EVALUATION OF AGRO-CLIMATOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS TO COTTON PRODUCTION IN MAKARFI AND ZARIA, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Knowing and understanding the key agro-climatological variables, which affect cotton production, is of great importance for designing agricultural policies to enhance cotton production in the study area and the country at large. Little published thesis and journal have covered the research topic which has created paucity of knowledge and this study has filled such gap. The aim of this study is to assess agro-climatological constraints to low cotton production in Makarfi and Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The primary data used were those that were collected directly from the field survey, oral interview and questionnaire. Secondary data used were those data that were obtained from Kaduna State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KDARDA) for a period of twenty years (1998 to 2017), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), previous researches, journals, textbooks, newspapers, magazines and encyclopedia. The methods of data analysis include mean, mean deviation, frequency percentage and multiple linear regression. The result revealed that annual rainfall tend to be decreasing in the study area despite the fluctuation in some years (2007, 2013 and 2015). The highest annual rainfall was in the year 1999 with 2272.4 mm and the lowest was in the year 2008 with 848.5 mm. The study also revealed that mean annual relative humidity tend to be decreasing despite the fluctuation. The highest mean annual relative humidity was recorded in the year 2013 with 56.4 percent and the least was recorded in the year 2010 with 47.4 percent. The finding revealed that the agro-constraints faced by cotton growers in the study area include inadequate fertilizer, inadequate pesticides, inadequate market opportunities, late planting, inadequate storage facilities after harvest and increased cotton diseases. As indicated in the result, R2 was 0.552 for annual rainfall, thus, rainfall account for 55.2percent of the explained variance between annual rainfall and cotton yield in the study area. This shows that other climatic variables like relative humidity and temperature too play significant role in cotton yield since the remaining 44.8percent is left unexplained. As shown in the study, R2 was 0.22 for relative humidity, thus, relative humidity account for 22.0percent of the explained variance between relative humidity and cotton yield in the study area. It’s therefore recommended that the Kaduna State Agricultural Development Programme (KSADP) should device way to motivate its agricultural extension workers to be able to assist the rural cotton growers on enhanced productivity and to guide them on new agricultural innovations.