Climate Smart Technology in Agriculture & Its Impact on Farming: A Case Study of Edo State in Nigeria

Farmers in Africa, are faced with a myriad of challenges as they seek to increase agricultural productivity in their farms. Climate change has played a critical role in the array of these challenges. However, the problem becomes persistent when farmers are not prepared to mitigate the menace, through adequate contextually relevant adaptation strategies including climate-smart technologies. This study explores how rural communities in Edo State use technology to fight climate change by focusing on the disaggregated impact on women-led farms. Specifically, the study sought to understand the impact of gender in the use of digital tools in fighting climate change; understand community challenges in adopting climate change technologies and the impact of these technologies on their communities. Employing mixed methods, the study used surveys and focus groups to gather data from 1336 households in fifteen farmer-based local governments, where farmers were heads of households. Three focused groups were randomly chosen from two of the local government areas. The study had 54.49% male respondents and 45.51% female respondents. The study concludes that communities did not adopt climate-smart technologies due largely to low awareness. Also, gender is found not to be a major factor when it comes to the use of digital tools, however, when it comes to decision-making about the use of climate-smart technologies, gender becomes a factor. Therefore, the study recommends the need for the government to intensify efforts in educating farmers on the importance of climate-smart technologies.