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The study was aimed
at identifying sources of agricultural risks faced by crop
farmers in their changing environment and the coping
strategies employed. Multi stage sampling technique was used
to select 180 farmers affected by risks and uncertainty.
Questionnaire was used to collect data and descriptive tools
such as percentage and mean were used to analyze the data.
The study revealed that farmers faced myriads of risks in
food production business. These risks were grouped into
weather, environment and social related risks. The weather
risk faced included heavy rainfall with a high mean of 3.36,
flooding (M = 3.20), drought (M = 2.77), extreme temperature
(M=3.05), pests/diseases outbreak (M=3.16). The social risks
included fire outbreak (M = 3.02), illness (M = 3.28), land
dispute (M = 3.01), death (M = 3.02) among others. The
economic risks were market failure, price fluctuation and
lack of capital among others. To cope, the farmers employed
the following strategies – intercropping, cooperative
farming, borrowing of money, off-farm investment,
education/training, saving more money, storage of crops,
insurance of crops and many more. They are faced with the
problems of lack of sufficient fund, high cost of land and
labour, poor marketing facilities among others. Government
should subsidize inputs and make farming attractive to young
ones.
Keywords: Agriculture, Risks, Farmers, Flooding, Weather,
Management
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