Level of adoption of climate smart agriculture among smallholder rice farmers in Osun State: does financing matter?

Abstract

Application of climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies being context-specific is premised on integrating agroclimatic and socioeconomic conditions, institutional structures, and most importantly, financing mechanisms vis-à-vis the adoption capacities of the farmers. This study examined financing adoption intensity of CSA technologies among sampled smallholder rice farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. The results of this study point to the fact that gender of household head, marital status, access to climate information, access to off-farm income, access to cooperative and access to credit were the determinants of level of adoption of CSA technology amongst the smallholder rice farmers in the study area. In view of the nexus between CSA adoption level and access to credit as revealed in this study, increasing awareness about how the credit market works and information on the provision of climate change can help farmers to better adapt to climate change. This significant impact of the credit accessibility on level of CSA adoption confirms the critical role that credit availability has in climate financing. Thus, agricultural policies to improve institutional support, such as involvement in farm-based cooperative, credit facility, and off-farm income activities, are crucial to upscale CSA adoption in the study area. The income from non-farm activities can be reinvested into farm operations to improve farmers’ adaptive capacity and subsequently increase productivity. It could also be recommended that policies enhancing and strengthening institutional support may also be valuable in augmenting the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers.