An Assessment of Gender-based Differences in Fish Farmers’ Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Aims: This study examined gender differences in vulnerability and adaptation to climate change among fish farmers. Study Design: This study adopted a quantitative research design. Place and Duration of Study: Ido Local Government Area (ILGA) of Oyo State, Nigeria, between July 2023 and August 2023. Methodology: We used a multi-stage sampling technique to select 120 fish farmers from eight villages across four wards in ILGA. Results The findings revealed that the majority (66.7%) of the respondents were male. Both male (25.8%) and female (15.0%) respondents were predominantly within the 36–45 age bracket, with mean ages of 40.76 ± 1.09 years for males and 38.90 ± 9.54 years for females. In terms of educational attainment, 40.0% of males and 18.3% of females possessed tertiary education, while 29.2% of males and 18.3% of females had between 1 and 10 years of fish farming experience. Extension agents and newspapers were identified as the major sources of climate change information. Both male and female farmers demonstrated awareness of climate change impacts, with perceived vulnerability being highest for poor-quality harvests (M = 1.40 ± 0.06; F = 1.43 ± 0.08) and heat stress on fish (M = 1.43 ± 0.06; F = 1.40 ± 0.08). Regarding adaptation strategies, both genders most frequently adopted short production cycles (M = 1.36 ± 0.05; F = 1.38 ± 0.08) and the use of boreholes (M = 1.39 ± 0.05; F = 1.35 ± 0.08), though in varying order of preference. Inadequate capital was identified by both genders as the primary constraint to effective adaptation. Conclusion: Overall, the findings highlight that socio-economic factors, access to information, and financial capacity play key roles in shaping the vulnerability and adaptive responses of fish farmers. The study therefore recommends that financial institutions provide accessible soft loans with low interest rates to enhance fish farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change.