Role of Agricultural Extension and Advisory Providers in Farm Disaster Management Response, and Recovery in the Face of Changing Climate in Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

Climate change can disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality thereby creating a challenging condition for farm disaster management. Hence, this paper examines the role of agricultural extension and advisory providers in farm disaster management response, and recovery in the face of changing climate in Southeastern Nigeria using appropriate standard methods by soliciting responses from 452 Agricultural Extension officers with the aid of questionnaire and oral discussions. Results showed that the farm disasters prevalent in the area includes floods (99.5%), landslides (93.8%), pests/diseases (95.1%), man-made disasters (98.4%) among others. The impacts are numerous such as loss of financial resources (93.5%), loss of human lives (99.3%), disruption of extension services delivery (100%), leads to epidemics (99.3%) and many more. The EASPs can render mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery services to smallholder farmers and communities to minimize losses, recovery time, and resources to fill the gap created by the extreme events. A quick recovery/revival to normal life can only be achieved immediately if skilled professional Extension workers are allowed to play their roles effectively.