The Effects of Climate-Smart Agriculture on Rice Farmers’ Food Security: Evidence from Nigeria

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
O. Abdulkadir Ibrahim 1
H. Abdullahi 1
K. Afolabi 2
S. Shuaib 2
K. Fatai 1
R. Adisa 1
1 Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
2 University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
The study assessed the effects of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices on the household food security of smallholder rice farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Multistage sampling procedure involving three stages was used to select 424 samples from a population of 3,727 smallholder rice farmers across three rice production zones in Kwara State. The study raised and answered four research questions and tested one null hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), designed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was adapted to measure household food security. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency counts, percentages, mean, and standard deviation. Also, regression analysis was employed to establish the effect of CSA practices on household food security and livelihood indices. The results indicated that CSA practices have a significant positive effect on the household food security of smallholder rice farmers. Specifically, integrated soil fertility management (P=0.006) and integrated pest management (P=0.002) practices were found to significantly improve the livelihoods of these farmers by enhancing their household food security. Based on these findings, it is recommended that smallholder rice farmers maintain high adoption levels of CSA practices to mitigate the adverse effects of household food insecurity stemming from climate change.

Keywords

Subjects

1.      Adesina, O. S., & Loboguerrero, A. M. (2021). Enhancing Food Security Through Climate-Smart Agriculture and Sustainable Policy in Nigeria. Handbook of Climate Change Management, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22759-3_338-1
2.      Ali, S., Hussain, A., & Ahmad, N. (2022). The Impact of Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change on Rice Yields: Implications for Sustainable Food Systems. Sustainability, 14(23), 16035. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142316035
3.      Amin, A., Mubeen, M., Hammad, H. M. & Nasim W. (2015). Climate-Smart agriculture: An approach for sustainable food security. Agricultural Resource Communication, 2(3), 13-21.
4.      Anuga, S. W., Gordon, C., Boon, E. & Surugu, J. M. (2019). Determinants of Climate-Smart agriculture (CSA) adoption among smallholder food crop farmers in the Techiman Municipality, Ghana. Ghana Journal of Geography, 11(1), 124 – 139.
5.      Ballard, T. J., Coates, J., Swindale, A. & Deitchler, M. (2011). Household hunger scale: Indicator definition and measurement guide. Washington, DC: FANTA-2.
6.      Boone, R. B., Conant, R. T., Sircely, J., Thornton, P. K., & Herrero, M. (2018). Climate change impacts on selected global rangeland ecosystem services. Global Change Biology, 24(3), 1382–1393. https://doi.org/10.1111/GCB.13995
7.      Bright, C. (2017). Effect of Climate-Smart agricultural practices on food security of small-scale farmers in Teso North Sub-County, Kenya. A thesis submitted to the graduate school in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the award of Master of Science Degree in agricultural and applied economics of Egerton University Kenya. 23-45.
8.      Brondizo, E., Leemans, R., & Solecki, W. (2014). Current opinion in environmental sustainability. Texas, U.S.A.: Elsevier Press Inc. http:// dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.
9.      de la Sablonnière, R. (2017). Toward a psychology of social change: A typology of social change front. Psychology Journal of Europe, 28 (1): 17-28.
10.  De Pinto A., Cenacchi, N., Kwon, H-Y., Koo, J. & Dunston, S. (2020). Climate-Smart agriculture and global food-crop production. Journal of Scientific Research, 14 (7), 1-12.
11.  Diallo, M., Aman, J. N. & Adzawla, W. (2019). Factors influencing the adoption of Climate-Smart agriculture by farmers in Ségou Region in Mali. National Academic of Science, 13(2), 44-57.
12.  Ebenehi, O., Fawole, B. F., & Musab, I. (2024). Effect of Usage of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices on Rice Farmers’ Income in Niger and Kwara States, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, 4(4B) 58-70.
13.  FAO (2017). The future of food and agriculture – trends and challenges. Rome. 56.
14.  FAO (2018). Guidelines for the measurement of productivity and efficiency in agriculture. Rome. 21-27.
15.  Fulton, S. & Krainovich-Miller, B. (2010). Gathering and appraising the literature: Methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice. Nursing Research, 7(2): 12-23.
16.  Gemeda, F. (2024). Effect of tillage, crops residues and crops management practices on runoff erosion, soil loss and soil properties in Ethiopia: Review. Advances in Applied Sciences, 9(3), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aas.20240903.12
17.  Giri, D., Dhital, M., Chaudhary, B., Pandey, R., Bastakoti, B., & Shrestha, S. (2022). Effect of different nitrogen levels on yield and yield attributes of different rice varieties in DDSR condition at Kanchanpur, Nepal. Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science, 7(3), 310-317. https://doi.org/10.26832/24566632.2022.070302
18.  Hasan, M. K., Desiere, S., D’Haese, M. & Kumar, L. (2018). Impact of climate-smart agriculture adoption on the food security of coastal farmers in Bangladesh. The International Society for Plant Pathology, 10(4),1073-1088.
19.  International Atomic Energy Agency 2025. Improving Soil Fertility. International Atomic Energy Agency. https://www.iaea.org/topics/improving-soil-fertility
20.  Jiang, S., Du, B., Wu, Q., Zhang, H., & Zhu, J. (2021). Increasing pit-planting density of rice varieties with different panicle types improves sink characteristics and rice yield under alternate wetting and drying irrigation. Food and Energy Security, 12(1), 335. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.335
21.  Kwara Agricultural Development Project. (2016). Kwara Agricultural Statistics. Unpublished report. Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture, Ilorin.
22.  Lamb, W. F., Wiedmann, T., Pongratz, J., Andrew, R., Crippa, M., Olivier, J. G. J., Wiedenhofer, D., Mattioli, G., Khourdajie, A. al, House, J., Pachauri, S., Figueroa, M., Saheb, Y., Slade, R., Hubacek, K., Sun, L., Ribeiro, S. K., Khennas, S., de La Rue Du Can, S., … Minx, J. (2021). A review of trends and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions by sector from 1990 to 2018. Environmental Research Letters, 16(7), 073005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ABEE4E
23.  Lipper, L., Thornton, P., Campbell, B. M., Baedeker, T., Braimoh, A., Bwalya, M., Caron, P., Cattaneo, A., Garrity, D., Henry, K., Hottle, R., Jackson, L., Jarvis, A., Kossam, F., Mann, W., McCarthy, N., Meybeck, A., Neufeldt, H., Remington, T., … & Torquebiau, E. (2014). Climate-smart agriculture for food security. Nature Climate Change, 4(12), 1068–1072. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2437
24.  Mujeyi, A., Mudhara, M., & Mutenje, M. (2021). The impact of climate smart agriculture on household welfare in smallholder integrated crop–livestock farming systems: evidence from Zimbabwe. Agriculture & Food Security 2021 10:1, 10(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/S40066-020-00277-3
25.  Neisi, M.  Bijani, M., Abbasi, E., Mahmoudib, H. & Azadi, H. (2020). Analyzing farmers' drought risk management behavior: Evidence from Iran, Journal of Hydrology 590 (2020) 125243
26.  Ngema, M. S. L. (2018). Household food security status and its determinants in maphumulo local municipality, South Africa. Sustainability, 10, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093307
27.  Olson, B. D., O’Brien, J.F., & Mingo E. D. (2019). Introduction to community psychology. Chapter17.
28.  Oyawole, F. P., Dipeolu, A. O., Shittu, A. M., Obayelu, A. E. & Fabunmi, T. O. (2020). What drives the adoption of Climate-Smart agricultural practices? evidence from maize farmers in northern Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 9(1),14-28.
29.  Saba, A. (2021, January 24). Kwara produces over 102,000 metric tons of rice paddy during wet and dry season. Vanguard. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/01/kwara-produces-over-102000-metric-tons-of-rice-paddy-during-dry-and-wet-season/
30.  Teweldebrihan, M. D. Dinka, M. O. Sustainable Water Management Practices in Agriculture: The Case of East Africa. Encyclopedia 2025, 5 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/
31.  Tiamiyu, S. A. Ugalahi, U. B., Fabunmi, T., Sanusi, R. O., Fapojuwo, E. O. & Shittu, A. M. (2017). Analysis of farmers’ adoption of Climate-Smart agricultural practices in northern Nigeria. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Agriculture and Forestry, 19-26.
32.  Wamalwa, I. W. (2017). Adoption of Climate-Smart agricultural practices among small scale farmers of Kitutu and NyaribariChache in Kisii County, Kenya. PhD thesis Kenyatta University. 34-45.
33.  World Bank (2022). Climate-Smart Agriculture. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/climate-smart-agriculture
Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 18 October 2025