Extreme weather events have led to multi vulnerabilities in many parts of the world, particularly in some African countries with recent severe drought, flood, and intra-seasonal dry spells which have great impacts on smallholder farming productivities. Therefore, this chapter examines farmers’ sensitivities to climate change and their adaptive strategies at the local level. This study investigates the role of the participatory research method in the assessment of climate change impacts and adaptation measures used by smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Through the participatory research method, local indicators of climate change impacts and adaptation options embraced by the rural farmers were evaluated. Three months were spent in a practical, hands-on research placement outside of an academic setting and this was carried out in two major farmers communities and among farmers society organizations located in rural communities. The results show that the majority, nearly 97%, of farmers perceived changes in times for the start and finish of the rains during the growing seasons and noticed that low yield of some crops in recent years compared to the past 30 years. Rural farmers awareness of climate change, its impacts and speci?c adaptation measures among rural farmers were seen as local-driven assessments for appraising local indicators of climate change in the study cites. This study has enhanced the theoretical knowledge gained in the literature on the fact that climatic condition varies in space and time, and have a very enormous impact on smallholder farmers. This research improved our understanding of how climate change affects smallholder farmers and their socioeconomic systems through the documentation and analysis of local indicators and perceived effects of climate change.
Mots clés : climate change|impacts, adaptive capacity|Smallholder farmers|vulnerability|participatory research
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