Effect of climate change on rural farming households food security in Ogun state, Nigeria

Olalekan Fatoki, Titilayo Oguntoye, Olayinka Arowolo, Ajibola Ogunsola

Abstract: The study examined the effect of climate change on rural households’ food security in Ogun State, Nigeria. Primary and secondary data were used for the study, whereby the primary data were collected through questionnaire administered to arable food crop farmers while time series data (1990 - 2019) on annual temperature, rainfall and humidity were collected from Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET). Descriptive statistics and quantitative techniques were used in analysing the data. On average, the farmers’ age was 42 years, were males and married. Most of the farmers experienced increased temperature and change in rainfall patterns. The Food Security module showed that most of the farmers were food insecure. The logit regression model revealed that socioeconomic factors that significantly affected food security were education, income, access to extension services, irrigation, credit and cooperative membership. Temperature and rainfall had significant effect on food security. Temperature was negative and significant at 5% while rainfall was positive and significant at 1%. The study recommends that rural farmers should be provided with training on water harvesting techniques during periods of excess rainfall to ensure availability of water for farming all year round.

Keywords: Arable food crop farmers; Climate change; climate variables; food security; Ogun state

Date published: 2021-03-29