Vol. 1 (2025)
Artículos Originales

Climate Change Effects: Insights from Agroforestry Farmers in GwerEast, Benue State, Nigeria

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  • David Ekhuemelo,
  • Aperaga Ushahemba,
  • Grace Dachung
David Ekhuemelo
Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi
Biografía
Aperaga Ushahemba
University of Agriculture, Makurdi
Biografía
Grace Dachung
University of Agriculture, Makurdi
Biografía

Publicado 2025-07-03

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7770/jonraf-v1-art4

Palabras clave

  • Agroforestry,
  • adaptation,
  • Climate change,
  • Farmers,
  • Gwer East,
  • mitigation
    • ...Más
    Menos

Derechos de autor 2025 David Ekhuemelo, Aperaga Ushahemba, Grace Dachung (Autor/a)

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0.

Resumen

This study explored farmers' awareness of climate change impacts on agroforestry farms in Gwer East, BenueState, Nigeria. Using a multi-stage sampling method, four council wards and fifteen villages were selected. A total of 292farmers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire via Google Forms. Results showed that most respondentswere male (90.4%), aged 36-45 years (29.5%), Christian (99.7%), and married (94.2%). Farming was their primary (88.4%)and secondary occupation (82.2%), with average household sizes of 5-7 members (34.6%). Most earned no income (87.7%)and had undergraduate-level education (42.8%). The farmers practiced alley cropping (95.9%) and a crops-and-trees system(94.9%), with 57.5% having over 15 years’ experience. There was a significant positive correlation between educational statusand both awareness of climate change (ρ = .338, p < .01) and knowledge of its causes (ρ = 0.406, p < 0.01). Most (58.9%)farmers were aware of climate change, with awareness higher among females (71.4%) than males (57.6%), while more males(42.4%) than females (28.6%) reported no awareness. Males made up most of the sample (90.4%). Chi-square analysis showedno statistically significant association between gender and climate change awareness (Pearson Chi-square = 2.007, df = 1,p = 0.157). Farmers mainly got climate change information from public gatherings (33.6%) and linked it to natural causes,observing extreme heat (89.7%) and drought (80.8%). Key impacts included reduced crop yields (84.6%) and pasture loss(96.6%), with tree planting (96.9%) as the top mitigation strategy. Modern technologies and better access to credit (90.1%)were widely recommended for adaptation.

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