Poverty Decomposition For High And Low Users of Climate Smart Agricultural Techniques in Northwest Nigeria (Published)
Climate change projections estimate that developing countries who are least prepared for the changes in climate will be the most affected. Meanwhile, the already existing poverty in Nigeria is alarming and climate change threatens food security and poverty to a large extent. It was on this note that the study measured poverty levels for high and low users of climate smart agricultural practices of small holder farming households in North-West Nigeria. The study employed primary data using questionnaire instruments and focus group discussion in the North West region of Nigeria. The FGT Index model, Equally Distributed Equivalent (EDE) FGT, watts index, Sen, Shorrocks and Thon index were employed to decompose the monetary dimensions of poverty while Chakravarty et al (1998) technique, extended watts, extended FGT and Alkire and Foster were employed to decompose the non-monetary dimension. The findings show that poverty rate was higher for low-users of climate smart agricultural practices than for high-users for all dimensions under consideration and for all the decomposition techniques. This implies that farmers should make conscious efforts to practice climate smart agriculture regardless of their poverty status due to the fact that poverty resides more with low-users. It could be as a result of the fact that high-users make their production sustainable by practicing CSA and consequently high yields that might in turn reduce their poverty status. There is need for significant empowerment of the farmers, given that some of the climate smart agricultural practices have cost implications and require extra money to fund.
Keywords: Agriculture, Climate, Nigeria, Northwest, Poverty