Farmers’ Information Sources and Constraints to Climate Adaptability in Ondo State Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed farmers’ information sources and constraints to climatic adaptability in Ondo state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study ascertained the socio-economics characteristics of the respondents; examined the sources of information on climate change adaptability available to both gender respondents; compared the perceived knowledge of climate change adaptability of the respondents; determined the factors influencing respondents’ access to information on climate change adaptability; determine the factors influencing respondents utilization of information on climate change adaptability; and also identified the constraints faced by respondents relating to climatic adaptability. Multi-staged sampling technique was used to select and interviewed equal samples of male and female farmers of 120 respondents. Both the descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out and results showed that the mean age of farmers was 43.5 years, 82.5% of the farmers were married, with an average household size of 7 members. The average years of experience was 12.3 years, average size of farm land is 4.7 hectares. Results showed that farmers had access to information mainly through family and friends (70.8%). Majority of the farmers perceived climate change through higher sunshine intensity (97.5%), the adaptation activity embarked upon mostly by farmers was mulching (97.5%). The major factor influencing respondent’s access to information was electricity (=2.58). The major factor influencing utilization of information was past experience about climate change (=2.47), the major constraint to climatic adaptability were power (=4.28) and poor information on warning system ( =4.27).