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Increasing threat of climate change is aggravating the problem of declining agricultural productivity in the face of rapid population growth. This implies that rural sustainance and food security is under threat and stress. Given that crops differ in climate requirements and economic importance, analysis of the attendant effect of climate change on specific crop remains to be adequately explored. This study uses Ricardian approach to examine the effects of climate change on maize production in Nigeria.Multistage sampling technique was employed for the study. Data were collected on 346 maize-based farming households in three different agro-ecological zones of Nigeria.Average age of the farmers and household size were 45years and 8 persons respectively. Average years of farming experience and years of schooling were 25.6 and 6.5 years respectively. The empirical results showed that maize net revenue is sensitive to climate change. Seasonal marginal impact analysis showed that increase in rainfall during rainy season increased Maize Net Revenue (MNR) in rainforest, guinea and montane savanna respectively. Marginal increase in rainfall during the dry season increased MNR in rainforest while it decreased MNR in guinea and montane savanna respectively. However, marginal increase in temperature during dry season has positive impacts on MNR in all AEZs. The predicted results using a range of climate scenarios confirm that climate change will have negative impact on maize net revenue in the future. Maize Farmers have taken adaptive measures against climate change which are changing the planting dates, changed land-use practices, mixed cropping and mixed farming. The major barriers to adaptation are inadequate credit or saving and inadequate knowledge of appropriate adaptation strategies suited for the local climate conditions.

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Although Nigeria has comparative resource advantage in terms of favourable climatic, edaphic and ecological conditions in the production of rice, local production has not been able to meet the growing demand. The inability of the Nigerian rice economy to satisfy the domestic demand and the consequent growth of rice import quantity and value remains a cause of concern. The study analyzed the difference between potential and actual yield of rice in North Central Nigeria. Employing a multi-stage sampling technique, data were obtained through the use of structured questionnaire administered to a sample of one hundred and forty four rice farmers in Niger state, Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression models. Results indicated that rice farmers in the area cultivated four improved rice varieties WITA 4, FARO 15, FARO 35 and FARO 44 with average yield gaps of 1.48, 2.85, 3.03 and 3.20 tons per hectare respectively. This makes these rice varieties under-exploited as farmers operate at levels where they obtain an average of 49% of the potential yield. Factors which contribute to the reduction in the magnitude of rice yield gap include increase in the frequency of contacts between farmers and extension workers, increase in fertilizer use per hectare and higher intensity of tractor use. It was recommended that the yield potential of cultivated rice varieties should be fully exploited as a first option to meeting the current level of national rice demand because increased rice production towards the attainment of self-sufficiency may well hinge upon the ability of farmers to narrow the gap between current rice yields and yield potentials.

Nigeria has experienced significant increase in economic growth