Abstract: This study was undertaken to assess the climate variability and change trends and farmers’ perception to these changes in relation to rainfall pattern and the farmers’ adaptation strategies in Egbeda local government area, Oyo State, southwest Nigeria. The study sourced primary data from a total of 411 households who are mainly farmers and it also used different methods and approaches including Social Analysis System (SAS2), multi-stage sampling techniques, structured questionnaires, focused group discussion and key informant/in-depth interview. The secondary data was obtained from credible publications and institutions including the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet). The primary data obtained was triangulated with the secondary data to arrive at the findings of this study which covered a period of 30 years from 1985 to 2015. The findings from this study showed that though the duration of rainfall has decreased, the intensity has increased during the period under review and this trend is likely to continue under business as usual scenario. It further showed that these changes has led to unreliability and unpredictability of rainfall pattern which has resulted in early or late onset of rain and early or late cessation of rainfall pattern in the study area. The perception of farmers in the region also varied significantly on the causes of the changes in the rainfall pattern which ranged from the cause been perceived as an act of God, the sin of mankind, climate change to those that had no idea on what caused the change. All these aforementioned factors combined has led to the decrease adaptive capacity of the farmers to the impacts of climate change and as well increased the cases of low agricultural productivity in the region. In order to avoid mal-adaptation and also help farmers to effectively adapt to the impacts of the changing climate experienced through this high degree of variability in rainfall pattern, there is urgent need by researchers, scientists, policy makers, relevant government institutions, non-governmental organizations and private sector to make available and scale up climate information services targeting farmers and involving farmers in the planning, designing and implementation of such intervention to ensure effective adoption and sustainability of such initiative. This will go a long way in building the resilience of farmers to the impacts of climate change as well as securing livelihood and food production based on a well-informed appropriate policies and adaptation strategies at local, national and regional level.
Keywords: Climate variability, climate change, rainfall changes, adaptation, perception.
Title: Farmers’ Perceptions of Changes in Rainfall Pattern and Adaptation to Climate Change in Southwest Nigeria, Egbeda Local Government Area
Author: Ogallah Samson Samuel, Wandiga Shem, Olago Daniel, Oriaso Silas
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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