Rural Livelihood Adaptation Practices to Climate Variability in Different Ecological Zones of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the adaptation strategies to climate variability impact of livelihood security of the aged in selected rural settlements of the different ecological zones of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics, Correlation and Principal Component Analysis were used for quantitative data analysis while Content Analysis Method was used for qualitative data analysis. From the study, it was discovered that 54.9% of the respondents were crop farmers with the highest proportions of the respondents in Sudan savannah (85.2%) and Montane zone (85.2%) and about, 70.8% of the respondents were into fishing in the coastal zone of the country. The study also revealed that majority of the respondents (61.8%) earned below N20,000 (US$56) annually. In Guinea Savannah zone 60.1% and Montane zone 88.5% of the respondents adapt by selling their livestock while 60.8% in the Coastal zone and 85.2% in the Sudan savanna zone divert into alternate sources of income.  It was also discovered in the study that in all the zones, the common determinant of their responses was their level of education. This implies that there is need for trainings for the aged populations and also diversification of income sources should be encouraged and government should design socio-economic policies to support the rural aged in response to climate change/variability impact as many of them are poor.