Climate Change Awareness and Coping Strategies Among Poultry Farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria
Abiodun Daniel OLABODE 1
1 Department of Geography and Planning Sciences, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria
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The significant effect of high environmental temperatures and humidity, can lead to
panting, lethargy, and potentially death of fowls. Farmers` awareness of climate
change is a prerequisite to combating heat-stress impacts on poultry productions in
most of Africa's countries. This study assessed climate change awareness and coping
strategies among poultry farmers in the Akoko region of Ondo State, Nigeria. The
study has adopted purposive random sampling selection of forty (40) active poultry
farms in each of the local government area of the study region. Each poultry farm
managers were administered with a copy of questionnaire that elicited information
on farming activities as it relates to climate change impact. Simple percentages and
Likert scales perception model were used for rating and ranking the opinions of the
respondents. Findings revealed that: the daily earning income of most farmers (57.5)
is 46 US dollars, which indicates poultry farming as major source of their income. It
was equally observed that farmers are into battery housing systems; also, major
information on climate change are usually available to farmers through personal
observation of cold, warm, and hot weather. Low production and death of fowls have
been attributed to heat stress, especially, during the dry season. As a measure for
copping strategy, farmers adopted indigenous-weather related cooling devices during
the excessive heat. In order to strengthen these strategies, this study recommends
promotion of climate service education by extension officers and involvement in
more climate risk reduction activities to enhance farmers` adaptive capacity.
Keywords :
Poultry Climate Change Coping Strategy Farmer