Small Scale Farmers' Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in Nasarawa State of Nigeria

Abstract

Climate change and severe weather events such as temperature shocks and declining rainfall often strongly impede sustainable farming development, especially where agriculture is rain fed and when other external shocks such as poverty, poor access to inputs and credit are common. This is the context in which small scale farmers carry out their farming and other livelihoods activities. This study compares small scale farmers' perception of temperature and rainfall with the result of 30 years (1980-2009) meteorological records of temperature and rainfall, examines the farmers adaptation practices in response to climate change and the constraints to their adaptation. The study found an increasing trend in minimum and maximum temperature and a decline in rainfall trend. This validates the farmers' perception of temperature and rainfall. Tree cutting (50.7%) and sin (45.7%) are the perceived leading causes of climate change. Farmers mostly engage in change in planting date (97.8%), tree planting (77.5%) and crop diversification (70.3) in response to climate change. Inadequate money (70.3%) is the leading constraint to adaptation. There is need for extension services and the mass media to create awareness on the causes of climate change. Efforts that address poverty and provide access to agricultural support services like farm inputs and weather forecasting service will help enhance farmers' adaptive capacity to climate change.

Keywords: Adaptation; Climate Change; Perception; Small Scale Farmers.