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Explora: Environment
and Resource Climate change adaptation through indigenous practices in Ebonyi State

mitigation strategies. While it may be difficult to define A multistage sampling procedure was employed. The
what constitutes a favorable climate change adaptation researchers purposively selected north and south of Ebonyi
among farmers, this study aims to provide insights into due to the concentration of sweet potato cultivation in these
the indigenous practices currently implemented by sweet zones. Fifty percentages of agricultural extension blocks
potato farmers. Therefore, this study makes a significant focused on sweet potato cultivation were selected from
contribution by empirically assessing the application of each zone—specifically, two blocks from north Ebonyi
indigenous practices for climate change adaptation in and four blocks from central Ebonyi, totaling six blocks,
sweet potato production. The findings will help document based on the list of extension blocks. From these, 40% of
the extent to which indigenous practices are utilized as agricultural extension circles (from a total of 82 extension
physical adaptation strategies in sweet potato cultivation. circles) focused on sweet potato cultivation were selected,
Specifically, the study: resulting in the inclusion of 33 circles. In the final stage,
(i) ascertained respondents’ awareness of climate change 40% of sweet potato farmers (from a list of 3282 sweet
(ii) described sweet potato farmers’ perceptions of climate potato farmers) were selected from each circle, yielding a
change total of 132 farmers who participated in the study.
(iii) analyzed the extent to which farmers use indigenous Awareness and perception of climate change, as well as
practices the challenges in using indigenous practices, were assessed
(iv) identified the challenges associated with implementing using a binary scale (“yes” or “no”) and scored accordingly
indigenous practices. (1 for “yes” and 0 for “no”). Data on respondents’ extent of
This study hypothesized that a significant relationship use of indigenous practices were measured using a Likert-
does not exist between respondents’ socioeconomic type scale: very great extent = 5, great extent = 4, moderate
characteristics and the extent of their use of indigenous extent = 3, low extent = 2, and very low extent = 1. Mean
practices in climate change adaptation. scores of 3.0 and above represented a high extent, while
scores below 3.0 indicated a low extent. The following
2. Methodology variables were also measured:

Nigeria’s southeastern region is home to Ebonyi State. The X = Age (years)
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land area is about 5935 km and lies between latitudes 5°40’ X = Gender (male = 1, female = 0)
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and 6°45’ north and longitudes 7°30’ and 8°46’ east. Sweet X = Distance to farm (actual kilometers between the
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potato and rice cultivation are the primary agricultural farmer’s residence and farmland)
activities among farmers in Ebonyi State. Sweet potato X = Access to weather information (yes = 1, no = 0)
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farmers in the state struggle with climate variability, as X = Access to credit (yes = 1, no = 0)
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extreme temperatures, pests, diseases, and declining X = Membership in a cooperative association (yes = 1,
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soil fertility directly affect their crops, which depend on no = 0)
natural rainfall. In addition to sweet potatoes, farmers X = Extension contacts (number of visits to/by an
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also cultivate yams, oil palm, groundnuts, and cucumbers. extension agent)
The National Root Crop Research Institute, Umudike— X = Religion (Christian = 1, others = 0).
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mandated with research and development targeting root 3. Results and discussion
and tuber crops—has an outstation in Ebonyi state.
Data were collected through an interview schedule 3.1. Climate change awareness among farmers
and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Figure 1 indicates that 89% of sweet potato farmers are
To validate the data collection instrument, its design was aware of climate change. This result suggests that farmers
guided by the researcher’s supervisors and other experts possess knowledge of the various ways climate change
in agricultural extension, climate change studies, and affects sweet potato production. Climate change awareness
rural sociology to ensure both face and content validity. is a critical first step in forming perceptions and adopting
Instrument reliability was established through the test– resilient practices. This finding aligns with Oti et al.,
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retest technique. The instrument was first administered who reported a high level of climate change awareness
to 20 sweet potato farmers in a neighboring state. among farmers in rural communities. The percentage
A second round of questionnaires was distributed to the of sweet potato farmers aware of climate change in
same farmers after four weeks. The scores obtained were this study is higher than in some other locations in the
correlated using Pearson’s product-moment correlation country. For instance, awareness levels were reported as
coefficient. The resulting coefficient was 0.8; hence, the 52.5% in Edo state and 83% in Oyo state. Oparaojiaku
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instrument was deemed reliable for the study. et al. noted that even where climate change awareness is
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Volume 2 Issue 3 (2025) 3 doi: 10.36922/EER025250048