Awareness level of climate change among paddy farmers

Abstract

This study examined the awareness level of paddy farmers on climate change. Among the 29 districts of Tamil Nadu, Nagapattinam district was selected to conduct the present study. This is situated in coastal area and very often subjected to natural calamities which were mainly reflected on the rice cultivation to the worst status. Data for the study were collected from 200 respondents selected through simple random sampling technique. The study revealed that majority (71.50 %) of the respondent had medium level of awareness of climate change followed by high (17.00 %) and low (11.50 %) category. More than eighty per cent of the respondents were aware about the issues viz., receipt of low rain fall (90.50 %), uneven distribution of rain fall (89.00 %), frequent cyclone (87.00 %) and reduction in number of rainy days (86.50 %). The awareness level was found to be minimum in the issues like acid rain (34.50 %), variation in wind speed and direction (44.50 %), increasing heat and cold waves (48.00 %). The study concluded that the majority of farmers were aware of climate change but some of them were lacked in detail information about climate change. Therefore, it is suggested that extension education should be strengthened to boost farmers’ awareness level on climate change in detailed and prepare them for adaptation measures and that appropriate technologies be promoted for adaptation by farmers.