsDAYYDMOwwmD+BRDwTsD5B5dfgVj4JRMApGwYgEAI+qWQFE/e0+AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1749-1187","institution":"Université Évangélique en Afrique: Universite Evangelique en Afrique","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"ELYSEE","middleName":"SMITH","lastName":"KITUNGANO","suffix":""},{"id":585964294,"identity":"d685ffb8-4b83-4ef0-85f2-6fbeb4f3a32c","order_by":1,"name":"Mulumeoderhwa Munyakazi Fidèle","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Université Évangélique en Afrique: Universite Evangelique en Afrique","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mulumeoderhwa","middleName":"Munyakazi","lastName":"Fidèle","suffix":""},{"id":585964295,"identity":"dc69d8ff-ef39-4c11-a368-d7bde5a11cef","order_by":2,"name":"Erhahamoba Mweze Pascal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Université Évangélique en Afrique: Universite Evangelique en Afrique","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Erhahamoba","middleName":"Mweze","lastName":"Pascal","suffix":""},{"id":585964296,"identity":"6b2cd820-5f3e-4091-a424-2a77dfd1f50d","order_by":3,"name":"Claude Kahindo Richard","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Université Évangélique en Afrique: Universite Evangelique en Afrique","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Claude","middleName":"Kahindo","lastName":"Richard","suffix":""},{"id":585964297,"identity":"fd2451d2-c828-4e83-856b-ea36f3cfeec2","order_by":4,"name":"Budurha Miranyo Jean","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Université Évangélique en Afrique: Universite Evangelique en Afrique","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Budurha","middleName":"Miranyo","lastName":"Jean","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-23 13:50:03","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8679821/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8679821/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102229502,"identity":"367addc4-43f9-46c9-b221-89a623896637","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-09 15:17:02","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":608643,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"CLIMATICCHANGEPAPERSMITH.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8679821/v1_covered_5922dea1-0705-43a6-96dd-a020f14153d8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEthical approval was not required for this study. 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