Climate Change Adaptation Needs of Arable Crop Farmers in Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

Adaptation is second to none in adjusting to a changing climate. The study was conducted to assess the climate change adaptation needs of arable crop farmers in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State. A Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select one hundred and seventy respondents.  An interview guide was used to collect data and analyse using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study indicated that the mean age of the respondents was 55.3 years and the majority (80.0%) of the respondents were males, married (81.8%) with an average of 5 persons per household, and had a mean of 27.6 years of farming experience. The respondents cultivated an average of 1.4ha for arable crops and generated a mean income of #158, 288.24k per annum while most  (98.8%) of the farmers had no access to farm credit loans. Furthermore, radio (x̄ = 2.94) and family and friends (x̄ = 2.39) were the major sources of information on climate change adaptation. The respondents observed an increase in rainfall (x̄= 2.79), occurrence of flood (x̄= 2.48) and, drought (x̄=2.38) while temperature (x̄=2.38) was observed to reduce.  The pressing adaptation needs of the respondents were loans for livelihood diversification (x̄=4.78), early maturing varieties (x̄= 4.60), irrigation facility (x̄=4.44) and drought-resistant varieties (x̄=4.43). Results of the Chi-square analysis showed that age (χ2 = 0.017, p = 0.826) and religion (χ2 = 0.654, p = 0.721) had no significant relationship (P>0.05) with climate change adaptation needs of respondents, whereas, climate change adaptation barriers (r = 0.399**, p = 0.000) has a significantly weak relationship with climate change adaptation needs. It is therefore recommended that arable crop farmers should be granted access to loans for diversification.  Also, there should be favourable policies on the availability of subsidized improved seeds for prompt adaptation to ensure sustainable production.