Fish farmers’ perception of climate change in Oyo – State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the perceived effects of climate change on production among fish farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting respondents for the study. Simple random sampling was used to select four Local Government Areas (LGAs) with high number of registered fish farmers in each vegetational zone. Proportionate random sampling was used to select 146 respondents for the study. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The age of the respondents ranges from 20-50 years. Seventy three percent (73%) are in their active years (20-49 years) and constitute the bulk of the labour force. Majority of the respondents (80.8%) had above six years of experience in fish farming activities and many (61%, earns above N45,000 as income from fish sale. However, most fish farmers (73.3%) engage in mud cat fish production. Respondents’ level of awareness about climate change reveals that 51.5% have low level of awareness about climate change base on scores which is below 14.0. Respondents adopted different strategies to climate change. Fifty-four percent of the respondents have high level of adaptation strategy to change in climate. Majority (72.6%) of the respondents had negative perception about the effects of climate change to fish production. The result of analysis indicated that there is significant relationship between age (r = 0.002, p = 0.05) and perceived effects of climate change on production among fish farmers. There is also a significant relationship (r = 0.039, p = 0.05) between awareness and perceived effect of climate change on production. Furthermore there is also significant relationship (r = 0.032, p = 0.05) between adaptation strategies and perceived effects of climate change. The result of chi-square analysis indicates that there is significant relationship (X2 = 0.003; p = 0.05) between feeding pattern and perceived effect of climate change on production among fish farmers. Respondents perceived a negative effect of climate change on fish production and adopted different strategies to adapt to change in the study area. Alleviation of constraints experienced by the respondents through provision of funds, mitigation measures and adaptive measures to reduce the impact of climate change is recommended.