Farmers’ perceptions on cultivation and the impacts of climate change on goods and services provided by Garcinia kola in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Garcinia kola is an indigenous multipurpose tree species commonly found in the tropical rain forest zone of West and Central Africa. Providing economic, ecological, and socio-cultural benefits for people, they have potentials to improve the regional and local income generation to the farmers but the cultivation of the species is very limited in Nigeria. Methods: The study investigated cultivation and farmers’ perceptions on the impacts of climate change on goods and services provided by G. kola in Nigeria. Structured questioners and interviews were used. The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic such as frequency, percentage, chi-square, and multinomial logit regressions with SPSS Version 20 and R software Version 3.1.0. Results: The results show that farmers are presently not cultivating G. kola, and most of the available stands were inherited from grandparents. The farmers still believe it is only God that can make G. kola to germinate; however, information about the new improved methods of raising G. kola was not spread across farmers’ communities. Over 93% of these farmers were not aware of these new methods, and the only means they raise the species is by picking the wildlings that regenerate naturally close to mother tree and are rarely found. The finding also shows that farmers are well aware of climate change and its impact on crop productivity is not clear to them. The result shows that five explanatory variables (age, gender, marital status, education level, household size and primary occupation) are the main factors significantly influencing farmers’ perception of climate change and the cultivation of the G. kola. During interview section, the farmers reported variability of Harmattan season influences fruit production of the species; according to them, increase in Harmattan season usually leads to increase in fruiting of G. kola. Conclusions: Based on our findings, all the 215 respondent interviewed agree that climatic variability influences the availability of G. kola which will in turn have significant effects on the goods and services provided to the people. Efforts should be made at educating the rural farmers on propagation possibilities, potential ecosystem services, and the impact of climate change on multiple-purpose agroforestry species.