Effects of climate change on selected arable crops production in Niger State, Nigeria: Its implication for agricultural entrepreneur

Abstract

The study examined the effects of climate change on selected arable crops production in Niger State, Nigeria and its implication for agricultural entrepreneur. To achieve the study objectives, multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 184 farmers for the study. Validated instrument with reliability coefficient of 0.77 was used for data collection and data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result showed that mean age of the respondents was 41 years. Result indicated that bush and charcoal burning (98.90%) was the causes of climate change most respondents were aware of. Some of the perceived effects of climate change on arable crops production by respondents were increase in cost of production ( = 3.11) and stunted growth of arable crops ( = 3.00). Finding revealed that maize and rice were more severely affected by climate change. Further Analysis of Variance showed that there was significant difference (F= 2.19) in the severity of effects of climate change on the arable crops production. Mitigation/adaptation strategies adopted by all respondents to minimize the effects of climate change on arable crops production were crop diversification/rotation and cultivation of early maturing crops with 100.00% response rate each. Therefore, it was recommended that arable crops farmers should be encouraged by extension agents to adopt improved varieties of maize and rice that can withstand drought and other effects of climate change. It was also suggested that agricultural entrepreneur should mitigate the effects of climate change through agricultural insurance to provide succor against arable crops production risks.