Perceived Resilience Capacity of Rice Farmers to Climate Change in Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Abstract
Climate change is exposing rice production systems to a range of shock and stress such as more variable water supply, increased pest and diseases and other extreme weather vagaries (flood and drought). This study determined rice farmers’ perceived resilience capacity to climate change in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was employed in selecting 104 respondents for the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interview schedule. Percentage scores, mean and standard deviation were used in presentation of results. Mean age of respondents was 42.95 years while mean years of farming experience was 21.85 years. Findings show that the impact of climate change on rice production includes: reduction in income ( =3.61), uncertainties in planting date ( =3.56), change in harvesting date ( =3.18), loss of rice farm to flood ( =3.09). Results show that areas of rice farmers’ resilience capacity to climate change were: planting improved varieties of seed ( =4.76), availability of soil that retains water longer ( =3.33), access to very fertile soil for rice production ( =3.28) and good amount of solar radiation ( =3.21). However, areas in which respondents’ did not perceive as sources of resilience capacity were: favourable government policies ( =2.37), good marketing policies ( =2.57), access to insurance ( =2.84). It is recommended that favourable policies that help rice farmers cope with negative effects of climate change be enacted and implemented. Such policies should address issues of marketing and insurance of rice farms against disasters such as flood, drought, diseases and pests infestation.Key words: Perceived Resilience, Climate change, Adaptation strategies, Rice farming

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
JAE supports free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research and development practice are made widely available. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for readers, increases their ability to discover pertinent information. The Journal adopts and uses the CC BY-NC-ND license. Under this license users are permitted to: Copy and distribute the article (non-commercially); you can’t change or alter the article in anyway; Users are not allowed to data mine the article.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).