AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND CLIMATE CHANGE: BUILDING ADAPTIVE CAPACITY TOWARDS AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS IN NIGER STATE

Abstract

This study appraises the agricultural extension and climate change adaptive capacity towards agricultural impacts in Niger state, Nigeria. A multistage cluster sampling technique was used to randomly select 250 respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were male 95.10%. Out of the 250 respondents, 51% had their ages ranging from 30 to 40 years and 60% had formal education and 80.4% had access to extension services. The majority of the respondents were married 95.5% and their sources of information were mainly radio, extension agents, and fellow farmers. Respondents’ awareness of climate change adaptation strategies was at low and moderate levels. Planting of improved crop varieties and change in planting dates were some strategies adopted to overcome climate change. The respondents’ climate change perception on high temperature was at (M=5.34), low rainfall (M=4.82), and land degradation (M=4.66). Therefore, the study concludes that extension services were the appropriate means of improving climate change adaptation strategies. It also recommends that extension agents should visit farmers more often to raise awareness and to increase the knowledge of farmers on adaptation strategies.