Gender and Climate Change Adaptation Among Rural Households in Nigeria

Abstract

Female- and male-headed rural households have unequal opportunities in climate change adaptation. Efforts in climate change adaptation in regions with deeply entrenched sociocultural norms should also account for the varied gender components of climate change. The broad objective of this study is to integrate gender issues into climate change adaptation thereby distilling lessons and evidence for policymakers on how to approach the necessary transformation of gender relations in climate change interventions. The study employed focus group discussions to uncover the structural factors undermining women’s adaptive capacity, thereby making them vulnerable to climate change impacts. In addition to this, in-depth interviews were also conducted. For the in-depth interviews, 27 farmers were sampled using a snowballing method, while four focus groups were carried out differently for male and female farmers. Ten extension personnel and ten representations from the ministry of agriculture were also surveyed using in-depth interviews. Results from the study showed that female farmers in the region were more vulnerable to climate change as a result of the deeply rooted cultural systems and unwarranted assumptions about women. Findings also suggested that women with high adaptive capacity were less vulnerable to climate impacts. We conclude that gender-responsive climate change adaptation is important in achieving balanced relations that will ensure climate resilience in more equitable and nonhierarchical ways.

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practice by Small-Scale Farming Households in Wondo Genet, Southern Ethiopia

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Factors influencing smallholder adoption of organic agriculture in Southeast geopolitical region of Nigeria

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Modeling Crop Production under Climate Change in Southeast Nigeria: Agroecology as a Response

“…According to FAO (2008), climate change impact first affects food systems and livelihood groups with a higher level of vulnerability. Ume, Opata, and Onyekuru (2021) noted that among farmers in Nigeria, the female smallholder farmers are expected to be of low adaptive capacity and high exposure and sensitivity to climate impacts due to socioeconomic and institutional factors that undermine their adaptation efforts. There is, therefore, a growing focus on the need for "transformational adaptation" (Eakin and Wehbe, 2009), that is the re-evaluation of institutional and socioeconomic factors or relations, established over time, which determine limits the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers.…”