Strengthening Climate Change Adaptive Capacity of Rural Women Crop Farmers through Reduced Social Exclusion in Nigeria

Abstract

Climate change has continued to exert devastating effects on the Nigerian agricultural sector. Consequently, several efforts are made to adapt the agricultural sector to these effects of climate change, but the expected results are yet to be achieved. Much of the research on challenges to climate change adaptation were done without considering gender perspective. This review in effort to contribute to addressing this gap reviewed 1.) the climate change adaptation strategies used by rural women crop farmers in Nigeria, 2.) challenges to climate change adaptation among rural women crop farmers and 3.) social exclusion and influence on agricultural activities and climate change adaptation among rural women crop farmers in Nigeria. The study further suggests ways of eradicating social exclusion of rural women farmers with a view to strengthen their climate change adaptive capacity in the country. From the lessons highlighted, suggestions are made to make adaptation to climate change more gender-responsive, effective, and successful.

Stressors and Resilience within the Cassava Value Chain in Nigeria: Preferred Cassava Variety Traits and Response Strategies of Men and Women to Inform Breeding

“…Attempts to respond to the preferences and needs of different users have been made in the recent past to inform the development of cassava varieties that are high yielding [28], suppress weeds [29], require less drudgery during processing, result in a high food-product yield, have quality traits that consumers prefer [30,31], address social equity concerns [15,16], and mitigate vagaries of climatic change and increase stress tolerance [12]. However, studies reporting the interaction and multiple effects of the social and CC stressors in Nigeria are emerging but they are yet to consider the differential resilience capacities and cassava trait preferences that will enable male and female VC actors to better respond and adapt to stressors [32][33][34][35].…”

“…The Nigerian context presents a clear picture of how climate and social stressors interact, leading to economic challenges [32,33]. For instance, due to climate change, herders (who are primarily men and usually assisted by boys in Nigeria) and their cattle are often forced to navigate undefined routes to the relatively greener vegetated southern belt in search of feed [36][37][38].…”

Climate Change and Sweet Potato Production; Empirical Insights from Ebonyi State, Nigeria

“…Globally, about 133 million tons is produced annually, making sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam) one of the world's most significant, adaptable, and underutilized food crops (Akande et ! significant contributor to sweet potato output in Nigeria (Ifeanyi-Obi &Asiabaka, 2014). The variability and irregularities of rainfall patterns and distribution limit sweet potato output and skew economic returns of sweet potato farmers who rely on it for survival and economic livelihoods (Lemessa et al, 2019).…”