Impacts of climate change on rice agriculture in Nigeria

Abstract

This study employed the Ricardian approach to test the relative importance of climate normals (average long-term temperature and precipitation) in explaining net revenue from Nigerian rice agriculture under irrigation and dry land conditions. A survey was done by interviewing 1200 rice farmers from 20 rice producing states in Nigeria. The states covered all the six geopolitical zones in the country. The results showed that increase in temperature will reduce net revenue for dry land rice farms while net revenue rises with increase in temperature for irrigated rice farms. Precipitation had similar effects on rice net revenue. Increase in precipitation will cause reduction in revenue for dry land rice farms whereas it will cause increase in revenue for irrigated farms. The results clearly demonstrate irrigation as a significant techniques used by the farmers to adapt to the climate change. Other adaptation options include Keeping of livestock, engaging in off farm works and the use of different market channels.

El estudio empleó el enfoque Ricardiano para evaluar la importancia relativa de variables climáticas (temperatura promedio a largo plazo y precipitación) para explicar las ganancias netas del cultivo de arroz con o sin riego. Se entrevistó 1200 productores de arroz de 20 estados de Nigeria. Se encontró que un incremento de temperatura reducirá la ganancia cuando no existe riego e incrementa con riego. La precipitación tuvo el mismo efecto y redujo la ganancia en condiciones sin riego y la incremento en condiciones de riego. Los resultados muestran que la irrigación es una estrategia importante para adaptarse al cambio climático. Otras estrategias propuestas son la crianza de animales, trabajo alternos y empleo de differentes canales de mercadeo.