CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Nigeria is an agrarian country with about 70% of the population engaging in crop farming. Crop farming is a major occupation and important source of livelihood to the majority of rural farmers. The major proportion of food consumed in the country is produced by small holder farmers who live and operate in the rural areas (Farauta, Egbule, Idrisa & Agu, 2011). These crop farmers are characterized by relatively low scale farming enterprise using mainly local input, traditional cultural practices with low capital base.

Most of the crop farmers in Samaru Zone are peasant farmers. They practice continuous crop farming with mixed cropping which do not permit the use of modern farming implements and agro-chemicals like herbicides and pesticides. The crop farmers use simple tools such as hoes, cutlasses, and animal drawn implements for cultivation. The vast majority of crop farmers have limited access to modern input and productive resources like pesticides and fertilizer without form of public sector intervention (Abaje & Giwa, 2007).

The crops mainly produced by farmers in Samaru Agricultural Zone of Kaduna State are cereals like maize, millet, sorghum and hungry rice; legumes like cowpea, soybeans and groundnut; root and tubers like cassava, cocoyam and yam; vegetables like tomato, okra, pepper, garden egg, and onion; rhizomes like ginger. Others include tree crops like mango, citrus, grape fruits and palm oil. Food crops farming predominates the farming system with one or several other crops in mixture or rotation. Crop farming is important to the livelihood of millions of people in Samaru Agricultural Zone by providing food, livestock feeds and income that improve their living standard. The real strength of crop production lies in the wide ecological variability and good weather for most part of the year, which accounts for the large spectrum of agricultural commodities including crops (Nigeria Agricultural Digest, 2010).Most often crop farming is influenced or determined by climate.

      Climate is the average weather condition of a place for long period of time (about thirty-five years) including weather pattern, the frequency and intensity of storms, cold spell and hot weather.(Neriberina, 2007). Weather is the daily fluctuating state of the atmosphere around us. The climatic factors are rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, sunlight, (day length), cloud cover, air pressure and wind (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2007). However, crop production is influenced in different dimension and stages of crop growth by climatic factors. Temperature is the hotness and coolness of an area which is determinant of the rate at which crop progresses through morphological stages towards maturity. Rainfall is the water that falls from the sky over a period of time. Rainfall is a crucial input to crop growth and adequate rainfall is very important during germination and growth. Wind is a moving air across the surface of the planet or atmosphere. Wind influences crop production by aiding pollination and dissemination of seeds and fruit. Relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, which helps crops to grow, mature and flower. Relative humidity determines the types of crops to be grown. Solar radiation (day length) increases and encourages higher production of crops through photosynthesis. Generally, climatic factors interrelate to produce high crop productivity (Salinger, 2005).

Crop production however depends highly on climate; climate is the main driver of crop growth and high productivity. Decrease in farmer’s productivity is attributed to increase in temperature, decrease in rainfall, flood, desertification and drought caused by climate change,

           Climate change is a long time shifts, alteration or change in the type of climate prevailing over specific location, region, or entire planet (Adejuwon 2004).According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)( 2001) climate change is a change in weather pattern which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activities that alter the composition of global atmosphere and natural climate variability observed over a comparable time period. Climate change is interchangeably used with anthropogenic global warming. Thus, global warming is an average increase in temperature of the atmosphere near the earth surface and in the troposphere which contributes to changes in global climate pattern caused by increased emission of greenhouse gases and human activities (IPCC, 2007).Global warming is one of the key aspects of climate change. It is obvious that climate change is an inherent attribution of climate which is caused by natural processes and human activities.

Climate change is caused by human activities among which are burning of fossils fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), bush burning, deforestation, urbanization, desertification and various agricultural and industrial practices. Other causes are natural factors such as changing in sun’s intensity or slow changes in the earth’s orbit around the sun, changing in ocean circulation, building of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, nitrate oxides, chlorofluoro carbons (CFCs) and methane in the atmosphere, thereby altering the composition of the atmosphere, contributing to the climate change (IPCC, 2007).

Ironically, climate change has both positive and negative impact on crop production, but there is more negative impact than the positive. In line with climate changes  over the years natural changes in climate result from interaction between the atmosphere and oceans, variations in the sun’s energy output and the amount of materials injected into the upper atmosphere by explosive volcanic eruption.

 But since the beginning of the industrial revolution, burning more coal and oil for homes which have increased dramatically due to the rapid growth of population combined with development in technology and agriculture that releases carbon dioxide and other green house gases into the atmosphere. These added gases have caused the earth to worm quickly which acts like thickening blanket and trap more heat that impact crop farming. However, climate change influence on crop farmer’s productivity through the variability of climatic factors is global.

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.