Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

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Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs) by Author "Knight, Jasper"

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    Assessing livelihood vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability and change among farming households in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Hassan, Buhari; Knight, Jasper
    It has been projected that sub-Saharan Africa would be severely affected by climate change in form of persistent and increasing climate variability. Nigeria’s situation as a developing country coupled with the fact that agricultural activities are primarily rainfed, provides a suitable case study in which to assess the vulnerability of farming households to climate variability and change. Lack of data on the nature and extent of vulnerability to climate variability (particularly annual changes in rainfall and temperature patterns) on food production systems and livelihoods in Nigeria hinders the development of effective policies to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change and variability. The study aims to improve understanding of the socio-economic, institutional, biological and physical factors that contribute to vulnerability of farming households to climate change and variability in Nigeria. By combining descriptive, participatory and statistical analysis as well as field observations, this research develops a holistic approach to assess the level of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of farming households. Multistage sampling was used to purposely select communities in Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau State, for the study, while farming households were randomly selected for the household questionnaire survey within four communities. Purposive sampling was used to identify key informants for interviews. Observation and taking photographs of farmers’ activities were used to complement the other data collection methods. Qualitative data was analysed using descriptive and content analysis, while the quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (v 27) and Microsoft Excel (v2020). The level of vulnerability of farming households was determined using the Sustainable Livelihood Approach. Results show that farmers are exposed to climate variability in form of changing rainfall patterns which includes late onset of rains, dry spells, and early cessation of rains and crop loss due to pests and disease infestation. Results show that the vulnerability of farming households can be linked to access to household livelihood capital assets and that households are characterised by low levels of financial, social and physical capital. Smallholder farming households adopt a range of on-farm and off-farm adaptation strategies including changing planting time, crop diversification, engaging in irrigation farming, intensifying the use of fertilizers, manure and agro-chemicals to boost crop yield, and planting of disease-resistant and drought-tolerant crop varieties. Farming households experience a number of challenges which include a lack of financial resources which has a strong influence on enhancing other capital assets such as physical and natural capitals; poor access to mechanised agricultural equipment, lack of training on how to deal with climate change and variability, limited access to improved crop varieties as well as a lack of institutional support, which constitute serious barriers to adaptation to climate variability. In applying these results to climate change adaptation it is recommended that policymakers need to institute specific and implementable climate change adaptation policies that will enable farmers to utilize their capital assets on effective adaptation measures and also engage in viable alternative livelihood diversification strategies, enhance agricultural productivity and resilience and improve institutional support including access to information and training
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    Social vulnerability in the adaptation of rural communities to climate change in Imo State, Nigeria
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Okoro, Franklin Chimaobi; Knight, Jasper
    Rural communities in developing countries such as Nigeria are faced with frequent extreme weather/climate events that impact their economy, health, and environment due to the combination of high social vulnerabilities, low social resilience, and low adaptive capacities. The aim of this study is to investigate the root causes of social vulnerability in rural communities in Nigeria and how rural households use their social capital and networks to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The study used ten (10) social vulnerability indicators (factors) to ascertain their influence on social resilience and adaptive capacity during climate related disasters. To achieve this purpose, three communities in Imo State, Southern Nigeria were selected, and distributed 240 structured questionnaires to rural household heads, interviewed 18 local stakeholders and climate change actors (government agencies), and conducted three (3) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with group of farmers from the three selected communities. The questionnaire survey, interview, and FGD guides contained open-ended questions that allowed participants to report freely. The quantitative data derived from the questionnaire survey were subjected to descriptive analysis using SPSS while the qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis to derive relevant themes for discussions. The result of the study shows that social vulnerability is a function of age, gender, education, household size, income, sources of livelihood, disability, means of transport, access to healthcare, and alternative accommodation being available during climate emergencies. The study further shows that social vulnerability of rural residents was exacerbated by societal vulnerability influenced by political, economic, cultural, and social factors. Although there are other weather/climate extreme events (disasters), however, the most prominent is floods, constituting 48.3% of the weather/climate events experienced in the study area with its impacts requiring more efficient climate adaptation strategies other than the traditional measures like relocation/migration, use of early maturing crop varieties, early planting and harvesting. However, rural households drew support from government, NGOs, and oil companies but the help from family members, friends, neighbours, social group members (social networks) were more beneficial and helped more rural residents to improve their social resilience. The study recommends that rural residents be encouraged to join social groups since their memberships in such groups will help to improve their social resilience, and that government and its agencies should engage multi-stakeholders in their genuine efforts to develop more effective measures for climate change adaptation.