Assessing Socio – Economic Benefits and Challenges of Climate – Smart – Agriculture on Perishable Food Crop Production System in Southwest Nigeria

Farming is predominant occupation of peasant rural dwellers in Nigeria. It is characterised as small-scale. Small-scale system is prune to climate change due to highly depended on climate and rainfed. Climate-Smart-agriculture is a transformation that brings about intensification, adaptation and mitigation using climate responsiveness in vegetable crop production system. The objective is to achieve sustainable production of tomatoes and peppers (perishable crops). The farmer in South - west Nigeria may not possess adequately the domestic resources required to match climate change adaptation activity, but adoption of Climate-Smart-Agriculture will position the farmers well in the vegetable crop production system. This study targets questions as: i. Is Climate-Smart-Agriculture the most efficient practice to alleviate shortage of tomato/pepper production in the region? ii. Does the Climate-Smart-Agricultural technique acceptable to farmers in the region? About 100 respondents is selected purposively for adopting the C-S-A techniques from 5 villages selected from Ede North local government area of the Osun state being one of the major producers of tomato and pepper crop in the state. Structured questionnaire adopted to source relevant data that will enhance sustainable crop production system. Data collected is analysed using descriptive and multiple regression model to determine contributing factors influence adoption. Climate resilient agriculture is known to have transformed the tomatoes/pepper production system in the North Nigeria, and the southern farmers could perform magic toward sustainable production and growth with efficient climate resilient practices. The findings revealed 53.1% farmers were young and well educated as 81.3% had tertiary education, and majority (78.1%) were male farmers. About 46.9%, 37.5% and 0.9% already adopted intercropping, crop rotation and irrigation system respectively. Also, age, educational level, farm distance and years of experience were determinant factors to adoption. The t-value (t=3.084) and p-value (p=0.003) which is less than 0.05 significant level revealed significant different in the crop yield produced by the farmers. The adoption in the Southwestern region will strengthen vegetable crop production system that brings increased yield.