Knowledge of the Causes and Impacts of Climate Change among Crop Farmers in Rivers State

Authors

  • Nnodim, A. U Department of Vocational & Technology Education, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Author
  • Oguzor, I. A Department of Agricultural Education, Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers State, Nigeria Author
  • Oreke, C. I Department of Agricultural Education, Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers State, Nigeria Author
  • Iyede, H. O Department of Agricultural Education, Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers State, Nigeria Author
  • Agege, Jane Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. Author

Keywords:

Knowledge, Causes and Impact, Climate Change, Crop Farmers, Crop Production

Abstract

The paper is a descriptive survey which investigated the knowledge of the causes and impacts of climate change among crop farmers in Rivers State. The population of the study was 1139 crop farmers registered in the Rivers State Agricultural Development Programme, Port Harcourt from the two agricultural designated crop zones. The sample consisted of 470 crop farmers (zone 1=239; zone 3=231) computed using the Taro Yamane sample formula. Multistage sampling technique was adopted for the study. Firstly, purposive sampling technique was used to select the two designated agricultural crop zones and 10 LGAs (five from each crop zone), while random sampling was used to select the 470 respondents. A 24- item structured questionnaire designed in a Likert scale format was developed and validated by three experts. Cronbach alpha reliability test on the questionnaire yielded a high average of 0.87. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Result showed that females (zone 1=56.91%; zone 3=56.71%) formed the majority in the crop farming business in the area, with an average of eight years farming experience. The crop farmers were averagely educated (O’level - zone 1=44.35%; zone 3=40.69%) and most of them cultivated an average of less than one-hectare size (zone 1=43.10%; zone 3=61.04%) of farm land. Although, the crop farmers had very low knowledge about the causes of climate change (GM=2.11), the impact of climate change was observed (GM=4.29) on their agricultural productivity. The crop farmers in the two agricultural zones differed significantly (p=0.03<0.05) in their knowledge of the causes of climate change in the area. The paper concludes that crop farming in the area is dominated by female farmers. Most crop farmers have very low knowledge of the causes of climate change. It recommended that crop farmers in the state should be trained through specially designed capacity development programmes to improve their knowledge and advocacies and public enlightenment campaigns should be organized to sensitize crop farmers.

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Published

2023-12-31

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Nnodim, A. U, Oguzor, I. A, Oreke, C. I, Iyede, H. O, & Agege, Jane. (2023). Knowledge of the Causes and Impacts of Climate Change among Crop Farmers in Rivers State. Journal of Biotechnology and Agricultural Research, 2(2). https://africanscholarpub.com/ajbar/article/view/52