Purpose: The shutdown of normal face-to-face educational method of learning caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has made the education stakeholders reconsider and rethink education anew in light of the emerging challenges and opportunities imposed on e-learning in higher education in Nigeria post COVID-19. This study investigates the challenges confronting e-learning in higher education in Nigeria amid COVID-19.Design/methodology/approach: Drawing upon data collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 395 lecturers in various disciplines in private, state and federal universities in Nigeria, the study adopts a quantitative research method. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.Findings: The findings indicate that Nigeria Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are still in the early stage of adopting the e-learning mode of study. In addition, there was no existing e-learning curriculum before the pandemic. Also, adopting e-learning mode of teaching was an uphill task for both the lecturers and the learners, given the lack of experience in information and communications technology usage and inadequate infrastructure to support e-learning.Research limitations/implications: A major limitation of the study is the inability to investigate the challenges facing students in using e-learning tools due to the unavailability of access to students during the lockdown. However, the limitations create opportunities for further studies into the subject matter.Originality/value: The study is timely given that HEIs in Nigeria and some other countries in Africa are yet to adopt blended teaching methods. Literature reveals that most HEIs in Nigeria are using only brick and mortar mode of teaching despite the benefit of blended learning in a pandemic situation.

Rice production in Nigeria is vulnerable to climate risks and rice farmers over time have experienced the risks and their respective impacts on rice farming. Rice farmers have also responded to perceived climate risks with strategies believed to be climate-smart. Farmers’ perception of climate risks is an important first step of determining any action to be taken to counteract the negative effects of climate change on agriculture. Studies on the link between perceived climate risks and farmers’ response strategies are increasing. However, there are limited studies on the determinants of rice farmers’ perception of climate events. The paper therefore examined climate change perception and uptake of climate-smart agriculture in rice production in Ebonyi State, Nigeria using cross-sectional data from 347 rice farmers in an important rice-producing area in Nigeria. Principal component analysis, multivariate probit regression model and descriptive statistics were adopted for data analysis. Perceived climate events include increased rainfall intensity, prolonged dry seasons, frequent floods, rising temperature, severe windstorms, unpredictable rainfall pattern and distribution, late onset rain, and early cessation of rain. Farmers’ socioeconomic, farm and institutional characteristics influenced their perception of climate change. Additionally, rice farmers used a variety of climate-smart practices and technologies to respond to the perceived climate events. Such climate-smart practices include planting improved rice varieties, insurance, planting different crops, livelihood diversification, soil and water conservation techniques, adjusting planting and harvesting dates, irrigation, reliance on climate information and forecasts, planting on the nursery, appropriate application of fertilizer and efficient and effective use of pesticides. These climate-smart agricultural measures were further delineated into five broad packages using principal component analysis. These packages include crop and land management practices, climate-based services and irrigation, livelihood diversification and soil fertility management, efficient and effective use of pesticide and planting on the nursery. High fertilizer costs, lack of access to inputs, insufficient land, insufficient capital, pests and diseases, floods, scorching sun, high labour cost, insufficient climate information, and poor extension services were the barriers to uptake of climate-smart agriculture in rice production. Rice farmers should be supported to implement climate-smart agriculture in rice production in order to achieve the objectives of increased rice productivity and income, food security, climate resilience and mitigation.

Climate change negatively impacts rice productivity in different parts of Africa. As a matter of necessity, farmers must respond to changing the climate by choosing adaptation strategies that increase their productivities. Incidentally, studies that documented the impact of climate change adaptation actions of farmers on rice productivity are few. This study therefore analyzed the impact of climate change adaptation decisions of farmers on the profitability of rice production using cross-sectional data gathered from 240 rice farmers selected from Ebonyi State, an important rice-producing State in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Using descriptive statistics, multivariate probit regression, instrumental variable regression and endogenous treatment effect model, the study revealed that the common adaptation actions of rice farmers involved adoption of minimum tillage, bond and drainage, fertilizer, crop diversification, livelihood diversification, improved rice varieties, pesticide, nursery, and adjusting planting and harvesting dates. The study found several significant interactions between the choice of climate change adaptation actions and socio-economic, farm, institutional and location characteristics of rice farmers. The result further revealed that multiple adaptation decisions of farmers significantly increased returns to scale and profit of rice production. The study concludes that adaptation decisions are effective in increasing the profitability and returns to scale of rice production in the area and other regions with similar geographical, meteorological and socio-economic contexts.

This paper explores the nexus between agricultural production, renewable energy, foreign direct investment (FDI), and carbon emissions in Africa, where there is limited evidence on the topic. Relying on panel data covering thirty-one African countries obtained from the World Bank World Development Indicators and FAOSTAT databases, we answered the question of whether agricultural production (proxied by livestock production, fertilizer consumption, and land under cereal cultivation), the use of renewable energy, and FDI increase or reduce carbon emissions. Using the panel autoregressive distributed lag model for analysis, our results show that net FDI, fertilizer consumption, livestock production significantly increased carbon emissions, both in the short run and long run. Meanwhile, renewable energy use consumption significantly decreased carbon emissions, both in the short run and long run. Specifically, a 1% increase in net FDI increased total carbon emissions by 0.003% in the short run and by 0.01% in the long run. Renewable energy consumption significantly decreased carbon emissions, both in the short run and long run. A 1% increase in renewable energy consumption decreased total carbon emissions by 0.16% in the short run and by 0.22% in the long run. Additionally, fertilizer consumption and livestock production significantly increased carbon emissions in the short run and long run. A 1% increase in fertilizer consumption increased total carbon emissions by 0.01% in the short run and by 0.04% in the long run, while a 1% increase in livestock production increased total carbon emissions by 0.20% in the short run and by 0.56% in the long run. The findings call for investment in renewable energy technologies and consumption while advocating for large-scale uptake of climate-smart agriculture, and environmentally friendly targeted foreign direct investments on the continent.