Root Crop Farming System and Climate Change in Sub- Saharan Africa

Increases and/or decreases in both temperature and rainfall both major climatic variables reduces crop yields reduce net farm revenues and are thus threats to food security in the economies of developing countries including African countries. This study examined adaptation to root crop farming system in Ikwerre Local Government Area. The study used mixed methods (triangulation) involving qualitative and quantitative components in generating data for analysis. Seven (7) towns were selected based on a population of five thousand and above selection strategy in the Ikwerre local Government. In this study data analysis was carried out using simple proportion for qualitative variables while mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing the qualitative variable. Results from the temperature analysis of Rivers State showed that there has been a steady but gradual increase in the mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures over the study period of thirty years (1984 – 2013) the overall mean Rainfall however for the same study period was computed to be about 191.1mm. In general there was a shift increase in both rainfall and temperature during the period under study.