Determinants of awareness levels of climate smart agricultural technologies and practices of urban farmers in Kuje, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices are important for achieving soil moisture conservation, erosion reduction, soil fertility enhancement, increasing and stabilizing crop yield and livelihoods, enhancing ecosystem services, achieving food security, tackling climate change problems, and improving the climate change resilience of farming ecosystems. Awareness (and subsequent adoption) of these technologies by farmers depends heavily upon a number of factors related to the farmer and the farming environment. There are very few studies that investigate how such factors influence awareness levels of CSA technologies in urban farming households, as most completed studies are on determinants of adoption of the technologies, especially by rural farmers. Yet urban agriculture is an important economic activity in many cities, especially in developing countries. This paper evaluates the factors that influence levels of awareness of CSA technologies among urban farmers in Kuje town (Nigeria), using data collected from 491 farming households. The results showed that the farmers that are more educated; older; having larger family sizes, income sources and economic assets; with greater climate change experience and local knowledge; and having farmlands with better physical conditions have more awareness of CSA adaptation strategies. Eleven other factors (namely marital status, tribal inclination, gender, religion, extension service, capacity building, security of tenure, institutional support, farmer organisational affiliation, distance to farmlands, and availability of loans and incentives) have no significant influence on the farmers’ awareness levels of CSA adaptation strategies in the study area. Some ideas were given on how to improve these explanatory factors to help more awareness in the area learn about the CSA.