Adapting agricultural practices to climate change and variability in Southwestern Nigeria.
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Date
2014
Authors
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Publisher
Geography,Obafemi Awolowo University
Abstract
This study examined the past and present climate in Southwestern Nigeria; the agricultural practices adopted in the past and currently in the region; the best agricultural practices suitable for the present and future climate in Southwestern Nigeria; and developed future projections for the climatic characteristics (mainly rainfall and temperature) influencing Agriculture in Southwestern Nigeria. This was with the view to assessing the coping strategies of farmers to significant climate conditions in the study area.
Primary and secondary data were used for the study. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting respondents for the study in the agro-zones within the four important (with long-term data) metrological stations in southwestern Nigeria (Ibadan, Ondo, Osogbo and Ikeja). The agro-zones are Ibadan, Ondo, Ede and Ijebu. First, five communities were randomly selected from each of the agro-zone with population ranging between 100 and 500. Second, ten farmers were selected for interview using a systematic random sampling procedure (every 10th adult on the farm) in each of the selected communities. Two hundred questionnaires was administered in all the communities selected, as source of primary data.
Fifty years (1962 – 2012) daily rainfall and monthly temperature data from the metrological stations at Ibadan, Ondo, Osogbo and Ikeja constituted the secondary data. The secondary data were sourced from the archives of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, Oshodi, Lagos. Temperature and rainfall variability were mapped using the Inverse Distance Weight interpolation statistic in ArcGIS (version 10.1) software for 1962 -2012. Climate dataset were grouped into 1962 -1983 and 1984 – 2012 as the past and present climate respectively. The best agricultural practices suitable for different climate (past, present and predicted) as examined using percentages votes from the questionnaire responses while future climate was modelled using Bivariate linear regression in the template and rainfall data with years (from 1962).
The study showed that annual rainfall total exhibited a non significant trend between 1962 and 1983 but significantly increased between 1984 and 2012. Mean temperature increased significantly in both climate (1962 – 1983 and 1984 – 2012) periods (r ˃ 0.51; p ≤ 0.05). The investigated stations exhibited different dates for rainfall onset and retreat between the two climate periods and the length of the growing season decreased from 215 days to 190 days from the coast towards the mainland. Agricultural practices in the study area were the conventional methods of land preparation and crop cultivation and were similar to previous agricultural practices. Planting of high yield and fast germinating seeds was voted as the best agricultural practices (99%), in the study. This was followed by mulching (91.5%), use of chemical and organic fertilizer (85%) and practice of mixed farming (76.5%).
Projection results for the period between 2012 and 2062 indicated that future rainfall in Ikeja would decrease by 2.2mm per annum while that of Osogbo, Ondo and Ibadan will increase by 1.4mm, 0.6mm and 4.6 mm respectively. Projected temperature indicated about an increase of 0.16 º C per decade at Ondo, Ikeja and Osogbo while Ibadan is expected to experience more increase (0.23ºC) per decade.
The study concluded that the climate of the Southwestern Nigeria exhibited significant changes within the study period, and that the change in climate exerts significant influence on the agricultural practices in the study area.
Description
xvii, 230p
Keywords
Climate, Agricultural, Temperature, Metrological
Citation
Sanni,D.O(2014). Adapting agricultural practices to climate change and variability in Southwestern Nigeria. Obafemi Awolowo University