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Effect of Climate Change Mitigating Practices on the Productivity of Arable Crop Farmers in Abia State, Nigeria


B. O. Okpara
I. O. Obasi
D. C. Nwaogu

Abstract

Agricultural production in Nigeria is heavily dependent on changes in climate over time. Farmers have identified and tried to manage such changes. This study therefore examined the effect of climate change mitigation practices on the productivity of arable crops farmers in Abia State, Nigeria. Data were elicited from 180 farmers (purposively selected) comprising of adopters and non-adopters of climate change mitigation practices drawn from the study population, while, descriptive statistics and regression techniques were used to analyze the data. The result showed that the use of organic manure and improved agricultural seedlings were the most adopted mitigation practices, while, thinning, zero tillage and zero bush burning were the least adopted. Adoption was expected as hypothesized to positively influence productivity as the productivity index of adopters (1.72) was higher than that of non-adopters (1.39), implying that applying climate change mitigation practices guarantee higher farm productivity. Farmers’ age, years in school, farm size, household size, and farming experience were the significant factors that affected productivity for adopters and age and years in school for non-adopters. There was a significant difference in the productivity of adopters and non- adopters. Based on the research, it was recommended that government should formulate and implement viable polices geared towards effectively mitigating the harsh effect of climate variability and effective extension of these practices to farmers.


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print ISSN: 0300-368X