Search for a command to run...
This study examined the effects of climate change on food security in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, North-East Nigeria. Using a multi-stage cluster sampling technique, 399 respondents were selected from four zones: Garaha-Gaya, Kulinyi, Uba, and Hong Central. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and probit regression models. The study was guided by two objectives: to investigate the extent to which climate change threatens food security, and to examine the relationship between climates induced poor harvests and household poverty. The findings revealed that climate change variables exert significant negative effects on food security. Temperature change, drought frequency, soil degradation, tree cover loss, and bush burning practice reduced the probability of household food security by 15.2, 11.2, 9.7, 10.5, and 14.2 percentage points respectively. These same climate variables significantly increased the probability of household poverty, with marginal effects ranging from 8.1 to 12.8 percentage points. Conversely, farm income, farm size, and educational attainment provided protective effects against poverty, with a ₦100,000 increase in annual farm income reducing poverty probability by 22.4 percentage points. The probit models demonstrated good explanatory power, with Pseudo R² values of 0.312 and 0.345 for food security and poverty models respectively. The study concludes that climate change poses severe and multi-faceted threats to food security and household welfare in the study area. Rising temperatures, recurrent drought, soil degradation, deforestation, and harmful practices such as bush burning collectively undermine agricultural productivity and perpetuate poverty among vulnerable farming households. The study recommends aggressive afforestation programs, strict enforcement of bush burning prohibitions, mainstreaming of climate-smart agricultural practices, sustained investment in education, farm income support mechanisms, and integration of family planning services with agricultural extension programs.