Climate Change Threatens Food Security In Adamawa As 94.8% Of Farmers Report Crop Yield Changes – Dr Tari
Dr Balthiya Alfred Fakuta
By Munyal Manunyi
A new study has found that 94.8 per cent of farmers surveyed in three local government areas of Adamawa State reported declining crop yields over the past decade, raising concerns about food security and farmers’ livelihoods amid changing climatic conditions.
The research identified changing rainfall patterns, drought, flooding, pests and crop diseases among the challenges affecting agricultural production in the state.
Dr Vahyala Adamu Tari, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State, who led the study, said that his findings highlighted the need for greater investment in irrigation and climate-resilient agricultural practices.
The study, titled Climate Change and Food Insecurity: Implications for the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Adamawa State, North-East Nigeria, examined how climate change affects food production and the implications for Nigeria’s progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Tari said the research found that farmers growing maize, beans, rice and other staple crops had experienced declining yields, with the resulting losses affecting their incomes and ability to provide food for their households.
He said: “The first finding is that climate change has significantly affected crop production and farmer household food security.”
He also attributed the challenges to changing rainfall patterns, drought, flooding and other environmental pressures that disrupt agricultural activities.
According to the researcher, farmers who invest substantial amounts in cultivation, risk suffering financial losses when adverse weather conditions damage their crops, leaving them with less income to feed their families and meet other household needs.
The study covered 346 active crop farmers selected from a population of 1,752 registered farmers identified through the Adamawa State Ministry of Agriculture.
He noted that the respondents were drawn from Michika Local Government Area in the northern senatorial zone, Girei in the central zone and Ganye in the southern zone.
However, Tari said the three areas were selected to provide coverage across Adamawa’s senatorial districts, with funding and time constraints also influencing the scope of the research.
He said the research lasted six months, and adopted a mixed-method approach alongside a cross-sectional research design. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from respondents, while correlation and regression analysis techniques were applied in analysing the data.
Limited Awareness and Adaptation Challenges
The study also found that farmers’ awareness of climate change was moderate, with limited participation in awareness campaigns and advocacy activities.
Tari explained that many farmers relied on social media to obtain information about changing climatic conditions and their effects on agricultural production.
He therefore called for more public education and awareness campaigns, to help farmers understand climate risks and adopt appropriate responses.
“How do you address something that you are not much aware of? How do you confront that?” he asked, stressing the importance of equipping farmers with the knowledge and practical skills needed to respond to changing weather patterns.
The research also identified drought-tolerant seeds and irrigation as leading adaptation strategies used by farmers to cope with climate-related challenges.
Meanwhile, Tari said the cost of improved seeds and inadequate irrigation infrastructure limited farmers’ ability to adapt, particularly when rainfall was insufficient or unpredictable.
He argued that dependence on rain-fed agriculture alone was no longer adequate to address the challenges facing agricultural production in the state. In his words: “It is clear that rain-fed agriculture can no longer sustain us.”
The researcher called for expanded access to alternative water sources, improved seeds and climate-resilient farming technologies to strengthen food production.
Farmer Recounts Sharp Decline in Maize Harvest
Mr Danjuma Nelson, a farmer in Adamawa State, said irregular rainfall and drought had seriously affected his farming activities over the past three years.
He recalled that during the previous farming season, rainfall started later than expected, forcing him to begin planting in early June. And sadly, a severe drought struck around July lasting for almost a month, significantly reducing his harvest.
He said: “Where I used to harvest 100 bags of maize, I got only 31 bags.”
Mr Nelson said the changes had also affected his income and reduced his capacity to continue farming.
According to him, he spent about ₦1.25 million on farming, but earned only ₦680,000 from the produce leaving him with a shortfall of ₦570,000.
He noted that he had not received any government support as a farmer. He however called on the government to support farmers with low-interest agricultural loans and subsidies on fertiliser and agrochemicals to help sustain production.
Expert Identifies Other Factors Worsening Food Insecurity
An independent agricultural economist, Dr Balthiya Alfred Fakuta, has described the study’s finding as significant and alarming, saying it reflects the vulnerability of farmers operating in a predominantly rain-fed agricultural system.
Fakuta, a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar, and an indigene of Adamawa State, said irregular rainfall, prolonged dry spells, drought, flooding and changing planting seasons were affecting crop growth and productivity.
She, however, cautioned against attributing declining crop yields solely to climate change, identifying other factors including declining soil fertility, high costs of agricultural inputs, insecurity, farmer-herder conflicts, inadequate access to credit, poor mechanisation and limited agricultural extension services.
According to her, poor rural roads, inadequate storage and processing facilities, and weak market access also reduce farmers’ profitability and undermine household food security.
Fakuta said the government’s provision of subsidised fertiliser, improved seeds, tractors, extension services and weather information was commendable, but insufficient to address the challenges facing farmers.
She identified inadequate irrigation infrastructure, limited access to affordable agricultural finance and insurance, insufficient extension coverage, poor storage facilities and weak market linkages as critical gaps requiring attention.
She stressed that government interventions should be assessed not merely by the quantity of agricultural inputs distributed but by whether they translate into improved crop yields and farmers’ incomes.
She said: “The need is extremely urgent. Adamawa has considerable agricultural potential and water resources, particularly around the Benue and Gongola river systems. Expanding irrigation will reduce farmers’ dependence on unpredictable rainfall and create opportunities for year-round production.”
Dr Fakuta also recommended the promotion of climate-smart practices, including the use of drought-tolerant seeds, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, crop diversification and efficient water management.
She urged the Adamawa State Government to prioritise the rehabilitation of existing irrigation schemes, development of small-scale irrigation facilities and improved access to early-maturing crop varieties.
She further called for stronger collaboration between universities, research institutions and meteorological agencies to provide farmers with location-specific climate information and practical adaptation strategies.
Ministry Outlines Interventions for Farmers
Responding to the findings, Dr Heidy Edgar, a Permanent Secretary with the Adamawa State Ministry of Agriculture, in a phone interview that the government had introduced several interventions to support farmers and improve agricultural production.
She said the state government provided fertiliser to farmers at subsidised rates during the last wet-season farming period, to encourage increased production.
Dr Edgar added that the government also provided improved varieties of seeds to farmers as part of its agricultural support measures.
She also highlighted that the state government procured tractors around May 2026, ahead of the rainy-season farming period, and distributed them across the state’s 21 local government areas to improve farmers’ access to mechanised land preparation.
According to her, timely and proper land preparation could improve cultivation and contribute to better agricultural productivity.
The Permanent Secretary also identified agricultural extension workers as part of the ministry’s efforts to help farmers adopt climate-smart agricultural practices.
She said the workers regularly engaged with farmers to educate them on farming techniques that could help mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce production costs.
On the researcher’s finding that farmers had limited awareness of climate change, Edgar said: “The ministry had, over the years, used radio jingles and agricultural extension workers to raise awareness among farming communities.”
She added that early warnings and information about expected rainfall patterns had also been disseminated to farmers across the state’s local government areas.
She however acknowledged that more needed to be done to improve farmers’ understanding of climate change and their ability to respond to its effects.
In her words: “There is still much that can be done to further improve on that,” adding that the ministry was considering ways to intensify awareness campaigns and improve farmers’ knowledge of climate adaptation measures.
Researcher Urges Stronger Irrigation Investment
Despite the interventions outlined by the ministry, Tari maintained that expanding irrigation infrastructure and access to drought-tolerant seeds should remain priorities for the state.
He argued that reliance on rain-fed agriculture alone was increasingly inadequate amid changing rainfall patterns and the growing threat of drought and flooding.
The researcher urged the Adamawa State Government to prioritise climate-smart agricultural policies, including improved access to drought-tolerant seeds, irrigation equipment, water-management infrastructure and soil-conservation facilities.
He also called for collaboration among researchers, government ministries, agricultural agencies, non-governmental organisations, development partners and the media to strengthen climate education and agricultural adaptation.
According to him, further research is needed to establish how different crops respond to changing climatic conditions so that agricultural interventions can be tailored to farmers’ needs.
He also advocated a coordinated approach to environmental protection, including addressing deforestation and bush burning while providing communities with viable alternatives to activities that contribute to environmental degradation.
The researcher said climate-related pressures on food production could undermine efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 2, which seeks to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and Goal 13, which calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
He identified Goal 2 as the primary focus of the study, while Goal 13 provided a framework for examining the adaptation measures needed to protect agricultural production.
With the 2030 deadline for achieving the SDGs approaching, Tari called for practical interventions to improve food availability and strengthen farmers’ capacity to withstand climate-related shocks.
He said expanding irrigation and making improved seeds more accessible should be among the government’s immediate priorities for addressing food insecurity in Adamawa State.
Tari said he had published the research through two public universities in Nigeria in the weeks preceding the interview.
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