Climate Related Hazards In Smallholder Farmlands and Coping Techniques In Southeastern Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

A two year study of the effects of Climate Change on smallholder agricultural systems in southeastern Nigeria was undertaken between 2009 and 2011. The study covered five selected communities in each of Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo States of Nigeria. Climate Change hazards were assessed through guided tour of smallholder farms in the selected rural communities and observations were documented by photographic and video coverage. Primary data was obtained through household survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Climate related hazards observed in the study area included sheet and gully erosion on farms, farm roads, and residential areas, flooding of farms, wind damage to economic crops, heat desiccation of crops and strange crop disease problems. Indigenous coping measures identified against these hazards include planting trees and dumping refuse inside gullies, construction of flood reception pits, supporting with stakes, crops that are susceptible to wind damage and mulching to protect crops from desiccation by heat.  Farmers maintained both traditional (unimproved) and introduced (improved) crop varieties and grow them together as an insurance against crop failure. Farmers in the study area practice a complex intercropping in which different varieties of different crops are planted in the same farm at the same time. The study concluded that there are indigenous coping measures that could serve as basis for developing resilient adaptation strategies for future Climate Change effects.