Assessment of climate variability and the determinants of rice productivity in Southeastern Nigeria

The study assessed the variabilities in climate and key factors of rice production in southeastern Nigeria. Trend analysis and spatial interpolation expressed the spatiotemporal variabilities in the climate and rice yield. Copies of the questionnaire were used to assess four hundred and eighty farm households from 12 local government areas. Other analyses included descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and Productivity Index. The farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics show that the majority (62% of them are young males aged between 30-39 years. Over 80% of them were married while about 72% has household sizes between 5-9 persons. A greater proportion (54%) of them generate between N240,000.00 (578 USD) to N480,000.00 (1156 USD) annually. About 96 % have a farming experience above 10 years, while 50% have basic education (primary education). Logistic regression shows that sex (0.02), category of the farmer (0.00), age (0.03) (0.00), educational qualification (0.02) (0.00), membership of cooperative society (0.00), extension workers’ visit (0.03) were the statistically significant determinants of rice productivity in the area. The area experiences significant rising temperatures and declining rainfall. This trend is more obvious in Ebonyi state. Study results acknowledge the necessity of an enabling environment for rice farming through adequate rural infrastructure, improved rice varieties, access to information, and improved government policies, programs, and interventions to accommodate non-ADP rural rice farmers in order to enhance rice production against the unwanted climate changes