Arable farmers’ livelihood options as a means of climate variability adaptation strategies in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study was designed to assess arable farmers’ livelihood options as a means of climate variability adaptation strategies in Ondo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the objective described the socioeconomic characteristics of arable farmers in Ondo State; examined other livelihood options engaged by the arable farmers in combating effects of climate variability on their farm income; determined the contribution of alternative livelihood options to total income and identified factors that influence the choice of alternative livelihood options. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed in the study area to collect data through in-depth interview from one hundred and sixty (160) arable farmers in four (4) designated agricultural zones in Ondo State. Moreover, the primary data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression. Apart from the fact that the findings revealed that majority of the respondents (78.75%) were male, it was also observed that the predominant age of the respondents was between 41 and 50 years (34.38%), with an average age of 45 years. The study also revealed that 21.3% of respondents selected off-farming as their option for a livelihood, while 32.5% of respondents engaged in non-farming activities as source of income. The study also revealed that the respondents' participation in non-farming and off-farming activities contributed about 40% of the total income they took in, making this choice the one that had the greatest impact on overall income. Multinomial logistic regression result revealed that respondents who chose farming as a livelihood option shows that age and primary education significantly influence the choice of choosing farming at 5% level of significance. Marital status, secondary education and, farm experience significantly influence the choice of choosing farming at 10% level of significance, while distance from of home to market significantly influence the choice of choosing farming at 1% level of significance. Also, respondents who chose off- farming as a livelihood option shows that age and farming experience significantly influence the choice of choosing off-farming at 10% level of significance, while respondents who chose non & off- farming livelihood option shows that age significantly influence the choice of choosing non & off-farming at 5% level of significance and farming experience significantly influence the choice of choosing non and off-farming at 1% level of significance: using non-farming as a base category.