Farmer's perception, observed trend and adaptation measures to climate change: Evidence from wheat farmers in Bangladesh

Abstract

Wheat, the first grain crop in the world, can be negatively impacted by varying temperatures and precipitation patterns, which may pose a threat to the food security. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate wheat farmers perception of and adaptation to climate change. Cross-section and historical data on climate variables were used. Cross-section data was collected from 600 wheat farmers in various Agroecological Zones (AEZ) through face-to-face interviews. Descriptive statistics, time-trend regression, and the multinomial logistic regression (MNL) model were used to analyze the data. Using actual meteorological data, a climate change analysis corroborated the farmers' perceptions regarding the variability of temperature and precipitation. Changing planting dates (23 %) and cultivation of short duration wheat varieties (17 %) were identified as the major adaptation measures to climate change, while about 19 % of farmers did not undertake any adaptation measures. Access to climate information increased the likelihood of adopting short-duration wheat varieties by 8.57 % and changing planting date by 9.32 %, while credit access increases the likelihood of adopting short duration wheat varieties by 8.86 %. Increasing awareness of climate change, intensifying extension activities, increasing access to climate information, and modifying wheat production techniques can all help farmers become more resilient to climate change, thereby ensuring food security under changing climate.