Micro-scale adaptations to climate change among cocoa farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

Climate change-related environmental disruption is harming cocoa trees, increasing the cost of chocolate, and hindering global efforts in cocoa production to achieve sustainable development goals for food and nutrition security. There is a knowledge gap in the literature on the factors influencing the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder cocoa farmers in Nigeria. Hence, this research aims to identify the factors influencing micro-scale adaptation to climate change among cocoa farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria, with the goal of promoting the broader adoption of adaptation strategies for sustainable cocoa production. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select the respondents. Oyo State was divided into four zones, each containing eight blocks and eight cells. The Ibadan/Ibarapa zone was purposively selected due to the high level of farmers' involvement in cocoa production. Three blocks and two cells were randomly selected, resulting in six cells. Each cell contained at least 138 cocoa farmers. There are 1,204 registered cocoa farmers in the selected cells, from which 10% (120 farmers) were randomly selected for the interviews. The interviews focused on factors affecting coping mechanisms for climate change. The statistical tools used for data analysis were both descriptive and inferential. Coping mechanisms for climate change included anticipatory, reactive, or proactive measures. Common coping mechanisms used were frequent rehabilitation of old plants (52.5%), the use of minimum soil tillage for raising seedlings (68.3%), and changing cropping patterns (65.8%). Lack of technical know-how (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05; <italic>β</italic> = −0.15), access to information (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05; <italic>β</italic> = 0.21), and access to capital (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05; <italic>β</italic> = 0.31) significantly influenced micro-scale adaptation to climate change. Supporting the implementation of micro-scale adaptations, such as cocoa rehabilitation programmes with significant incentives (e.g., seedlings), can reduce vulnerability to climate-related hazards and improve farmers' overall resilience.