Assessment of Climate Change on Sesame Cultivation in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract. The study was conducted to determine the assessment of climate change and ascertain the awareness among sesame farmers in Makurdi local government area of Benue state. A sample of 120 farmers participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and logit regression were used to analyse the data. The results shows that more male farmers (69.2%) within the age range of 21-40 years are involved in the production of sesame when compared to female farmers (30.8%). It was observed that most of the farmers are married (82.5%). The educational level is low among sesame farmers with most of them having only primary education (45%). The result also shows that most of the farmers have farming experience of less than 10years with a farm size of less than 4 hectares. Insect infestation, soil erosion is perceived as reasons for low yield. Sesame farmers have adapted to such changes through the use of improved seed varieties, use of chemicals and mixed cropping. Results also showed that extension agents, educated farmers and relatives were the major sources of information about climate change. It was also revealed that climate has little effect on sesame as the average yield of the crop is 57.5% compared to low yield of 13.3%, also socio-economic characteristics of the farmers do not have any significant effect on the awareness of climate change as only household size and age are statistically significant at 1% and 5% respectively. To improve farmers’ awareness on climate change, the study recommends that there should be improvement in newspaper and radio/television broadcast in other to sustain sesame production in the event of climate change. Keywords. Agriculture, climate change, perception, sesame, sandy loam, Nigeria. JEL. O12, O13, Q18.