Adaptation Strategies to Climate Variability by Pastoralists in Akko Local Government of Gombe State, Nigeria

Résumé

Climate change has been threatening pastoral communities in Nigeria because their economy is mainly based on rain-fed agriculture. The study area Akko is one of the climate change prone areas affected by climate induced shocks. To reduce the adverse effects of climate change, pastoral households need to recognize the changes already happening in their climate and employ climate change adaptation measures. Therefore, the present study was conducted in Akko, LGA, Gombe State, Nigeria. The study intends to determine the perceived adverse impacts of climate change and variability, the perception of pastoral households on the patterns of climate change and variability, and identify the adaptation/coping strategies of pastoralists to climate change impacts. A household questionnaire survey was employed to collect primary data at a household level. A total of 150 pastoral households were sampled using random sampling. The data collected from household survey were analysed using SPSS (version 20). The trend line analysis of rainfall and temperature of the study area was done to ascertain the trend in rainfall and temperature. The findings indicate significant decreasing trend in rainfall and increasing trend in temperature. The perception of pastoral households on rainfall and temperature trends was in line with the results of the recorded meteorological data analysis of the present study. The results indicated that pasture and water availability became scarce (index=372, R1), pastoralists have to move longer distance for pasture (index=364, R2), there was decrease in forage availability (index=363, R3) and reduction in income from livestock (index= 360, R4). The most important strategies deployed by the pastoralists included destocking of livestock (