Agricultural Resilience to Climate Change in Anambra State, Southeastern Nigeria: Insights from Public Policy and Practice

Resilience to climate change depends not only on farmers’ internal capacities but also on the agricultural context within which farmers’ activities are embedded. The importance of policies in building agricultural resilience is thus widely acknowledged. This chapter examines the extent to which agriculture policies and practices in a major African economy such as Nigeria contribute to agricultural resilience. Using a framework of resilience of agriculture to climate variability and climate change, we reviewed government documents on agriculture policies, programs, and project reports and other agriculture sector activities that government bodies participate in. The study found that awareness about challenges to agriculture under a changing climate is high, and plans to address them are many, but implementation is still low. Practices that ensure the resilience of landscapes and watersheds are neglected. The resilience of crop production and farmers’ households has been improved. Farmer self-organization has been strengthened, giving farmers better access to inputs and information. However, it is not clear how and to what extent public policies and practices support farmer learning. Despite the successes achieved in increasing productivity, farmer self-organization, and farmer incomes, a lingering question that remains is how the achievements can be made more sustainable under a changing climate.