Climate Change, Effects and Adaptation Strategies; Implication for Agricultural Extension System in Nigeria

Abstract

Tackling climate change is one of the biggest challenges this generation faces. African countries, Nigeria inclusive are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their dependence on rain fed agriculture, high levels of poverty, low levels of human and physical capital, inequitable land distribution and poor infrastructure. Generally climate change is already affecting agricultural activities with the most devastating adverse effects in Nigeria as: extreme weather condition, frequent drought ,increased environmental damage, increased infestation of crops by pests and diseases, depletion of household assets, increased biodiversity loss, depletion of wildlife and other natural resource base, changes in the vegetation type, decline in forest resources, decline in soil conditions, increased health risks and the spread of infectious diseases changing livelihood systems.. These conditions emanating from climate change are bound to militate against agricultural production (crop, livestock forest and fishery resources), nutritional and health statuses and the general livelihood activity of the people. Therefore building up resilience and developing adaptation strategies becomes very important if agricultural production in the country will experience any boost. This paper concludes that the agricultural Extension system in the country need to generally revisit its role and in particular the role of the Extension agents. This is very important since the challenge of climate change if neglected will surely render the effort of increasing food production through the dissemination of technical information fruitless.

Impact of Climate Change on Brackish Water Aquaculture Development in the Coastal Areas of Niger Delta

“…Despite the tremendous potential of brackish water aquaculture in this region, there are myriads of problems facing the development of aquaculture production in this region, slowing down the pace of its advancement, one of such challenges in recent times is climate change (Akinrotimi, 2012). Ezenwa (2006) Climate change is one of the most remarkable challenges confronting the global community today and such has been given different definitions by different people based on their perception and the way it affects them (Ifeanyi-Obi et al, 2012). However, the most universal definition was the one by intergovernmental panel on climate change, which defined climate change, as a change in the state of climatic conditions which can be measured and identified through changes in the mean of its properties that persists for a period of time.…”

Assessing the role of climate-smart agriculture in combating climate change, desertification and improving rural livelihood in Northern Nigeria

“…There are a number of reasons adduced to explain the failure of past policies. Firstly, the policies only focused on mitigating the immediate impact of desertification without addressing it holistically, including the causes of desertification, which comprise overexploitation of natural resources, especially natural vegetation and water sources for domestic and commercial purposes (Oladipo, 1993;Audu, 2013), and unsustainable agricultural practices which result in decreased crop productivity and emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Farauta et al, 2011;Ifeanyi-Obi et al, 2012). Secondly, there was a lack of provision for long-term measures and opportunities for the people and in particular the most vulnerable groups, such as women and children, in the region to cope with the impacts of climate change and desertification (Andrade et al, 2011;Falaki et al, 2012).…”

The role of trees and plantation agriculture in mitigating global climate change

“…Climate change refers to a change in the climatic pattern of a location, region or planet which is linked with average weather components, such as temperature, wind patterns and precipitations [1,2,3]; the effects of which are erratic behavior of nature, such as rising global temperature, intensified drought, flooding, cyclones, low or poor agricultural productivity, loss of biodiversities and shifting of seasons. These changes, according to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [4] can be caused by natural processes like eruptions from volcanoes, variations in the intensity of the sun, or very slow changes in the circulation of the ocean or land surfaces which occur over decades, centuries or even longer.…”