Gender-based Analysis of Rice Farmers’ Responses to Climate Change Adaptation Measures in South-East, Nigeria
Main Article Content
Abstract
Impacts of climate change affect women and men differently. Therefore, assessing women and men responses to climate action is necessary in determining trend of innovation uptake for strengthening the resilience and coping strategies of the farmers to handle the challenges of a changing environment. This paper investigates comparative analysis of rice farmers’ responses to adaptation measures of climate change in South-East, Nigeria Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting 360 respondents for the study. Data were obtained using structured questionnaire and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and Z-test analysis. Results revealed that major responses exhibited by the farmers towards the use of listed adaptation measures were seeking for information based on observed changes ( = 3.0 males and ( = 3.0) females) and consulting fellow farmers for advice ( = 2.6 males and ( = 2.6). In addition, the male farmers also opt for value addition to the remaining crops ( = 2.5) while on the other hand, the female farmers prefer reverting to indigenous methods or self help methods ( = 2.5) in other to salvage their rice farms. The male farmers had higher mean score on positive perception of effects of climate change adaptation measures however; the female farmers had lower mean score. There is need therefore to provide timely information and coordinated capacity building to rice farmers along gender based identified needs and changes. Z-test comparative analysis show no significant difference (1.67**) in responses to adaptation measures between male and female farmers. However, the study calls for gender specific climate change menace coping capacity building for the farmers among others. This will address their individual vulnerabilities, increase farmers’ resilience towards weather variability and strengthen their ability to respond positively to implementation of adaptation measures in their rice farms.
Article Details
References
Arbuckle, J. G. Jr., Morton. L. W., and Hobbs, J. (2015). Understanding Farmer Perspectives on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: The Roles of Trust in Sources of Climate Information, Climate Change Beliefs, and Perceived Risk. Environment and Behavior. 47(2) 205–234.
Ali, A. and Erenstien, O. (2017). Assessing farmer use of climate change adaptation practices and impacts on food security and poverty in Pakistan. Climate Risk Management. Open access Volume 16, 2017, Pages 183-194.
Chukwu, G.U. and Atukpawu, I.E. (2014). Assessment of the effects of climate change on Rainfall and temperature in Umudike, Abia state of Nigeria. International Journal of Innovative Environmental Studies Research 2 (3), September 2014. Pp 17-18.
Dah-gbeto, A, P., Villamor, G. B. (2016). Gender-specific responses to climate variability in a semi-arid ecosystem in northern Benin. Springerlink. Ambio 2016, 45(Suppl. 3):S297–S308.
Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette (FRNOG). (2007). Legal Notice on Publications of the Details of the Breakdown of the National and State Provisional 2006 Census. Retrived, 12th October, 2016. P 2.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), (2014), ‘Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’, IPCC Working Group II Report, Chapter 19, IPCC. P 3.
Jones, P.G. and Thornton, P.K. (2003). Croppers to livestock keepers: Livelihood transition to 2010 in Africa due to climate change. Global Environmental Change, Geneva World Health Organization.
Makini, F.W., Mulinge, W., Mose, L., Salasya, B., Kamau, G., Makelo, M., and On’gala, J. (2018). Impact of agricultural innovation platforms on smallholder livelihoods in Eastern and Western Kenya. FARA Research Reports Vol 2 (6): PP 18.
Okeke, C. G., and Oluka, S. I. (2014). A Survey of Rice Production and Processing in South East Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Technology (NIJOTECH). 36(1), 227 – 234.
Trans, T. K. V., Elahi, E., Zhang, L., Magsi, H., Pham, Q. T and Hoang, T. M. (2018) Historical perspective of climate change in sustainable livelihoods of coastal areas of the Red River Delta, Nam Dinh, Vietnam, International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-02-2018-0016. pp 2-3.
Umeh, O. J. (2015). Effectiveness of Gender mainstreaming on Grassroots Agricultural and Rural Development. In Contemporary Issues in Extension Systems and Development. Nwachukwu, I. (eds) Lamb House Publications. Umuahia. 91-95.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). (2018).The 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), Katowice Climate Change Conference. 2 - 15 December 2018. Katowice, Poland. 2-3.