Abstract
Bangladesh remains one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change. Given the reliance of a large segment of the population on the agricultural sector for both their livelihoods as well as national food security, climate change adaptation in the agricultural sector is crucial for continued national food security and economic growth. Using household data from lowland rice farmers of selected haor areas in Sylhet, the current work presents an analysis of the determinants behind the implementation of different climate change adaptation strategies by lowland rice farmers. The first objective of this study was to explore the extent of awareness of climate change within this population as well as the type of opinions held by lowland rice farmers with respect to climate change. To serve this purpose, a severity index (SI) was developed and subsequently employed to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of 378 farmers with respect to climate change vulnerability. Respondents were interviewed with respect to climate change related circumstances they faced in their daily lives. Attained SI index values ranged from 69.18% to 93.52%. The SI for the perception “Climate change affects rice production” was measured as 93.52%. Using data collected from the same 378 farmers, a logistic regression was carried out to investigate the impact of socio-economic and institutional factors on adaptation. The results show that credit from non-government organizations is highly statistically significant for adaptation, and that rural market structure also has a positive effect on adaptation. Among the studied factors, credit from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was found to be the most important factor for adaptation. The results of this work further indicate that marginal farmers would benefit from government (GoB) funded seasonal training activities that cover pertinent information regarding adaptation after flash floods. Additionally, the authors of this piece recommend timely issuance of government-assisted credit during early flash floods to afflicted farmers, as such an initiative can aid farmers in adapting different strategies to mitigate losses and enhance their productivity as well as livelihood.
Highlights
Owing to its geographical location, climate, and topology, Bangladesh is characterized by agro-zones that are highly susceptible to drought, cyclones, flooding, and rising salinity, renderingBangladesh one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change
Respondents were asked about circumstances they faced in their daily lives with respect to climate change
The severity index (SI) value for the perception “New disease appears in agricultural crops” was calculated at 69.18%, while the perception “Climate change already affects the Bangladeshi agricultural sector” yielded a value of 66.49%, indicating that for the most part, farmers agreed with these two statements
Summary
Bangladesh one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. Such findings have been extensively supported in the literature [1,2], in relation to sea-level rise and intense climatic events. Climate change poses extensive economic and physical risk to all societies by negatively impacting a number of factors, such as water resources, agriculture, and terrestrial. In developing nations such as Bangladesh, where agriculture plays a central role in the economy by providing subsistence and income to a large segment of society, the effects of climate change pose an even more serious economic risk, for nations consisted of agro-zones susceptible to submersion. According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) programme on Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems, local and indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills, and philosophies developed by societies
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