Impacts of Climate Change on the Yeild of some Selected Root Crops in Enugu State, South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Climate change variability has posed a huge threat on the yield of root crops in South-Eastern Nigeria. Studies were carried out to assess the effect of climate change on some selected root crops in Enugu State. Climatic and root crop yield data were collected for Twenty years (20years) each from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Abuja, and Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Enugu State respectively. Data collected were statistically analyzed using ANOVA. The ANOVA result shows that significant difference (p<0.05) were observed in annual temperature and mean values of annual rainfall and minimum temperature. Crop yields of cocoyam, yam and cassava were also significantly different at p<0.05. The highest mean annual rainfall was observed in 2006, annual temperature was also significant at p<0.05 in 2015. Most significant values (P<0.05) for Cocoyam yield was recorded in 2016. The regression of combined climatic factors and crop yields from 2001 to 2020 showed that coefficient of determination (R2) recorded for cocoyam and yam yield as 0.59 and 0.34 respectively, cassava recorded a very poor correlation of 0.09. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) shows that there was high correlation (R = 0.769) between cocoyam yield and climatic factors, and a moderate correlation (R=0.584) for yam yield and climatic factors. Single correlation between climatic factors and crop yield showed that moderate correlations were recorded for cocoyam yield and mean annual sunshine hour (R = 0.441) and cocoyam yield with annual temperature (0.450). it is recommended to use up to 30 years crop yield data for future studies.