ABSTRACT
This study examined the indigenous mitigation strategies to climate change among yam farmers in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo state. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of yam farmers, identify indigenous climate change mitigation strategies used by yam farmers, analyze yam farmers’ perception to the use of indigenous practices to mitigate climate change effect, and identify constraints to the use of indigenous practices to mitigate climate change effects on yam production. A multistage sampling technique was used to sample 80 respondents who were interviewed using a wellstructured questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out with the use of descriptive statistics like frequency, mean, percentages and standard deviation while multiple regression was used to make statistical deductions from the findings. The findings revealed that 74% of the sampled yam farmers were males with 66% of them married and the average age was 58 years. They had a mean of 10 years farming experience and 36% possessed a secondary education, 41.0% had a household size between 6 and 10 members but relied more on hired labour (69%) for work. The average farm size was obtained as 4.5 hectares. It was shown that about 40% of the farmers were Christians while 39% practiced African religion. The average annual income from yam production was ₦792, 623, although 61.0% had alternative sources of income. Among the farmers, 52% had prior undergone training in yam farming practices. On the indigenous climate mitigation strategies used, it was revealed that 36.3% used rain makers, 74% used herbal concoctions, 76% used native powders, 20% practiced incantations, 11% engaged in rituals, 34% appeased gods, 74% slaughtered animals, while 89.9% indicated that they used yam festival as a strategy to mitigate the effect of climate change in yam farming However, only yam festival x 3 5 had the high level of use among the various strategies used he major constraints to the use of indigenous practices for mitigating the effects of climate change were; modernization x 3 , hristianity and Islam x 2 88 , stigmatization in the society x 2 96 , change in elief system x 2 8 It was found that age (t = 2.39; p<0.05) was the only significant variable that determined that use of identified strategies. Also, there was a positive and significant correlation etween farmers’ perception (r = 0.956) and usage of the strategies at 0.01 level of significance. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that use of indigenous mitigation strategies was high but the level of use was low as only the use of festival recorded high level of use among the farmers Age was a significant determinant of use and farmers’ perception had positive correlation with the use. It is therefore, recommended that younger farmers should be educated on the use of indigenous strategies if the older farmers have the assurances that the strategies to mitigate the effect of climate change in yam production.
