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Vol.5 , No. 2, Publication Date: Jan. 25, 2018, Page: 43-51
 was used to appraise farmers’ predictability of rainfall as rainfall is the most important climatic variable in agricultural production. It was observed that the farmers are aware of the changes in climate and generally agreed that it was easy to predict the coming season and the seasons were distinct but now the rains have become more and more unpredictable. The study found that Climate variability has affected their crop yield and farm income. Rainfall, raining days, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and average relative humidity, were found to be significant determinants of crop outputs. Farmers had adopted some coping strategies such as, planting of different varieties of crops, changing the expanse of land put into crop production, use of chemical fertilizers, planting short gestation crops, believing these will go a long way reducing the effect of climate variability.&picture=http://www.aascit.org/aascit/decorators/img/journal/904.jpg)
| [1] | Oyeniyi Solomon Taiwo, Department of Geography and Environment Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. |
Change in climate and consequent global warming are posing threats to food security in many developing nations including Nigeria because of the climate-dependent nature of agricultural systems and lack of coping capabilities. This paper assessed farmer perceptions of climate variability in three urban fringe communities of Ilorin with a view to understanding farmers’ knowledge, opinion and response as regards the issue. Using systematic random sampling techniques, one hundred and fifty questionnaires were administered on arable farmers in the study areas. A cross-sectional questionnaires were administered, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was used to appraise farmers’ predictability of rainfall as rainfall is the most important climatic variable in agricultural production. It was observed that the farmers are aware of the changes in climate and generally agreed that it was easy to predict the coming season and the seasons were distinct but now the rains have become more and more unpredictable. The study found that Climate variability has affected their crop yield and farm income. Rainfall, raining days, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and average relative humidity, were found to be significant determinants of crop outputs. Farmers had adopted some coping strategies such as, planting of different varieties of crops, changing the expanse of land put into crop production, use of chemical fertilizers, planting short gestation crops, believing these will go a long way reducing the effect of climate variability.
Keywords
Climate Variability, Knowledge, Perceptions, and Predictability
Reference
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