ABSTRACT

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) has undoubtedly assumed a critical position in addressing the complex issue of how to achieve sustainable agricultural growth for food security under climate change. This dissertation is an attempt to evaluate the objectives of climate smart agriculture, taking into account the obvious peculiarities of the Nigerian farming economy. Abia, Imo and Ebonyi states were selected for the study. Each of the state comprises of three agricultural zones and 30 respondents were purposively selected along root and tuber value chain line per Agricultural zone giving a total of 90 respondents per state and a grand total of 270 respondents for the study. Descriptive statistics, Heckman’s two-stage selection model, Cost and returns, OLS and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The participation in agribusiness subsectors by the agri-preneurs showed clear overlapping of activities as no single agripreneur specialized. With little or no specialization, the respondents are exposed to a whole lot of risks and expenses which could be avoided if they specialize. The awareness of the use of CSA was created by extension workers (in Abia state) and by cooperatives (in Ebonyi and Imo states). The result showed that reduction of soil cover, application of manure, use of cover-crops and green manure, run-off water harvesting, use of pest and disease resistant varieties and early planting techniques were the most-adopted CSA practices. The Heckman model result for Abiaagripreneurs showed that in hurdles 1 and 2 (decision to adopt CSA and number of CSA adopted), farming experience, level of education and extension visit were positive while household size and risk index were negative. In Imo state, household size, farming experience, education and income were positive while risk index was negative. In Ebonyi state, household size, education and extension visit were positive while risk index was negative.The cost and returns analyses across the states showed all indicators – gross profit, net profit, expense-structure ratio and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) were positive, an indication of the viability and profitability of tuber subsector. With reference to net profit, BCR and returns per naira invested, the processing subsector was the most viable in Abia state; marketing was the highest in Imo state while production was higher for BCR and returns per naira invested in Ebonyistate.For the factors affecting the performance of root and tuber crop agripreneurs in South-east Nigeria, education, credit, household size and income showed expected signs.Risks relating to high collateral demands/interest rates, menace of herdsmen, floods/erosion, thefts and on-time deliveries of supplies were most prominent among input agripreneurs. Generally, agripreneurs were exposed to risks relating to their areas of specialization. Risk exposure in Abia state was highest for services, marketing and production agripreneurs; it was production, marketing and inputs subsector agripreneurs that were most exposed to risk in Imo state while risk exposure in Ebonyi was highest among inputs, services and processing agripreneurs. Actions geared towards specialization of the value chain without undermining the importance of vertical integration should be vigorously pursued.