Arable crop farmers’ decision making and adaptation strategies on climate change in ogun state, nigeria

Abstract

Climate and rural farmers’ resource allocation behavior are primary determinants of agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Hence, knowledge of the rural farmers about climate change is important in order to offer adaptation practices that mitigate its adverse effects. This study thus investigated the effects of climate change at the grassroots by considering the determinants of the communities’ adaptation to changes in climate in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study utilized primary data collected from 150 arable crop farmers selected across Ogun State through a multistage sampling technique. The data were obtained through administration of questionnaire designed to elicit information on socioeconomic characteristics and adaptation behaviors of the respondents to climate change. The multinomial logit regression model was used to capture choice probabilities across the various options of climate change adaptation strategies. Most (81.08 %) of the arable crop farmers were males with an average farming experience of 24 years. Some (22.97 %) respondents did not take up any climate change adaptation strategy, 45.95 % targeted rains to plant, 12.16 % used multiple strategies, 10.81 % adopted good soil conservation techniques, while 8.11% adopted wetland farming. The significant factors explaining the choice of climate change adaptation strategies taken up by the respondents were household size (p < 0.05), gender (p < 0.10), years of residence in a community (p < 0.05), educational level (p < 0.10), frequency of extension contact (p < 0.01), access to agricultural credit, and income from secondary occupation (p < 0.05). This paper provides interesting information on natural adaptation practices and these indigenous approaches would be useful to researchers and policy makers worldwide.