DETERMINANTS OF COPING STRATEGIES AMONG SMALLHOLDER ARABLE CROP FARMERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the coping strategies among smallholder arable crop farmers to climate change in Ondo state, Nigeria. The study described the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, identified sources through which farmers get information on climate change, examined the perception of farmers on climate change, identified climate change coping strategies used by smallholder arable crop farmers, determined the factors influencing the choice of climate change coping strategies among smallholder arable crop farmers and identified constraints to climate change coping strategies among arable crop farmers in the study area A multistage sampling technique was used to select 180 smallholder arable crop farmers in the study area and structured questionnaire was administered on them. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, likert rating scale and multinomial logit regression model. The results showed that 87.2% were married while the average age of the respondents was 42.44 years. The average household size was 7 and 91.7% respondents had formal education. Majority (37.2%) of the respondents had farm size of 1.0 hectares or less while 51.1% had 10 years or less of farming experience. The results also showed that majority of the respondents (71.7%) engaged in other income generating activities. The results further showed that extension agents and radio/TV were the major sources of information on climate change. The analysis of farmers’ perception revealed a strong agreement to climate change cause and effect on arable crop production. The results also showed that coping strategies employed were; mixed cropping, early planting, off farming activities, delay planting, mixed farming, crop diversification, early harvesting, mulching and no coping strategies used and majority (52.2%) of the respondents employed mixed cropping as coping strategy. The results from Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) were statistically significant at 10%, 5% and 1 % levels. The result indicated that age, gender, marital status, farming experience, household size, educational level, farm size, access to extension services, farmer-to-farmer extension, access to credit, group membership, access to input subsidy and land ownership were the major factors that statistically significantly influenced farmers’ choice of coping strategies to mitigate effect of climate change in the study area. Majority (66.7%) of the respondents said inadequate access to water for irrigation system was a major constraint to coping strategies. The study therefore, concluded that climate change information, socio-economic and institutional factors are essential for the smallholder arable crop farmers to choose appropriate coping strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change in the study area.