Climate Adaptive Measures Among Smallholder Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Agricultural production/activities in Nigeria depends on rainfall, which often occurs only at certain times of the year and thus makes agriculture very susceptible to crop failure, insect infestation which causes poor returns on agricultural produce for farmers . Adoption of climate change mitigating strategies is key to coping with variations in weather conditions and the achievement of increased agricultural production and food security in Nigeria. This study analyzed the use of climatic adaptive measures among smallholder farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used in selecting 200 respondents in the study area. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a regression model. The results showed that the most climatic adaptive methods adopted by the farmers were multiple cropping (90.0%) followed by mulching (62.50%), crop rotation (25.0%), and cover cropping (22.50%). According to the findings of the research, the farmers identified multiple cropping as the most suited climatic adaptive method to the farming system in the study area to avert the uncertainty associated with agriculture. The regression analysis showed that age, sex, marital status, household size, educational qualification, access to credit, agriculture extension contacts, membership of farmers groups/cooperatives, and monthly income influenced the adoption of the climatic adaptive measures by the smallholder farmers in the study area. Government and other agricultural stakeholders should therefore take steps to improve the climate resilience of smallholder farmers by building their capacity on multiple cropping