ASSESSMENT OF SHEEP FARMERS PERCEPTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTATION IN SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The paper assessed sheep farmers' perception of climate change and adaptation in Southeast, Nigeria. Majorly, the paper examined the farmers awareness of the impact of climate change; the farmers sources of information on climate change; their perceived impact of climate change on sheep farming; as well as the adaptation measures used in addressing the impact of climate change on sheep farming. Cross-sectional survey design was used, while multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select the respondents for the study. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 80 sheep farmers within the study area. Accordingly, results show that the farmers perceived anthropogenic activities (3.6) and natural processes (3.5) as being responsible for climate change, but disagreed with spiritual forces (2.3) as a factor. The farmers were also able to recognize climate change related effects on their livestock production and productivity; hence, decrease in feed availability (3.5), fertility (3.7) and animal growth rate (3.7), as well as livestock disease susceptibility (3.6) were among the impacts identified. In respect to adaptation strategies, livestock species diversification (3.6), provision of sufficient water (3.6), as well as supplementary feeding (3.6), constituted the strategies adopted. Thus, from the findings, the study drew the conclusion that most sheep farmers in the Southeast know about climate change and its impact on their livestock, and also practices various adaptation strategies to address the negative effects on livestock productivity. The study therefore recommended among others, the need to ensure that sheep farmers have access to timely weather information, so as to enhance their perception and adaptation abilities to climate change.