Nigerian Journal of Policy and Strategy, Volume 21, No. 1, 2024 ©National Institute, Kuru (ISSN - 0189 5923) AUTHOR: Audu Liberty Oseni
Abstract
Since Climate Change became a global challenge, farmers appear to be the worst hit with its consequences impacting food and agriculture. In a sample representation from populations in six communities of Federal Capital Territory (FCT-Abuja), Nigeria’s capital city, the North-Central zone, adopted as case studies, the study examined the impact of climate change on rural farmers. The study provided primary insight into Climate Change impacts on rural farmers using Climate Change Theoretical Models and qualitative data gathering and analysis methods through Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). The study found that FCT rural farmers lost their yam produce to the hotness of weather conditions, and recorded poor grain yields as a result of inadequate rainfall arising from Climate Change. Also, it established that rural farmers in FCT-Abuja lost their livestock farming to the hotness of weather that resulted in the dryness of pasture for grazing. Therefore, the paper concludes that in the Abuja area of Nigeria, climate change threatens the food security and livelihood of farmers, disproportionately affecting them and deepening their already precarious social existence. Hence the study recommended that state and non-state actors train rural farmers on the most effective Climate Change mitigation and adaptation methods using indigenous languages as a language of instruction for better understanding of the issues through agricultural extension
programmes.
Keywords: Climate change, Mitigation, Adaptation, Rural, Farmers, Agriculture