Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 4
Written by Olaniran Anthony THOMPSON, Oluyede Adeleke ATURAMU

The study assessed the climactic variables effect on maize farmers in South-western Nigeria. Especially, the maize farmers’ socio-economic characteristics in both the guinea savannah and rainforest Agricultural Ecological Zones (AEZs) were assessed. The adaptive capacity and socio-economic variables that impact on the adaptive capacity of the maize farmers were determined in both zones. A multi-stage sampling was used for the study. Ekiti and Oyo state were purposively selected for the study because they are the highest producers of maize in the region, 360 maize farmers were interviewed for the study. The methods of data analysis includes descriptive statistics, 5-point Likerttype scale, Livelihood Diversification Index (LDI) and Logit Regression Model (LRM). The descriptive statistics result revealed that farmers in the rainforest zone were older than their counterparts in the guinea savannah with the mean age of 50.9 years and 49.2 years respectively. The study revealed that maize farmers’ in the guinea savannah ecological zone perceived climate change as high intensity of sun with the grand mean values (X) of 3.88. Also, logistic regression estimation found age square, level of education, farming experience, income, access to credit, farm size and land ownership as significant policy variables of livelihood diversification (Adaptive capacity) among maize farmers in the study area. Therefore, from the findings of the study, it was suggested that government at all levels and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should enhance the adaptive capacity of the maize farmers’ in the study area by providing credit facilites to them at single-digit interest rate.

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