FARMERS ’ PERCEIVED IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN OTUKPO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE , NIGERIA

The study was undertaken to ascertain farmers’ perceived impact of climate change on agricultural activities in Otukpo local government area of Benue State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 60 respondents using interview schedule. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select the farmers. Data were analyzed using percentage and mean statistic. Farmers were aware of the phenomena related to climate change such as rise in both day and night temperature (M= 1.83) and increased variability in rainfall (M= 1.78). The major perceived impacts of climate change on agricultural activities were decrease in agricultural production (M=2.63) and decrease in area for cultivation as a result of erosion (M=2.58). The adaptation methods used to cushion the impact of climate change in the area were planting of cover crops like melon and groundnut (95.0%), practicing of crop rotation (93.3%) and early harvesting of crops (93.3%). The paper recommended that farmers’ adaptation capacities to climate change need to be urgently strengthened by extension agents visitation to disseminate more recent information on climate change.

. Countries like Nigeria are likely to suffer the most because of their geographical location, low income and low institutional capacity as well as their greater reliance on climate sensitive renewable natural resource sector like agriculture (AIAE, 2009).
There is sufficient evidence that the world has been witnessing long term changes in climate patterns and variability with rapid acceleration in recent decades.According to Uguru, Baiyeri and Aba (2011), climate of the derived savannah ecology of Nigeria is changing.Six out of the seven warmest years since 1971 occurred between 2005 and 2010, and most of the years in the last decade (2001 -2010) recorded above average temperatures, confirming a temperature rise in the derived savannah belt.There is also a paradigm shift in rainfall pattern (commencement, cessation, distribution and amount) in the last few decades, and also a considerable drop in relative humidity in the last decade.
Based on the foregoing, the broad objective of dents to tick from to indicate the one they adopted in cushioning the impact of climate change.Data were analyzed using percentage and mean statistic.The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16 constituted the software used for the analysis.

Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents
The mean age of the farmers was 45.2 years (Table 1), indicating that they are still in their active age.Higher proportions of the respondents are male and had one form of formal education or the other.The mean years of farming experience was 11.5years, indicating that they have been in farming for quite a long period of time.The mean household size was 7 persons, indicating large house hold size.The average farm size was 3.7 hectares.About 62% of the farmers sampled had been visited by extension agents to disseminate agriculture related information with an average visit of 2 times per year by extension contact.This was considered as very low for regular information dissemination and therefore calls for more extension visitation.The major crops grown were cassava, yam, beans and maize while goat, poultry and pig were the major livestock kept.

Farmers' Awareness About Phenomena Relating To Climate Change
Results in Table 2 show that farmers were aware of the various phenomena relating to climate change.These include rise in both day and night temperature (M=1.88).They have experienced the heat with rise in temperature over past years.This has also led to increase in drought.They are also aware of the reduction in agricultural activities as a result of variability of weather condition, hence reducing the agricultural activities.The rainfall over the year have not been consistent, it varies.Others phenomena relating to climate change include increase in pest attack and incidence of diseases.This implies that farmers are aware that there are changes in the climate.
the study was to assess the farmers' perception on the impact of climate change on agricultural activities in Otukpo local government area of Benue state, Nigeria.Specifically, the study sought to: ascertained the farmers awareness of the evidence of climate change; assess the farmers perception on the impact of climate change on agriculture activities; and identify adaptation measure used in cushioning the impact of climate change.

METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria.All farmers in the LGA constituted the population for the study.Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting respondents.In the first stage, four communities were randomly selected which included: Adoka, Otukpo, Ugboju and Akpa.In the second stage, three villages from each of the four town communities were randomly selected.A list of 10 farmers involved actively in agricultural activities was collected from each of the selected villages through the help of the village head.From the list, 5 farmers were randomly selected using simple random technique from each of the sampled villages.A total of 60 farmers constituted the sample size for the study.Data for the study was gathered through structure interview schedule.
To ascertain farmers' awareness of the phenomenon relating to climate change, they were provided with some variable to tick from.To determine the perceived impact of climate change on agriculture, a list of known variables on possible impact of climate change was provided on a rating scale 1-4 to get the mean value of 1.5.Variables with mean score value ≥ 1.5 were regarded as the perceived impact of climate change while variables with a mean score of ≤ 1.5 were not regarded as possible impact of climate change on agricultural activities.To ascertain the adaptive measures adopted by farmers in cushioning the impact of climate change in agriculture, a list of possible adaptation strategies known through review of literature were made available to the respon-AKINNAGBE OM ET AL.: FARMERS' PERCEIVED IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Perceived Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Activities
Decrease in agricultural productivity due to soil erosion (M= 2.63) and loss of arable crop land as a result of flood (M= 2.58) were the major perceived impact of climate change on agricultural activities (Table 3).Others were hardening of seed bed as a result of temperature increase, increase in the cost of cultiva-tion, decrease in agricultural yield, increase in weed growth, reduction in number of livestock, increase in moisture loss due to exposed soil surface, increased in crop pests and disease infestation, decrease in quality of farm produce, decrease in income, delay ripening of some vegetation fruits, delay growths of crops, increased in mortality of livestock as a result of body heat, delaying the cropping season leading to scarcity of food, loose of medical plants, animal losing their habitants which may result to their death and increase in labour cost as a result of weed growth.This finding corroborates the assertion of United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2007) who stated that climate change has both positive and negative effects on farming but there could be a more negative influence in the long run, which may lead to food scarcity if no immediate efforts are to confront these problems.Crop yields are affected by many factors associated with climate change which include: temperature, rainfall, extreme weather events, climate variability and even Co 2 concentration in the atmosphere which is predicted to cause global warming that will have a significant impact on crop production.

Adaptation Strategies Used in Cushioning the Impact of Climate Change
The adaptation methods used to cushion the effect of climate change as indicated in Table

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDA-TIONS
Virtually all the respondents were aware that variables like extreme weather events and uncertainties in the onset of farming season have been on the increase for the past years in Nigeria.The perceived impact of climate change on agricultural activities was enormous.These include decrease in agricultural productivity and decrease in area for cultivation as a result of erosion and deforestation.Crop yields are affected by many factors associated