Climate Change and Rice Production: A Case Study in Ekiti State, Niger

The paper explores the climate effect of rice produce in Ekiti State Nigeria. Climate data was obtained from the archive of the Nigerian Meteorological Station, Oshodi, Nigeria. The Rice data was obtained from Ekiti State Agricultural Development Project (A.D.P) The climatic parameters are rainfall amount, rainfall frequency, maximum and minimum temperature while rice yield data include land devoted to rice cultivation, rice production and yield. The data covered the period of 5yrs between 2007 and 2011. The climate data were grouped based on the rice cropping calendar of the study area into the pre-planting (Feb), the planting season (March-mid April), the period of growth (mid April- July) and the period of harvest. The data were summarized using statistical tool of mean, Correlation and regression were used to find the strength of relationship while the most critical climatic variable(s) for rice was identified using factor analysis. The result showed that increase in land devoted to rice did not bring corresponding increase in rice yield. Increase in rainfall amount and frequency during the period shortly before planting and during planting seems to be very important for rice yield. Minimum temperature correlates highly with yield during the period of planting. Mild positive relationship exists between yield and temperatures (maximum and minimum). Temperature is most critical during harvest as both maximum and minimum temperature exhibited a high positive relationship of 0.82 and 0.66 respectively.