LEVEL OF RICE FARMERS EARLY WARNING INFORMATION ON FLOOD ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN HADEJIA AGRICULTURAL ZONE, JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examines the level of rice farmer’s early warning information on flood adaptation strategies in Hadejia agricultural zone, Jigawa state, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in the selecting of 278 respondents for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that almost all (96%) of the respondents were male and over half (53%) of the respondents were in the age bracket of 25 - 40 years and majority (79%) of the respondents were married. The finding indicated that 48% of the respondents had household size of 1-5 persons and 42% of the respondents had formal education and majority (60%) of the respondents had more than 11 years of farming experiences. Also, majority (70%) of the respondents had 0.1 - 2.5 hectares of land for cultivation. The result indicated that the use of early maturing crop had high adaptation to flooding as early warning information while shifting of land had low adaptation among rice farmers in the study area. However, the study revealed that flood preparedness was the highest regarded factor, with a mean of 64.3 and timeline for early warning had a mean of 56.1 while frequency of alerts received the lowest with a mean of 51.7 which indicated variability in its perceived importance. The study concludes that farmers had positive respond on the use of adaptation strategies against flood incident in the study area. Based on the results, the study recommend that farmers training, improved in communication strategies, and infrastructure development are crucial for boosting the resilience of rice farmers in flood-prone areas.