Perception of the Degree of Severity of Climate Crisis and Effectiveness of Coping Strategies for Sedentary Livestock Production in the Northern Agro-Ecological Zone of Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to appraise the severity of climate crisis and effectiveness of coping strategies adopted by sedentary livestock producers in the Northern Agro-Ecological Zone of Katsina State Nigeria. The study was carried out in three sampled LGAs of the study area, and 267 households engaged in to sedentary livestock production were surveyed with the aid of structured questionnaires administration. The households sampled for the study were selected using multi stage sampling technique and the result was analysed using descriptive statistics. The results show that nearly 40% of respondents reported severe impact of climate crisis on sedentary livestock production while more than 35% of the respondents perceived the impact of climate crisis on sedentary livestock production as moderate. The result also indicated that majority of the respondents (44.6%) are of the view that climate crisis will likely be damaging to sedentary livestock production in future. The result further outlined switching from crops to livestock and to irrigation production systems was considered very effective. It was observed that adoption of drought resistance breed was understood to be effective according to respondent’s opinion. The study concludes that severe and very severe impact of climate crisis may affect the sedentary livestock production system and also the effect may likely be damaging and disruptive over time and the study recommended for the need to increase livestock productivity through improvements in animal genetics and switching from crops to livestock to irrigation production systems as well as adoption of drought resistance breed.