ASSESSMENT OF SMALLHOLDER ARABLE FARMERS’ VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND THEIR ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN AKOKO AREA, ONDO STATE

Abstract

This study assessed the vulnerability of rural arable farmers to climate change and their adaptation strategies in Akoko Area, Ondo State. Primary data were collected from 200 respondents employing a multi-stage sampling. A Feasible General Least Square(FGLS) and Multinominal Logit(MNL) Models were used to assess the vulnerability of the respondents to climate change and the factors influencing the farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies in the study area respectively. The descriptive statistical tool showed that the respondents experienced rain inconsistency, drought, erosion and flood in the past five years. While 15.2% of the respondents did not adopt any strategy, others adopted mulching, off-farm diversification, crop rotation, agroforestry and varying planting and harvesting time to mitigate adverse effect of climate variability. At the standard vulnerability threshold of 0.5, it was discovered that majority (95.5%) of the respondents’ had a low vulnerability to climate change. Household size, level of education, income and age of household head reduced their vulnerability while number of dependent household members increased their vulnerability to climate change. The factors influencing their choice of adaptation strategies were: Age of the household head, level of education, number of extension visits, farm size, member of association, farm assets, vulnerability index, and household head income.