Farmers’ Perception on Climate Change and Constraints on Rice Production in Kwara State

Climate change is a devastating phenomenon that affects food production. Thus, this study examined farmers‟ perceived effect of climate change on rice production in Kwara State, Nigeria: To determine farmers‟ perception and perceived effect of climate change, and identify the constraints faced by the respondents. The study used multistage sampling technique which involves four stages to elicit primary data through interview schedule. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The respondents experienced changes in rainfall pattern ( ꞊4.57), increased amount of rainfall ( ꞊3.73), higher incidence of flood ( ꞊3.60) and unstable temperature ( ꞊3.40). Respondents perceived effect of climate change on the germinating ( ꞊2.81), seedling ( ꞊2.72), vegetative ( ꞊3.02), flowering ( ꞊3.18) and grain-filling ( ꞊2.67) stages of rice production, and about 71% had over 20kg loss of rice as a result of climate change. Major constraints faced were high cost of inputs (35.8 %), inadequate finance (30.8 %), and land (17.5 %). Therefore, it was recommended that government policies should ensure that farmers have access to timely, affordable and adequate credit to increase their ability and flexibility to change production strategies in response to climate change, farming communities in the area should be assisted by both the government and nongovernmental organizations in the provision of agricultural inputs. Similarly, adequate and timely information should be made available to farmers in order to keep them alert about the constant changes in climate.