Assessing the impact of climate change and farmers' adaptation strategies on agricultural crop production at a community level in Southwestern Nigeria

This study investigated the impact of climate variability and farmers' adaptation strategies on food crop productivity in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, southwestern Nigeria. It also examined various adaptation strategies used by indigenous farmers to cope with climatic variability and assessed the constraints of these strategies. The aim was to identify the robustness and future use of adaptation strategies for improved crop production in the area. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach including social surveys, interviews, and climate data analysis to achieve the study’s objectives. The results showed increases in annual rainfall (2.2 mm/year) and temperature (0.02 ℃/year) pattern between 1975 and 2014 over the study area. About 88.1% of the respondents were fully aware of evidence of climate change and its impacts on farming activities. Results further revealed a reduction in agricultural produce over the years, with 84.6% of the respondents linking this effect to climate change impact. Approximately 85.8% of the farmers consciously adopted changes in planting dates to adapt to the changing climate in the region. Some constraints to effective climate change adaptation strategies include the high cost of farm inputs, unpredictable weather, and a shortage of credit facilities. The study concluded that the regional climate has changed over the years and that the adoption of adaptation strategies such as changes in planting dates, the use of improved crop varieties, and weather forecast services could effectively improve sustainable food production under future climate change in the study area.