Perception of Farmers on Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies Employed to Enhance Rice Production in Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined perception of farmers on climate change and adaptation strategies used to enhance rice production in Taraba State. Specifically, the study sought to determine the awareness level of rice farmers about climate change, perception of rice farmers regarding climate change and adaptation strategies used by the farmers in rice production in Taraba State. The study was guided by three research questions and three null hypotheses. The study employed survey research design. The population of the study was 608 rice farmers; using multi stage random sampling technique a sample size of 315 was selected and used for the study. Instrument used for data collection was a researchers’ designed structured questionnaire. The instrument was face validated by 3 experts, a field trial of the instrument was done using 20 rice farmers in Mayo Belwa Local Government Area, Adamawa state; using Cronbach Alpha technique, a reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained. The researchers administered 315 questionnaire instruments but 300 were retrieved (95% return rate). The data generated were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions while z-test was used to test the three null hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. Findings showed that the perception of farmers about climate change is positive, their level of awareness is high and multifarious adaptation strategies were used by rice farmers in Taraba State to combat the menace of climate change. The study concluded that the meteorological agency should keep on creating awareness for farmers. The study recommended among others, an up-to-date and continuous flow of information about climate change from government agencies to local farmers and vice versa for better use of current adaptive strategies to enhance rice production in Taraba State. Also, Farmers need supports regarding climate change which would help them to apply different mitigating measures against climate change for enhanced rice production in Taraba State.