درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The negative and destructive impact of climate change on the efficiency and productivity of agricultural inputs has been demonstrated in many regions of the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. In this context, the adoption of innovative strategies to increase farmers' flexibility and adaptability to climate change has increased. Hence, understanding the impact of climate adaptation strategies on agricultural efficiency and yields is crucial. This study examined the effects of climate change adaptation strategies, input utilization, and external factors beyond farmers' control on technical efficiency using the Endogenous Modified Stochastic Frontier (EMSF) model. Data were collected from 265 questionnaires distributed among wheat farmers during the 2022-2023 cultivation period, using a stratified random sampling approach. The climate adaptation strategy index was formulated using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique. The PCA revealed that changes in farm size (0.812), adaptation of conservation tillage (0.797), and adjustments in planting dates (0.619) were the most influential factors. Conversely, rainwater harvesting (0.219) and biofertilizer application (0.327) emerged as the adaptation strategies with the lowest factor loadings among farmers. In this study, the average technical efficiency of wheat farmers was calculated to be 82%. The model estimation results showed that labor input, chemical pesticides, chemical fertilizers, water, and machinery significantly and positively contribute to wheat production efficiency. Additionally, the implementation of climate adaptation strategies by farmers reduces technical inefficiency. Variables such as education level, farming experience, access to climate information, and access to credit also effectively reduce technical inefficiency.

Motivated by Nigeria’s persistent pursuit of rice self-sufficiency, this paper projects the country's future rice self-sufficiency levels. These projections could guide policy decisions in areas of the rice market that show potential for growth, aiding in the achievement of Nigeria's goal through improved planning strategies. Using time series data covering the period from 1980 to 2018, this study adopted an econometric technique to model Nigeria's rice market which was estimated using a dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The results revealed that paddy producer price elasticity was 0.206 and had no influence on paddy area harvested. On the other hand, the national policy of rice credit guarantee scheme variable displayed a positive relationship with paddy area harvested. Lagged yield and lagged area harvested had positive influences on yield and area harvested, respectively. This could mean that paddy producers were motivated by previous year’s yield levels and area harvested. The demand own-price elasticity of rice was -0.321 and its cross-price elasticity was 0.193, with wheat revealed to be a substitute. The obtained elasticities were then used to make a ten-year projection. Results suggested that by 2028, increasing rice production relative to dwindling imports will boost rice self-sufficiency level to 71%. However, the average yearly rice self-sufficiency level was 53%, requiring 3.85 million Mt of rice imports. The projections revealed that Nigeria will not achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2028 unless intensive yield enhancing policy-supporting efforts are pursued.