RICE FARMERS’ADAPTATION STRATEGIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN NIGER AND NASARAWA STATES, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated rice farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in Niger and Nasarawa States, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in selecting six Local Government Areas for the data collection using structured questionnaire administered to the 218 rice farming household heads. The analytical tools employed were descriptive statistics, farm budgeting technique, perception index using a 5-point likert scale, a Multinomial logit model (mnl), and Translog Stochastic Frontier Profit Function (SFPF). The results revealed that the farmers in Niger State with a mean age of 45 years were older than their counterpart in Nasarawa with mean age of 39 years. Also all (100%) of the farmers in Niger State were male, compared to Nasarawa where (88.1%) were male. the average year of farming experience of 20, whereas the farm size ranges from 0.5 to 15 ha with mean of 1.95 ha and 1.73 ha in Niger and Nasarawa States respectively. The results showed that rice production is profitable with an estimated net farm income of N60,297.17 and N51,572.71 per hectare and the return on investment of N1.17 and N1.08 was realized as profit for every one naira invested in production of rice in Niger and Nasarawa States respectively. The gross ratio of 0.46 and the operating ratio of 0.44 are indicators that rice production was profitable in the study area. Furthermore, the perceived indicators of climate change included rising incidence of flood during raining season, premature ripening led to decline in rice yield and delay in cropping led to food insecurity in Niger State and shift in rainfall seasonality, Increased crop infestation by weeds and diseases, and Poor standard of living on rice production in Nasarawa State. Adaptation strategies frequently employed to combat the effects of climate change on rice production were use of a weather – resistance varieties, changing of planting and harvesting dates, mixed farming, increased use of agrochemicals, mulching, planting of early maturing varieties, planting across the slope(terracing). The result of the mnl showed that age, education, off farm income, rice farm size, farm experience and temperature were very germane in influencing farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in Niger state, while age, household size, farmers’ association, farming status, farm experience, access to early warning information and rainfall were important variables in influencing the choice of adaptation strategies to climate change by farmers in Nasarawa State. The result of tranlog stochastic function revealed that shows that rice farmers in both Niger and Nasarawa States were not all fully profit efficient and thus an average farmer in study area could potentially increase profit level if resources are more efficiently utilized. However, the results show that fertilizer, labour, agrochemical, farm size, age, household size, education, farming experience, awareness of climate change and access to climate information had significant effects on the profit efficiency of rice farmers in the study area. The study recommended that since the area has a great potential to increase rice production and farmers’ income, efforts should be made by encouraging rice farmers to adopt improved varieties of rice that can reduce the effects of climate change. Now that the present administration change mantra is geared towards agriculture youths in the country could be encouraged by government at all levels and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to venture into rice farming agribusiness that will serve as potential employment source and also provide support to rice farmers against crops production risk through agricultural insurance