Climate Variability and Extreme Climate Events: Rural Women Farmers Perception in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the level of rural women farmers understanding of their local climate and their indigenous perception of climate variability and extreme climate events. One hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were administered randomly to a pool of registered women farmers in the study area. Temperature and precipitation data from a local meteorological station was used to examine the perception of the sampled women farmers. The result showed that rural women farmers understand their local climate but found it highly variable and unpredictable. This was confirmed by the result of statistical analysis conducted on the temperature and precipitation data. The result further suggest a positive trend in temperature (b=0.018, P 0.05) within the said period. This suggests that annul temperature has increased in the study area while annual precipitation volume has reduced. Majority of the women farmers perceive extreme climate events to be anthropogenically induce. The study concluded that while some rural farmers lack adequate knowledge of their local climate, vast majority of them understands how the climate works.