Abstract:
The Impacts of climate change on crop production and farm level adaptation practices was under
taking in southeast Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design using three
research questions on a sample of 160 crop farmers from Enugu and Imo States in South-east
Nigeria. Data was collected using a 66-item questionnaire fashioned into 4-point rating scale to
ascertain effects of climate change on cropping system, crop production, level of climate change
awareness of farmers, and adaptive practices by the farmers. The instrument was face-validated
by three experts and the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficients of 0.81, 0.76 and 0.79 were
respectively obtained for climate change awareness of farmers, effects of climate change on
crop production and adaptation practices in crop production. The study established that Crop
farmers have knowledge of climate change. The climate change indicators that farmers in
southeast Nigeria are aware of include, intense heat, lengthy drought, reduced amount of
rainfall, unusual heavy rainfall, flooding, drying up of rivers, lakes and streams. In spite of this
awareness, the study also discovered that the adaptive ability of the crop farmers is still very low |
