Socio-economic determinants of irrigation technology adoption in the management of climate risk in Nigeria.

Abstract

Climate change is expected to compound existing challenges of draught, flood and rainfall variability. It becomes imperative to understand the existing structure of irrigation farming and the socio economic determinants of utilization. The most recent farm household data collected by the National Bureau of statistics in 2010 was used. Results revealed only a few farm households irrigated their plots (3%). Among irrigated plots, 57% used rivers and streams for irrigation; followed by lake (16%) and borehole (15%). Much of irrigation farming was traditional as more than half of the respondents indicated using buckets (11%), diversion of streams (53%) and Shodouf (1%) technology. Access to credit and mono cropping increased the probability of irrigated agriculture while rural location reduced irrigation agriculture. This study suggests the importance of access to credit, transaction cost, extension services and targeting of women and rural areas in the expansion of irrigated agriculture in Nigeria.

Key words: irrigated agriculture, climate change, productivity and socio economic Factors