(P02-049-23) The Impact of Climate Change on the Nutritional Status of Farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria

Objectives: The study was undertaken to determine the impact of climate change on the Nutritional status of farmers in Enugu State.

Methods: A total of 280 farmers (from ADP, Agricultural Development Programme, Enugu State) was used for the study. A cross-sectional survey was used for data collection. The study involved focus-group discussions (FGDs), questionnaire was used to collect data on dietary pattern, assessment of activity patterns, then anthropometry, and observations of clinical signs of malnutrition was also assessed. The relationship between Nutritional status and Meteorological data from the last half century was evaluated. GIS Software, SPSS, Descriptive statistics (mean and percentage) and linear regression analysis were used for data analysis.

Results: Results showed that apart from climate change there are other factors that threatened food security in the State like insecurity. The Body Mass Index (BMI) results showed that 41.9% of the farmers were underweight, 22.2% were normal, 12.8% were overweight, 11.5% obese I and 11.6% were obese II. It also showed that increase in temperature decrease both crops and livestock yield especially poultry.

Conclusions: Climate change decrease food production and predisposes farmers to malnutrition. Nutrition Education on the best adaptive and mitigate strategy for climate change is imperative in the study area.

Funding Sources: None