ASSESSMENT OF MAIZE FARMERS’ VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN ADAMAWA AND TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed maize farmers’ vulnerability and adaptation strategies to climate change in Adamawa and Taraba States, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 400 maize farmers. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that majority (64.2%) of farmers were male and married (54.4%), with 39.5% having tertiary education, indicating a relatively literate farming population. Majority (83.9%) of the respondents had access to extension services, though 50.6% reported annual contact, revealing limited frequency of advisory support. The results of Logit regression showed that age (P<0.01), marital status (P<0.01), educational level (P<0.05), household size (P<0.01), method of land acquisition (P<0.01), farming experience (p<0.01), secondary occupation (P<0.01), and access to extension (P<0.01) were significant in influencing the adoption of adaptation strategies among the respondents in the study area. The results of pearson correlation revealed that climate variability (r=0.341), soil quality (r=0.321), pests/diseases (r=0.129) significantly increased maize yield vulnerability, while access to agricultural inputs (r=−0.178), market prices (r=−0.275), and maize variety used (r=−0.172) significantly reduced vulnerability. Major constraints to adopting climate adaptation strategies included inadequate technical knowledge (82.6%), land tenure challenges (82.1%), and limited market access (79.6%). The study concludes that maize farmers are highly vulnerable to climate change, and their adaptive capacity is constrained by knowledge gaps, insecure land tenure, limited financial access, and infrastructural deficits. The recommends the need for stakeholders to strengthen extension delivery, improving access to credit, addressing land tenure constraints, and enhancing climate-resilient infrastructure as they are essential to improve resilience and adoption of adaptive strategies in the study area.