ADAPTIVE CAPACITY OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE: A SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD APPROACH FOR RURAL NIGERIA

Abstract

Agricultural production in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa is generally at the center of multiple risk factors: natural, ecological, climate change, social, and economic. Climate change compounds the problem. Hence, several concepts and frameworks have emerged in the literature to analyze farmers' vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and resilience. The study utilized the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) to analyze the distribution and determinants of farmers' adaptive capacity. Data were sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics and subjected to a multi-criteria decision and Tobit regression analyses. Access to community infrastructure, asset ownership, social capital, and support from family members were the highly weighted indicators of farmers' adaptive capacity upon which farm households were classified. The results show that, in comparison to the other distribution patterns, rural Nigeria has a disproportionately low adaptive capacity. Male-headed households had poor adaptation ability, whereas farm households associated with urban areas showed moderate adaptive capacity. Nonetheless, compared to households with poor adaptive ability, fewer households have intermediate adaptive capacity. The Tobit Regression showed that the following factors were statistically significant in increasing farmers' adaptive capacity: school feeding program (p < 0.01), government economic support programs (N-power) (p < 0.05), e-wallet input subsidy (p < 0.05), growth enhancement scheme (p < 0.05), remittances from overseas (p < 0.05), tractor use (p < 0.01), and livestock ownership (p < 0.01). Years of schooling (p<0.01), farmers' cooperative (p<0.01), and saving cooperative (p<0.01) are other statistically significant factors. However, small farmers' adaptive capacity was reduced by being male headed (p<0.01), utilizing a plough (p<0.01), and losing a household job (p<0.01). The study revealed the structure of farm households' poor adaptive ability in rural Nigeria, and the need for institutional support to increase adaptive capability.