ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS’AWARENESS AND ADAPTATION MEASURES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE NORTHERN ZONE OF SOKOTO STATE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Abstract

The study assessed the awareness and adoption of climate change and adaptation measures among arable crop farmers in the northern zone of Sokoto State Agricultural Development Project. Five out of the twelve Local Government areas in the zone were purposively selected using multistage random sampling techniques. Two hundred and forty respondents were randomly selected for the study from the list of registered farmers in Sokoto State Agricultural Development Project (SADP). The random or the purposive selection which was based on their poor climatic conditions, drought and subsequent long period of dry spells in the rainy season. Primary data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data was through the use of descriptive statistics, regression analysis and Chi-square analysis. The results showed that all of the respondents were male and married with a mean age of 31 years. The results also showed that 65% had no formal education. Furthermore, the household size has a mean of 6 persons, farm size has a mean of 2.5ha, farming experience has a mean of 12 years and annual income has a mean of N14, 742.92k. The adopted adaptation measures were: early planting (100), planting more than one crop (100%), using cover crop (92.9%), using soil conservation techniques (41.7%) and using early maturing crops (35.4%). The socio-economic factors that were significantly related to adoption were: annual income, farm size and farming experiences. Constraints to adoption of adaptation measures include: Inadequate operating capital, Illiteracy, Inadequate market and Poor access to extension services. The need for farmers to form cooperatives societies, provision of adequate extension support services, encouraging formal education through literacy programmes, provision of rural infrastructures, organizing seminars/ workshops on climate change adaptation measures, control of removal of trees and creating more rangelands were offered as recommendations.