Impact of Climate Change on Sugarcane Production and Adaptation Strategies in Kaduna State

Abstract

Sugarcane production has contributed greatly in creating employment and sources of income to the farmers and the government of Kaduna state. However, like other parts of the world, sugarcane production is greatly affected by climate change. This paper therefore examined the impact of climate change on sugarcane production and adaptation strategies by the sugarcane farmers in Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. To achieve this, a total of 200 farmers were randomly sampled and administered questionnaire through the help of Sugarcane Farmers and Marketers Association in the Local Government Area. The results were summarized and presented by means of frequencies and percentages in tabular forms and charts. The study revealed that majority of the farmers have observed a continuous increase in temperature which have positively increased sugarcane growth during the dry season; increase in  temperature has resulted in increased need for irrigation, prevalence of weeds, diseases and insect pests of sugarcane. More so, an increase in rainfall amount in recent years has resulted to devastating floods which usually destroy most of the sugarcane farms and sometimes wash away the entire farmlands along the floodplains; Water stress due to excessive drought was also found to be another impact of climate change on sugarcane production in the area. The study highlighted several adaptation strategies which were used by the farmers to cope with the effects of climate change among which are the introduction of new hybrid-black sugarcane which is capable of withstanding the drought period and local boreholes which are dug with local implements. The study recommended the need for climate change awareness/education by both government and private organizations to farmers; creation of small earth dams; government, NGOs interventions to sugar cane farmers in form of loans, grants and subsidies to boost sugarcane production in the study area.