Abstract
Information on climate risks communicated timely, in clear and relevant terms and through credible sources is essential for mobilizing decision makers across societies to take actions that will enhance their capacity and willingness to adapt to climate change. An informed public is better able to prepare for a likely occurrence of climate disaster and thus avert or cope with its attendant effects. The study analyzed information needs for climate change adaptation among rural farmers in Imo state, Nigeria. Specifically, it determined the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, investigated their knowledge of climate change, identified their sources of information on climate change, identified their information needs for climate change adaptation and analyzed the socio-economic determinants of the farmers’ needs for climate change adaptation. Data were elicited from 120 farmers using structured questionnaire and interview schedule. These were analyzed using percentages, bar charts and mean statistics. The hypothesis was analyzed using ordinary least square regression model at 0.05%. Results revealed that majority (95.1%) of the farmers described their knowledge of climate change as change in rainfall pattern. It also revealed that the farmers identified radio (61.6%), extension agents (35.8%) and newspaper (27.5%) as their major sources of information on climate change. The result further revealed that the farmers identified effects of climate change (M=4.15), causes of climate change (M=4.06), vulnerable groups to climate change (M=4.03), appropriate socio-cultural practices in climate change adaptation (M=3.99), crops adaptable to climate change (M=3.96), sources of information on climate change (M=3.93), agroforestry practices (M=3.89), flood/erosion control practices (M=3.85), afforestation practices (M=3.75), carbon trading (M=3.68) and adaptation strategies (M=3.34). The study recommended the organization of capacity building programmes relevant to agriculture, the timely generation and dissemination of information on climate change and the reviewing of extension curriculum to accommodate the training of extension personnel on climate change issues as strategies for enhancing adaptation to climate change.
Highlights
Climate change will have significant impacts on the livelihoods of rural poor in developing countries
Farming experience (X4), household size (X6), farm size (X7), farming status (X8) and membership of social organizations (X9) were positively and significantly related to the farmers’ information needs for climate change adaptation
Adaptation to climate change has remained a viable option for dealing with the impacts and effects of climate change
Summary
Climate change will have significant impacts on the livelihoods of rural poor in developing countries. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report 2007 provides an extensive assessment on the expected effects of climate change on agriculture in the African region. It estimates that Africa will be the most vulnerable to climate change globally, due to the increase by between 1.5-4.0°C in temperature in this century. The agricultural sector is expected to experience periods of prolonged droughts and/or flood during the El Nino events. Fisheries will be affected due to changes in sea temperature that could decrease trends in productivity by 50-60% [1]
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