Comparing farmers’ perceptions of climate change with meteorological trends and examining farm adaptation measures in hazard-prone districts of northwest Bangladesh

Abstract

Consistency between farmers’ perceptions of climate change (CC) and meteorological trends leads to effective farm adaptation strategies. This study was conducted in hazard-prone districts, Kurigram (riverbank erosion-prone) and Nilphamari (drought-prone), of the northwest region of Bangladesh to compare farmers’ perceptions of CC with meteorological trends, and to examine farm adaptation measures. A total of 252 smallholder households were interviewed. Household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and field observations were carried out to collect the primary data. The findings revealed that farmers’ perceptions of CC were consistent with the meteorological trends of the past 30 years (1986–2015) and showed increasing temperature parameters and decreasing rainfall parameters. Farmers perceived negative impacts were increased summer temperature and length of summer days, decreased rainfall intensity, number of rainy days and length of winter days as well as increased intensity of floods, droughts, riverbank erosion and other natural hazards. The farmers also noted significant moderate to high impact of CC on agricultural production. The practiced adaptation strategies were low to medium, and almost all the households applied traditional strategies including compost and manure in their fields and practiced crop rotation as well as homestead gardening to minimize the adverse impact of CC. The study recommends bridging information gaps between the scientific community and farmers about CC adaptation options to meet challenges posed by CC. This study also provides field-based evidence for devising CC mitigation and adaptation policies.