Effects of Institutionnal Factors on Climate Change Mitigation Strategies Amongst Rice Farmers in Nort-east Zone, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract This study ascertained on-farm mitigation strategies to climate change effects amongst rice farmers, in North-East Zone, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling techniques was used to select 300 rice farmers. Data for this study were collected through primary and secondary sources. The analytical tools used to analyze the data obtained were descriptive (frequency count, percentages and weighted mean) and inferential (multiple regression analysis) statistics. The results of the institutional factors shows that majority (86.0%) of the rice farmers were members of cooperatives associations with 6–10 years of cooperative membership experience. The result further shows that all the rice farmers engaged labour on farm work and majority (90.0%) of them used family source of labour. About 17.7% of the rice farmers had access to credit facilities out of which majority (83.0%) of them obtained a loan of ₦200, 000 and below from their respective sources. Only few (9.0%) of the rice farmers had extension contact out of which 14.8% of them had contacts twice with extension agent during the period under review. Majority of the farmers’ level of use of climate change mitigation strategies fell within 1.0-1.70 mean value. Therefore, it is concluded that few rice farmers had access to agricultural loan facilities. Also, the level of use of climate change mitigation strategies were generally low. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be modalities that would provide an avenue for farmers to have easy access to agricultural loan facilities. Also, farmers should be encourage through awareness campaign to enhance their level of use of climate change mitigation strategies in order to effectively avert its adverse effects.