Evaluating constraints associated with farmers' adaptation strategies to climate change impact on farming in the tropical environment

The persistent threat of climate change poses challenges to food security, despite numerous adaptation strategies, necessitating attention to achieve sustainable livelihoods. This study conducted a survey among 220 farmers in fifteen selected rural communities from five political wards in Ondo West Local Government Area, Ondo State, Nigeria, using a multistage sampling technique. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyse data obtained. The results indicated that 90 % of the farmers had knowledge of consequences of climate change, while 75 % have adopted various strategies to cope with the menace. The data were factorable at p ≤ 0.05 using KMO and Bartlett's tests. Four variables were extracted out of nine analysed as significant to the explanation of constraints to CC adaptation strategies, namely: engagement in other jobs (16.499 %); farmers' experience with the varying nature of weather patterns (14.526 %); farm size variation (13.485 %); and the difficulty posed by coping with recurring erratic rainfall (11.925 %). All four variables identified and extracted explained 56.446 % of the constraints hindering farmers from coping with climate change. The study recommended further studies to identify other variables that could be accountable for the constraints in coping with the climate change scenario in the study area. The contributions of farmers' experiences to the failure of various strategies in coping with climate change form the nexus to other extracted variables and, therefore, need further investigation for sustainable agriculture globally.