Analysis of Adoption of Climate Smart Practices among Rice Farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study evaluated the characteristics that influence rice farmers in Oyo State to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices. To interview 218 respondents using a structured questionnaire, a multi-stage sampling strategy was employed: sixteen villages were selected from two local government areas, and fourteen farmers were selected at random from each location. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Tobit regression. The results show that the adoption of agricultural innovations is favourably associated with the average farmer's age (47 years), primarily male (66%), and with an average of 10 years of formal education. Numerous factors, such as belonging to farmer associations (0.0319, P<0.01), farm size (0.0184, P<0.10) having climate awareness (-0.089, P<0.05), access to climate information (0.06501, P<0.10), and proximity of farms to households (0.0031, P<0.01), all affected the adoption of climate-smart practices. A large number of these farmers hold a neutral position to variations in temperature and precipitation. This suggests that more education and understanding about the effects of climate change on agriculture are obviously needed. These results highlight the necessity of focused government initiatives to promote climate-smart agriculture adoption in the research region. The study therefore recommended creating frameworks to encourage climate-smart agriculture and developing incentives to implement. The study therefore recommended that creating frameworks that encourage climate-smart agriculture, as well as developing incentives for implementing sustainable practices, should be a top priority for policymakers.