Agricultural adaptation strategies to climate change in Sokoto state, Semi-arid region of Nigeria

Abstract

Unfolding environmental strains, especially due to climate change have continued to prompt local farmers to search for coping strategies within the constraints of limited resources. This paper investigated the agricultural adaptation strategies to climate change in some selected rural settlements in Sokoto State. A sample size of 234 respondents was used in this study. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the local farmers’ agricultural adaptation strategies. The variations of the strategies among the selected settlements were examined using chi-squared and zscore while the prevalence of each of the strategies was ranked using simple percentages. The results, among others, revealed that with the exception of the combination of farming with non-farm livelihoods, the strategies vary significantly among the selected settlements. This implies that the variation of agricultural adaptation to climate change is a function of the uneven distribution of natural and socio-economic resources. It is recommended that efforts toward complementing local farmers’ strategies should be place-specific taking into consideration the spatial variations of environmental and socio-economic resources.

Key words: Agriculture, Adaptation strategies, climate change, Sokoto and Nigeria