Assessment of crop farmers vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change in Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study examined the mitigation and adaptation of climate change by crop farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Primary data was used to obtain a cross sectional data. Questionnaire was used to elicit relevant information from the respondents. Data collection lasted for two months that is from September 2014 to November 2014. Multistage sampling technique was used to elicit data from 280 respondents and data analysis was done making descriptive statistics. Results showed that most practiced adaptation, measures used included early planting, increased use of agrochemicals and weeding. Access to credit, household size, membership of association, farm size, number of hazards and topography were significant factors affecting vulnerability to climate change. The study concluded that farmers in the study area were employing one or more adaptation techniques to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. The study recommends making available credit facilities to farmers through Government intervention to enhance farmers incomes to enable them employ adaptive measures that could be effective in alleviating negative impacts of climate change. It was also recommended that farmers should be encouraged to join farmers groups/cooperatives to increase their chances of access to agricultural credit.