ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE CHANGE INFORMATION AND FLOOD ADAPTATION STRATEGIES AMONG RICE FARMERS IN HADEJIA AGRICULTURAL ZONE, JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analyzed climate change information and flood adaptation strategies among rice farmers in Hadejia agricultural zone, Jigawa State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in the selecting of 278 respondents for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that almost all (96%) of the respondents were male and over half (53%) of the respondents were in the age bracket of 25 - 40 years while majority (79%) of the respondents were married. The finding indicated that 48% of the respondents had household size of 1-5 persons and 42% of the respondents had formal education while 60% of the respondents had more than 11 years of farming experiences. Majority (70%) of the respondents had 0.1 – 2.5 hectares of land for cultivation. The chi-square text revealed that X² of 13.565 is greater than table X² with  4.60517. The finding concludes that there is positive relationship between climate change information and rice farmers' flood adaptation strategies in the study area. The study recommends that government and non-governmental organizations should encourage participation of women in rice production activities in the area by giving incentives and subsidy. This will minimize gender variation among rice farmers in the study area.