Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Used by Tomato Farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed adaptation strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change and production constraints among tomato farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 528 farmers. Descriptive statistics (mean and principal component analyses were used to analyse the data collected through a structured questionnaire.  The findings reveal that the farmers use different adaptation strategies in mitigating the effects of climate change, with a mean score of (3.551). The most adaptation strategies used by farmers to curb the effects of climate change include diversifying to non-farm activities which have the highest mean score of ( = 3.69) ranked 1st. Farmers also faced other problems outside the elements of climate change; these included inadequate information about climate change ( =0.821), high temperature ( = 0.747), unstable and uncertain prices for tomato products ( = 0.773), and inadequate storage facilities ( = 0.842). Hence, the study recommends that horticultural research institutes and other relevant agencies should, as a matter of urgency, promote technologies such as smart agriculture that can mitigate the effects of climate change, improve the post-harvest shelf life of tomato crops, and reduce losses farmers suffer because of climate severity