ASSESSMENT OF VEGETABLE FARMERS’ ADAPTATION STRATEGIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN IFE, OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

• F. I. Wole-Alo

  Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

  Author

• J. A. Akinwale

  Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

  Author

• G. G. Akinyemi

  Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

  Author

Vegetable being crop with much nutrients are affected by climate change which pose a threat to its production and leads to it scarcity in some areas in Nigeria. The study was carried out to assess vegetable farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in Osun State, Nigeria. A validated interview schedule was used to get information from 120 respondents randomly selected from 8 communities out of the thirty Local Government Areas in Osun State that cultivate vegetables. The results were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The study revealed that married (65.8%) adults mostly female (56.7%) involved more in vegetable farming than male counterpart. The study revealed that reduced soil fertility (x = 6.29), drought (x = 4.58), inadequate rain (x = 4.48), flood (x = 4.42), erosion (x = 4.33), pest and disease (x = 4.28), heavy winds (x = 4.26), extreme weather condition (x = 4.23) and heavy rain and intense sunlight (x = 4.19) were the adverse effect of climate change. It was also revealed that mixed cropping (x = 3.49), use of chemical fertilizer (x = 3.45), use of improved crop varieties (x = 3.44), mulching (x = 3.41), intensive manure application (x = 3.31), use of irrigation (x = 3.28), crop rotation (x = 3.21) and agro forestry practices (x = 3.19) were the adaptation strategies mostly used by farmers to combat climate change. From the study, it was revealed that there is no significant relationship between the effect of climate change on farmer’s production and climate change strategies (r=0.09; significant ≤0.05). It is pertinent for vegetable farmers to employed proper adaptation strategies such as mixed cropping, apply chemical fertilizer, use of improved crop varieties, mulching, intensive manure application and use of irrigation to combat climate change. Introduction The impact of climate has become a recurrent subject of global deliberation in recent times. The intensity of the deliberation is on the increase due to the enormity of the challenge posed by the phenomenon especially in the third world. Though the threat of climate change is universal, agricultural production activities are generally more vulnerable than other sectors. The impact of climate change on the Nigerian agricultural sector is of particular interest to policy makers, because agriculture is a key sector in the economy accounting for between 60-70% of the labour force and contributing about 40% to the GDP (IPCC, 2007; Deressa et al., 2008). According to Ward (2016), the term ‘vegetable’ in its broadest sense refers to any kind of plant life or plant product. In the narrower sense, it refers to the fresh, edible portion of herbaceous plant consumed in either raw or cooked form. Vegetable crops are classified as fruit vegetables such as tomato, cucumber, watermelon, peas; root and tuber/root vegetables such as carrot, potato, sweet potato, radish, elephant foot yam; green leafy vegetables such as Amaranthus, celery, cabbage, curry leaf and bulb vegetables such as onion and garlic. Vegetables are a rich source of vitamins, carbohydrate, salts and protein (Ozor and Nnaji, 2011). They are the best resources for overcoming micronutrient deficiencies and provide smallholder farmers with much higher income and more jobs per hectare than staple crops. Increasing the production and consumption of vegetables is an obvious pathway to improve 14

1. F. I. Wole-Alo, Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

   Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

2. J. A. Akinwale, Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

   Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

3. G. G. Akinyemi, Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

   Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

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