Abstract: Climate change has become one of the most topical environmental issues in the world today. Agriculture in Nigeria is perhaps the most vulnerable sector to the effects of climate change. Studies have established that adaptation strategy is one of the key solutions to this challenge but how effective these adaptation strategies are in combating climate change needs to be continually analysed. The study therefore assesses the farmers’ perception of effectiveness of adaptation strategies to climate change in North-western Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used for the study. Three out of the seven states of North-western Nigeria were selected systematically in the first stage. A total of seventeen (17) Local Government Areas were further systematically selected from the three (3) sampled states. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Seven hundred and eighty-four (784) smallholder farmers were purposively sampled for the study. The data collected were analysed using Likert Rating Scale and Relative Importance Index (RII). The results were presented using tables, percentages and charts. Results showed that significant number of farmers had a high perception that rainfall is becoming irregular (57.4%), crop infestation by pests is increasing (58.1%) and growth of pasture is dwindling (60.2%). Results further showed high effectiveness level of some adaptation strategies based on farmers’ perception, some of the effective strategies are the use of organic/inorganic fertilisers (RII = 0.97), use of irrigation systems (RII = 0.92) and soil/water conservation (RII = 0.89). Based on the results, the study concludes that many adaptation strategies were significantly effective in helping farmers to cope with the impacts of climate change. The study therefore recommended that farmers should be given more capital in form of loans, grants and subsidies on farming inputs to cope adequately with the changing climate.
Key words: Adaptation strategy, Agriculture, Climate change, North-western Nigeria, Perception