ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CHOICE OF ADAPTATION STRATEGIES AMONG ARABLE CROP FARMERS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

The study was conducted to analyze factors influencing the choice of adaptation strategies among arable crop farmers in South-east Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified the climate change adaptation measures adopted by arable crop farmers and examined the socioeconomic factors influencing the choice of the adaptation measures used by the farmers. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was adopted to select 240 respondents for the study. Data were obtained using a well-structured questionnaire and interview schedule and analyzed using means, frequencies, percentages, and Multinomial Logit model. Results showed that the adaptation strategies of arable crop farmers were changing planting dates (99.6%), improved crop varieties (93.8%), erosion control (89.6%), and crop diversification (89.2%), while strategies like irrigation (8.3%) and agroforestry (7.1%) were not commonly used by the farmers. Farming experience, education, age, access to credit, training, and extension contact, significantly influence how the farmers adopted climate change adaptation strategies. However, farming experience and education increase the likelihood of high adaptation use, while low and high utilization levels were adversely affected by access to credit and farm size. The study recommended that government and extension organizations should give priority to farmer-to-farmer mentorship and capacity-building programs in order to provide more farmers with useful adaptation skills, as farming experience and training greatly improve the possibility of high adaptation use.