International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Chikezie NP, Ajaero JO, Akande SN and Chikaire JU

abstract
Smallholder farmers are most affected by climate change shocks and weather related disasters the world over, and they are also vulnerable to market fluctuations and poor governance, conflicts and even diseases. Extension and advisory services provide an opportunity for strengthening resilience of rural farming households by increasing their access to both material and non material resources. This paper sought to explain how Extension Services Providers build resilience of rural farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. The researcher selected 120 Extension workers and 230 rural farmers for interview. Questionnaire was given to both respondents, and complimented by oral discussion. Data collected were analyzed descriptively. With a discriminating mean (M) score of 2.0, it was seen that climate change affects the farmers adversely. Climate change damages crops in farm and field (M=2.50), reduced quality/quality of crops (M=2.45), leads to sudden death of crops (M=2.70) among others. To build resilience of rural farmers, extension workers promoted the following resilient approaches - diversification of income sources (M=2.81), market information provisioning (M=2.79), behavioural change campaigns (M=2.54), crop diversification (M=2.67), among many others. The farmers face the challenge of insufficient incomes, poor monitoring, low understanding of climate change, resilient options etc.