It is also essential to note that a range of fundamental natural resources, including land, water, air, biological diversity including forests, fish, etc., provide the indispensable base for agricultural production system and sustenance of agricultural ecosystems. Due to population growth and expansion of agricultural activities, the physical and functional availability of natural resources is diminishing. The latter can be attributed to loss of biodiversity, deforestation, loss of soil health, and water shortage. Given the multifunctional nature of agriculture,it is critical to consider linkages across ecosystems in which agricultural systems are embedded, as these have important implications for the resilience or vulnerability of these systems. These linkages between natural resource use and the social and physical environment across space and time are important issues for scaling out and the dissemination of agricultural knowledge, science and technology, with significant implications for sustainable development and the mitigation of adverse impacts.

It provides a source of employment for more than 60%of the population and contributes about 30% of Gross Domestic Product. The performance of the agricultural sector is determined by crop production,which depends on a large number of both edaphic and climatic factors such as endowment of soils, rainfall, temperature, and relative humidity. But recent concerns and findings indicate that these climatic variables are changing. Climate change refers to any variation in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. Climate change in the form of higher temperatures, reduced rainfall and increased rainfall variability, reduce scrop yields and net farm revenues and threatens food security in low income based economies including African countries . At the 10th and 38th Session of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group IIin Yokohama, Japan, the world is warned that climate change’s impacts are leading to shifts in crop yields, overall decrease in yields, with the likelihood that global average surface temperature rising to 1.8 degrees to 4.0 degrees Celsius by2100. Climate variability will increase almost everywhere. Northern latitudes will experience more rainfall; many subtropical regions will see less.

In light of these,some indigenous communities are changing seasonal migration and hunting patterns to adapt to changes in temperature . Furthermore, IPCC report predicts that the climate change over the next century will affect rainfall pattern,river flows and sea levels all over the world. Studies show that agricultural yield will likely be severely affected over the next hundred years due to unprecedented rates of changes in the climate system. The accelerated increase in the greenhouse gases, concentration in the atmosphere is a major cause for climate change. Studies such as , predict that by the year 2050, the rainfall in Sub-Saharan Africa could drop by 10%, which will cause a major water shortage. This 10% decrease in precipitation would reduced rainage by 17% and the regions which are receiving 500 – 600 mm/year rainfall will experience a reduction by 50% – 30% respectively in the surface drainage.This has serious implications for Nigeria which is by far the world’s largest producer of yams, accounting for over 70 – 76 percent of the world production. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization report in 1985, Nigeria produced18.3 million tons of yams from 1.5 million hectares, representing 73.8percent of total yam production in Africa. According to 2008 figures, yam production in Nigeria has nearly doubled since 1985, with Nigeria producing 35.017million metric tons with value equivalent of US $5.654 billion.

Considering the findings above, there is need to preserve, boost and promote the agricultural sector especially root crop farming system as an alternative means of income for the Nigerian economy to cushion the economic shocks experienced by the fluctuating global oil prices in the face of the current economic recession. Investigated remote sensor technology for precision crop production. The findings of the study revealed that a combination of items was needed by farmers in utilizing sensory technology for precision crop production. examined climate change impacts and adaptation in rain-fed farming system using a modeling framework for scaling out climate smart agriculture. The potential for improving soil water productivity and improved water harvesting have been explored as ways of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. The paper argued that this can be utilized to explore and design appropriate conservation agriculture and adaptation practices in similar agro-ecological environments, and create opportunities for out-scaling for much wider areas. studied the impact of climate change on yields for the four most commonly grown crops in Sub-Saharan Africa . A panel data approach was used to relate yields to standard weather variables, such as temperature and precipitation, and sophisticated weather measures, such as evapotranspiration and the standardized precipitation index .