Impacts of Climate Change, Variability and Adaptation Strategies on Agriculture in Two Agricultural Communites of Enugu State, Nigeria

A study was carried in two agricultural zones of Enugu State, Nigeria The overall objective of this study was to understand local communities perceptions on climate and variability issues and establish its impacts and adaptation strategies within agricultural sector. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were obtained using different Participatory Research Approaches (PRA) including, focus group discussions and household questionnaires. In each community, a sample size of 10 % of all households was interviewed. Findings showed that local people perceived changes in rainfall pattern and temperature increase. The changes have affected their crops in a number of ways resulting in reduced productivity. Empirical analysis of annual rainfall revealed the decreasing rainfall trend from 1980 to 2012 whereas mean maximum and minimum temperature showed increasing trend within the year. The study concluded that, the wealth of knowledge on coping and adaptation that farmer has should form a foundation for designing agricultural innovation systems to deal with impacts of climate change and variability.