DRIVERS OF MAIZE FARMERS’ CHOICE OF CLIMATE COPING STRATEGIES IN KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA: DOUBLE HUDDLE MODEL APPROACH

Abstract

The study determined drivers of maize farmers’ choice of climate coping strategies in Katsina state, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 528 respondents from which primary data were collected. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and double huddle model. The Maize farmers’ average age was 46.27 years, and 48.30% of them were within the age range of 42-52 years. Their average household size, farm size, maize production experience and extension contacts per season were 16 people 2.37ha, 14.74 years and 4.03 contacts, respectively. The farmers agreed that climate change has adversely affected their own maize production. Recasts the result for the double hurdle model show that education, experience, tree planting off-farm activities and cooperative membership were some of the factors that significantly influenced the farmers’ choice of climate change coping strategies. Some factors were identified to significantly influence both the farmers’ understanding of climate change effects and choice of climate change coping strategies. It is concluded that the maize farmers had understanding of climate change effects and there were lots of factors that influenced the farmers’ choice of coping strategies. It is recommended that extension contacts and cooperative membership should be improved among the maize farmers in the state.