Awareness, Knowledge and Perception of Climate Change among Smallholder Farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Climate change impacts negatively on peoples’ livelihoods particularly in developing countries, such as Nigeria where agriculture employs a large proportion of the population and the farming systems dominated by smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers often adopt in several ways to farming systems, in many instances, adaptation strategies have exacerbated poverty, food insecurity and left behind vulnerable agrarian communities. This study examines awareness, knowledge and perception of climate change among smallholder farmers in Kwara State. The study was carried out in the four agricultural zones of Kwara State namely: derived savanna, floodplain, guinea savanna and rainforest zone. Mixed method approach was employed in the study. Sample size was determined after Krejcie and Morgan's (1970). Altogether, 1,470 farmers households were sampled, 4 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) sessions and 5 Key Informant Interviews (KII) were also conducted in each of the zones studied. Descriptive statistics including thematic analyses were used in this study. The findings were that respondents employed strong understanding of climate change in all the zones. They identified the indicators of climate change as: crop failure (82.3%), drought (68.2%) and rising temperature (54%). The study concluded that the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers were effective in checking the menace of climate change in the study area. It was recommended that aggressive climate education of local farmers, intervention of early warning, and the provision of climate suitable crops among others should be encouraged among the farmers.