Impact of climate change adaptation strategies on rice productivity in South-west, Nigeria: An endogeneity corrected stochastic frontier model

Abstract

The study assessed the impact of climate change adaptation strategies on technical efficiency of smallholder rice farmers in South-west Nigeria. An endogeneity corrected stochastic frontier model which account for the endogeneity of adoption of adaptation strategies that is likely to depend on inefficiency was employed for the study. The result of the study revealed that adoption of adaption strategies is endogenously determined with rice productivity and hence, failure to account for endogeneity, the parameter efficiency estimates would be inconsistent. The empirical results from the model show that quantity of labour, herbicides and the interaction of labour with both farm size and insecticides were statistically significant in explaining the variations in the efficiency of rice production in the study area. In addition, the study identified the combined effects of climate change adaptation strategies and some socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, education, farming experience, access to credit, access to information, membership of farmers in agricultural based cooperative and location of rice farmers as sources of technical inefficiencies. The study concluded that increase implementation of climate change adaptation strategies could enhance rice productivity and technical efficiency of rice farmers through timely access to climate change information and other related institutional support. Based on farmers' knowledge and understanding of changes in climatic conditions and the adaptation strategies to mitigate its effect, it is therefore important for the government, stakeholders and donor agencies to involve farmers in the climate change adaptation planning process.