Building Resilience for Adaptation to Climate Change among Downstream Communities in Nigeria through Climate Smart Agriculture

Rainfall and river flow are highly variable in space and time. The variability affects agricultural production in a number of ways including reduction in crop production. North central region in Nigeria holds significant agricultural importance in the country particularly Niger State in terms of Agricultural productivity. Although, the influence of rainfall variability has been widely recognised, the seasonal rainfall and rivers Niger and Kaduna discharge pattern and the relationship between them have not been quantitatively established in Niger State. The purpose of this research is to fill up the gap and adopt climate-smart agricultural practices that are suitable for the study area to reduce the impact of climate change especially flooding. Data on rainfall, river discharge and flood occurrences were obtained from Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Lagos, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Dartmouth Flood Observatory Archive respectively. The rainfall and river flow pattern were determined by calculating the monthly average for 31 years [1982-2012], while the relationship between them was calculated using correlation coefficient and regression. The results show that r=0.79; r2 = 0.63. The significance of the regression equation was also tested using student ‘t’ test and Ho is rejected. Therefore, there is a significant relationship between rainfall pattern and rivers Niger and Kaduna discharge pattern in Niger State. Moreover, about 75% of the annual rainfall total accumulates in the four heaviest rainy months of June, July, August and September and the peak occurs in August. However, the mean monthly discharge of River Niger at Kainji reservoir reaches its peak in September, whereas the highest mean monthly discharge of river Kaduna at Shiroro reach its peak in August. Consequently, the results also show that floods usually occur in the study area between the months of August and September. Therefore, climate smart agricultural practices suitable for the down-stream communities in Niger State should include the use of irrigation system, cultivation of upland rice and use of improved crop varieties (i.e. early maturing and drought resistant crops) to reduce the impact of floods on crop production. Discouragement of transhumance agriculture and establishment of aquaculture can also drastically reduce the impact of flood on agriculture.