Journal of Experimental Agriculture International

The Saga irrigated scheme near Niamey provides a useful setting for examining how farmers perceive and respond to climate variability despite controlled irrigation. This cross-sectional study assessed vulnerability and adaptation among 182 registered rice farmers, supplemented by 32 semi-structured interviews and five focus groups used for contextual interpretation. Surveyed farmers commonly reported rising temperatures (71%), increasing flood frequency (54%) and increasing drought frequency (52%), while 98% reported declining rice productivity. These percentages represent farmer-reported experiences rather than independently measured climatological or yield trends. A 0–1 composite vulnerability index combined exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity as V = [E + S + (1 - AC)]/3 with equal weighting. Mean vulnerability was 0.41 (SD = 0.11), corresponding to moderate vulnerability under predefined equal-width descriptive categories; mean exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity were 0.46, 0.26 and 0.51, respectively. The first two principal components explained 53.1% of total variance, and k-means clustering identified three exploratory farmer profiles with different vulnerability levels. The Livelihood Index classified 32% of farmers in the low livelihood-resource category, 46% in the medium category and 22% in the high category. Adaptation was concentrated on technical support from the National Office for Hydro-Agricultural Development (ONAHA; 100%), irrigation-canal maintenance (97%), drought-tolerant varieties (83%) and improved irrigation management (76%), whereas crop diversification (0%) and organic fertiliser use (2%) were rare. The findings indicate that irrigation and institutional support buffer some climate-related pressures, but the adaptation portfolio remains narrow. Longitudinal monitoring using objective climatic, agronomic and livelihood indicators is needed to test changes in vulnerability and the durability of adaptation outcomes.