EFFECT OF CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON LIVELIHOOD STATUS OF FARMERS IN KWARA STATE

Abstract

Livelihood sustainability is one of the benefits of climate smart agriculture. Both primary and secondary data were collected and used in this study. Structured questionnaire was administered to 240 tuber farmers in Zone B of the Agricultural Development Project Zone in Kwara State but only 218 were used for the analysis. The study highlighted the socio-economic features of the tuber farmers, their awareness about climate smart agriculture, extent and usage of climate smart practices, their livelihood sustainability, motivating factors and challenges encountered in the use of climate smart agriculture. Livelihood sustainability was examined with four approaches namely, the sustainable livelihood approach, the IPCC-LVI framework, the livelihood effects index and a gendered comparism. Livelihood analysis was done on two levels namelywhole sample analysis and household level analysis. The study reveals that the most used climate smart agricultural practice was mulching while the least used is permanent residue soil cover. Sustainable livelihood index reveals that majority of the respondents had a moderately livelihood status with an index ranging from 0.500273 to 0.598192. The livelihood effects analysis shows that human capital has the greatest effects on household livelihood sustainability.